Inigo Perez is still winless after five games, but is it crisis time for Villarreal?

Five games in, he is yet to taste victory, and the last three games have all ended in defeat. His first, and to date only, home game saw his side booed off after throwing away a lead to lose 3-2 to Deportivo de A Coruña.

Despite Perez’s work at Rayo Vallecano, which saw him achieve miracles by bringing a crisis club to a European final, some Villarreal fans are unconvinced by the start he has made.

There is a sense of deja vu at Estadio de la Cerámica. Ernesto Valverde replaced the legendary Manuel Pellegrini, tried to change the style, and failed.

Quique Setien did the same after Unai Emery’s Europa-conquering era. With Marcelino’s shadow looming over Perez, some fear he may succumb to the same fate.

However, a 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the opening Champions League game of the campaign has shown huge signs of encouragement despite the result, and despite things looking bad on paper, it is not crisis time just yet.

Whether Marcelino stayed or departed, an expectation of this season was that Villarreal would improve on their dismal Champions League performances from the previous campaign.

It is the first time in history that Villarreal have qualified for Europe’s elite competition in back-to-back years, and having retained the core of last season’s squad, it is hoped that another year of experience can prove useful.

Villarreal lost seven of their eight Champions League games last season, drawing once and finishing 35th out of 36 possible teams. They failed to score a single goal in any of the four away matches.

One of the defeats came away at Dortmund, where Villarreal were emphatically and embarrassingly beaten 4-0. Heading back to Signal Iduna Park to kick off this campaign provided the team a chance to show that they have improved since their previous drubbing.

That 4-0 defeat saw Villarreal record just two shots on target, conceding over 4xG, and failing to compete in any area of the pitch.

This 3-2 defeat could not have been more different. From the first minute, Villarreal pressed higher, went toe-to-toe with Dortmund, and executed a clear game plan.

Six shots on target were recorded. That's more than Villarreal managed in all but one of their eight group games last season.

A criticism of Marcelino’s style was the ease with which they would cede possession and territory. Perez’s style is a huge shift from this, and we already saw some of the principles executed in Dortmund.

Villarreal ended up losing by the thinnest of margins: an unlucky own goal, a questionable penalty, and a remarkable goalkeeping display by Gregor Kobel were the differences between successfully gaining a point and leaving empty-handed.

Yes, Villarreal lost, just as they did in their opening game at Tottenham last year. But this time, there are clear positive signs that this campaign will not end the same way.

The defeat to Depor felt damaging. There were plenty of underperformers, and the late defeat felt like a collapse of the mind as much as it was a footballing failure. Clearly, something needed to change drastically.

Perez made seven changes to his XI against Dortmund, which left big names Gerard Moreno, Nicolas Pepe and Alberto Moleiro on the bench.

Fitness may have played a part, but this also felt like a message to give the team a refresh after back-to-back defeats. No one’s starting spot was safe, and squad players were able to earn a place if they performed well enough.

Backup striker Tani Oluwaseyi started on the left wing, with a three-man midfield implemented as Santi Comesana returned to the team. After years of a more rigid 4-4-2, this was a very unfamiliar setup for Villarreal.

This required a lot more off-ball work than Marcelino’s more passive setup. Georges Mikautadze started upfront, but often dropped all the way into midfield, with the two widemen tucking into central areas.

The result? An opening 40 minutes where the only big chances fell to Villarreal, before Dortmund switched up a gear to end the first half strongly.

There was a clear plan every time Villarreal received the ball in the opposition half: progress it quickly, and into space. This saw Tajon Buchanan provide an excellent cross for Mikautadze, as well as testing Kobel himself.

This was all going well, until Renato Veiga unluckily turned the ball into his own net at the start of the second half. Memories of Tottenham away a year ago returned, and with Villarreal then missing big chances through Tani and Pepe, it felt like another goalless defeat was on the horizon.

That was until Santiago Mourino leapt highest to nod in a deserved equaliser. It was game on, and Villarreal had all the momentum. Kobel was tested several more times, but the goalkeeper produced some fantastic reflex saves.

Then, it was time for debutant Peter Gulasci to do the same at the other end, and he quickly showed why he has to be Villarreal’s number one going forward. His low, instant reaction saves were particularly impressive, and producing this specific save proved to be a problem for Luiz Junior in recent games.

At 1-1, everything seemed to be going smoothly for Perez and Villarreal, but one change would prove to make a huge difference in such a tightly contested game.

Youngster Alassane Diatta, who has been promoted to the first team, came on for the impressive Buchanan, in a change to add more numerical superiority to the midfield.

What happened next was disastrous. After winning the ball at the edge of his own box, Diatta had an opportunity to send the ball forward to spring a counter-attack.

Instead, he was caught in possession, and Dortmund went on to score through Serhou Guirassy.

This change was perhaps Perez overstepping the mark in trying to impact the game from the bench. So far, he has mysteriously tinkered with the positioning of his players mid-game, trying to overcorrect flaws in his side’s setup. This confusion played its part in both the defeats to Depor and Dortmund.

It was also a surprise that Moreno was not introduced into the game earlier instead. There is no better final-third player at Villarreal, and had he been presented with some of the chances his teammates received, he may have taken them.

A horror moment for young Diatta, and a costly one for Villarreal, but there is now a need for patience with both the team and the coach.

Perez has been thrown into a tough start: four away games in the first five, including trips to Racing, Atletico Madrid and Dortmund. Just two summer signings recruited, a starting goalkeeper completely out of form and a need to balance European and domestic fixtures. This would put pressure on any manager.

Coming out of the stadium after Depor, many fans were unconvinced that this was the right coach to lead Villarreal in the post-Marcelino era. For me, it is far too early to decide.

Marcelino’s final season saw Villarreal comfortably beaten in almost every single game against tougher opposition, and away from home in the Champions League.

Perez’s Villarreal could have won at Atletico, and put up an impressive fight away at a strong Dortmund side. They were a competent goalkeeper away from beating an in-form Depor.

Although the fixtures are piling up badly, Perez needs time to instil a complete philosophy change into a squad and club so deeply entrenched in the previous manager’s football.

To give up now on a coach who proved himself as one of the most promising in football at Rayo would be a frustrating and impatient waste of an opportunity to lay long-term foundations for success.

However, the only way Perez is going to win over fans is by producing results. Even if performances are promising, going six games without a win at a new club would be damaging anywhere. 

Starting with Real Betis on Monday night, Villarreal have to get three points on the board and turn their possession into results. Then, fans will have more patience in dealing with the teething problems that have faced the new manager so far.