La Liga Analysis · Deportivo de A Coruña
Can Deportivo Keep Attacking Without an Aubameyang Goal?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored and assisted twice in Deportivo's 3-2 comeback at Villarreal. The promoted side's next step is making the runners around him as reliable as his finish.
The winner was the easy part to remember
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw Villarreal lose the ball while trying to play out, ran into the space and finished the chance that completed Deportivo de A Coruña's 3-2 comeback. It was his fourth goal in four league matches. A promoted club is allowed to enjoy that sentence for a while.
It should not stop there. Aubameyang also supplied two assists at La Cerámica, and the more important detail is that Deportivo kept giving his decisions somewhere to go. Their unbeaten return to La Liga has a famous scorer at its centre, but the sustainable part will be the movement that keeps him from becoming the entire attack.
Four matches earn centrality, not solitude
The case for centring everything on Aubameyang is reasonable. He has scored in every league match so far, Deportivo have taken eight points from four unbeaten games, and the trip to Villarreal brought a goal plus two assists. A forward producing that much should receive the ball often. Pretending otherwise would be tactical modesty for its own sake.
The distinction is between centring an attack on him and asking him to rescue it. The first gives a productive player repeated choices. The second turns teammates into spectators and makes every defensive error more expensive. Aubameyang's veteran status does not erase his speed or judgment, but it does make workload design part of the football rather than an awkward subject for later.
A striker still needs the next runner
Aubameyang's role is broader than waiting between the posts. When he drifts or receives earlier, another forward has to threaten the box. When he runs behind, the ball carrier needs a second option so every attack does not become a race to find one man. At Villarreal, his two assists mattered because Deportivo kept supplying those choices after the match turned against them.
The visitors had to recover from two different errors. Goalkeeper Leo Román hesitated on Villarreal's opener. Later, debutant Adama Traoré scored an own goal. A team depending only on its star would have spent the rest of the night forcing passes toward him. Deportivo instead kept adding runs, and Eddahchouri found the narrow route between goalkeeper and post for the 2-2 goal before Aubameyang claimed the winner.
Adama's recovery matters too
Adama's own goal could have reduced his debut to one brutal image. Instead he kept carrying the ball forward, and El País noted both the danger of those bursts and the recovery problem they created. That is a useful, humane reading of a difficult first appearance: the mistake was real, the response offered something and the role still needs help.
Deportivo should not ask a new right-side outlet to provide every forward burst and then repair the space behind it alone. Earlier cover from midfield and more selective width ahead of him would turn recovery from a private emergency into a shared responsibility. Supporting Adama in those decisions also supports Aubameyang, because a stable platform lets the front line attack again instead of spending the next possession repairing the previous one.
The danger of a flattering ending
The final two goals can make Deportivo's plan look cleaner than it was. The equaliser required Eddahchouri to finish through a narrow gap; the winner followed Villarreal losing the ball while trying to play out. Courage helped turn the match, but courage is not a downloadable formation.
Deportivo deserve credit for staying available to one another when the game became uncomfortable. The next improvement is to create longer spells in which that support is visible before the emergency. They can still attack quickly. They just need enough control to choose when, rather than waiting for Aubameyang to turn disorder into an invitation.
Getafe will ask a quieter question
Deportivo visit Getafe on September 13. The useful test is not whether Aubameyang scores for a fifth straight league match. It is whether the other movements still appear when his first run is tracked, whether the right side has protection after an overlap and whether a second attacker reaches the box when he comes toward the ball.
If those routes survive, the veteran's hot start becomes an accelerator for a real attacking identity. If they disappear, four goals in four matches will have hidden a dependence that every opponent can see. At Getafe, the better evidence will come from a supported run that creates a chance even when Aubameyang does not supply the final touch.
2026-2027 season
La Liga standings
| # | Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Barcelona |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +10 | 9 | W W W |
| 2 |  Real Madrid |
4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | +7 | 9 | L W W W |
| 3 |  Real Betis |
4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | W L W W |
| 4 |  Deportivo de A Coruña |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | +3 | 8 | W W D D |
| 5 |  Deportivo Alavés |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +4 | 7 | W D W |
| 6 |  Osasuna |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 7 | W W D |
| 7 |  Atlético Madrid |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 7 | L W D W |
| 8 |  Sevilla |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 | L W W |
| 9 |  Athletic Bilbao |
4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 6 | W W L L |
| 10 |  Levante |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | W D L |
| 11 |  Racing de Santander |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4 | L W L D |
| 12 |  Rayo Vallecano |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 4 | W L D L |
| 13 |  Real Sociedad |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 4 | D W L L |
| 14 |  Espanyol |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 3 | L L W |
| 15 |  Getafe |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 3 | L W L |
| 16 |  Villarreal |
4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 2 | L L D D |
| 17 |  Celta Vigo |
4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 2 | D L L D |
| 18 |  Valencia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 1 | L L D |
| 19 |  Elche |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 1 | L L D |
| 20 |  Málaga |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 1 | L D L |
