The Yellow Submarine are having a truly torrid time of things this season.
At the time of writing, Javier Calleja’s men find themselves one-point adrift of safety in La Liga having picked up just four wins all season.
Since taking over, Calleja himself has claimed just one La Liga win (although it did come against Sevilla) since taking back charge of the club despite having already been sacked by the club this season.
In a move similar to that of Monaco this season, the man who had been in charge of the club since May 2017 and guided them into the Europa League this season was sacked on the 10th December after a dismal opening half of the campaign.
In came Luis García (not that one) but nine games later no league wins later and out the door he went.
Back came in Calleja on the 29th January and results have improved dramatically.
Two wins, three draws and just one defeat to be exact in a turn around that has given the board and fans belief that the worst can be kept at bay.
However, how it got to this mess is a mystery in its own right. After all, here is a club that claimed eighteen wins on their way to fifth in the table less than 12 months ago under the same manager.
One area that has cost Villarreal valuable points this season is the inability to edge out games.
Last season the Yellow Submarine drew just seven games whilst this season that has crept to eleven and its only February.
The lack of a consistent goal scorer is also proving troublesome to their survival hopes.
Karl Toko Ekambi is the top league scorer with seven goals but that comes at a rate of one goal every 236 minutes. Worrying indeed.
It is not all doom and gloom though and there is very real hope.
The club are currently on a five-match unbeaten run in all competitions and as mentioned at the top of this article, inflicted a 3-0 thumping on Sevilla in their very last La Liga game.
Up next the Yellow Submarine face Atletico, Deportivo, Levante, and Rayo Vallecano (with a double Europa League header thrown in against Zenit) with three of the four games more than winnable.
Atletico aside, only Alaves sit in the top ten and Calleja will know the next month will be critical to his sides chances of avoiding the drop.
Surely Villarreal won’t be relegated. However, in football, anything can happen.
