5 average football teams who stayed up by only attacking
There is more than one way to survive a relegation battle. Most teams aim for a safety first approach, keeping things tight at the back and seeking to squeeze out points from draws and narrow victories. Others, though, take a bolder approach, leaning on their attacking prowess to secure the necessary points.
Going back over the previous five seasons of top flight football in the major European leagues, here are five teams whose attacking approach was key to them staying up.
#1 Rayo Vallecano 2011-12
Rayo Vallecano finally went down last season with a spectacular last salvo at the end of five swashbuckling seasons of top-flight football. Paco Jemez’s side were relegated with the fifth best scoring record and the second worst defensive record in the division.
The Vallecas-based club were always a fun watch under Jemez, and their 2013-14 season, when they finished 12th despite conceding over two goals per match, could easily have made this list. But it is the first season of their most recent spell in the Primera Division, under previous coach Ramon Sandoval, that does.
In the 2011-12 season, Sandoval’s side scored 53 goals (1.39 per match), the joint-sixth best total in the division and between 11 and 25 more than the six teams who finished below them. That degree of prolificness was made necessary by a defence that conceded four more goals than that of any other side – 73 in total, at a rate of nearly two per match.
Michu and current Chelsea striker Diego Costa both reached double figures as Rayo finished just two points clear of the drop zone after being involved in some thrilling, high-scoring encounters, including a 4-2 win at home to Racing Santander and a 5-3 triumph away to Levante.