Alexander Bah: How the Benfica right-back earned his World Cup call up

Alexander Bah arrived at Benfica this past summer after an impressive 18 months at Slavia Prague in both league and European competitions, where he played a key role in their progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League against Feyenoord, as well as a title-winning league campaign.

The 24-year-old right-back for Denmark earned his first cap in 2020, before earning another in 2021 and 2 more this year. His transfer to Benfica and impressive performances for Roger Schmidt have earned him a call-up to the 2022 World Cup where he will likely play a bit part role through cameo appearances off the bench.

This article will contain a tactical analysis in the form of a scout report to show exactly why Alexander Bah has impressed both his club and national team managers. The analysis will highlight the skills that Bah possesses that make him a reliable full-back and the tactics which have helped him to thrive in. 

Player Profile

Alexander Bah is a marauding full-back who retains the width for his side through positional discipline and powerful runs down the flank. From the right back position in Benfica’s 4-2-3-1, Bah must have the physicality to be able to run up and down the right-hand side, whilst also possessing the technical ability to contribute to all phases of in-possession play. Benfica utilise a narrow front 3, meaning that Bah frequently has space ahead of him, which he can exploit through his tremendous ability to cover ground quickly.

This touch map highlights Bah’s desire to help in both attack and defence, with a frequent occurrence of touches by the right flank in both attack and defence.

Incisive Passes

The emerging Dane’s biggest standout skill is his ability to play with the ball in Benfica’s possession-dominant system. Benfica spend long periods on the ball where a player’s concentration, decision making and technical skills are tested; a complete approach can help the team to sustain pressure and keep teams pinned back in their half.

While Benfica pin back their opponents, Bah has the time to move into a right winger’s position, and stretch the opposition back line horizontally. From the wide right area, Alex Bah comes into life with his impressive display of passing that allows him to continuously generate good shooting opportunities for his teammates.

This shot assist map below shows how creative Bah has been — from 7 starts, he has managed to provide 1.4 xA, averaging 0.2 xA per game.

The instant eye-catching skill in Bah’s armoury is his incisive passing into the opposition box. Alexander Bah will look for the space created, rather than being one-dimensional and always carrying it down the wing.

Instead of carrying the ball down the wing, Bah will look up and has the vision to consistently pick out his teammates who are making penetrative runs, both centrally and wide. This example below perfectly highlights Bah’s ability to spot an open teammate, whilst also having the technical quality to execute such a difficult pass to perfection, which leads to an assist for Bah.

When Bah does get in wide areas by the touchline, he has demonstrated the ability to deliver powerful low-driven crosses across the face of the goal. Bah uses his powerful running ability to create space for himself in wide areas, and consistently powers crosses in the space between the goalkeeper and back line. This example below perfectly illustrates his crossing ability, although he hasn’t shown the range to deliver other sorts of crosses. Bah has failed to produce deadly balls through lofted crosses, balls from deep and whipped crosses. Bah is quite one-dimensional in this aspect, although it has been effective.

Alexander Bah’s vision is superb and has allowed him to thrive in a possession-based system, with frequent runners wanting to be found by the deeper players. We can see yet again in the example below that Bah has the ball in a wide area, and he displays his passing through a perfectly weighted pass into the box to put his teammate in the best scenario possible to lead to success.

One final aspect in which Bah has demonstrated his passing range is through balls into space when starting slightly deeper. The space to pass into is vast, but what makes it easy for Bah is his awareness to know the space is there. Many players may have a more expansive passing range but lack the awareness to identify which teammates are free.

Part of what limits Bah’s passing and crossing is his limited ability to strike through the ball. Bah fails to get the required power, through poor technique, to deliver switches of play or whipped crosses, therefore limiting his range of passing.

Powerful Carries

Another key strength that has helped Bah catch the eye of his national team, is his powerful ball carries in both deeper and more advanced areas. Bah has the running power, from both a standing start and runs with momentum, to glide past his opponents regardless of where they are on the pitch. This map below shows how frequently Bah has driven with the ball down the right flank to progress play and also carried the ball into the box to create a dangerous opportunity.

Part of what makes Bah such a strong ball-carries is his gait. Bah takes slightly longer steps whilst dribbling with the ball, which allows him to cover larger surfaces when using the same amount of steps. As a result, Bah can often easily drive past his opponents with the ball, whilst his physical strengths are also a massive factor. 

The image below shows us an example of Bah carrying the ball into a large open space, to help his team progress the ball and escape the press. In this example against Juventus, Bah eventually gets dispossessed, as he doesn’t always know the right time to release the ball, and sometimes dribbles into dead ends which can be very costly for his side.

Alexander Bah’s reluctance to shift the ball onto his left foot has limited his ability to avoid danger, as his dribbles often become predictable, and defenders only need to worry about Bah beating them in one very specific method.

Furthermore, Bah hasn’t been the most comfortable player when opponents press the play. Bah has the composure and ability to play the ball to a teammate’s feet but cannot beat his man through any sort of body or ball manipulation. This isn’t something which is required for full-backs but having the ability can make play unpredictable, which can add a lot of value for a player.

Defending Wide Areas

The 24-year-old’s powerful running and tenacious character have enabled him to get stuck in defensively, although he has shown a bit of a hot head at times. Bah is quite aggressive in the press and will look to intercept passes to the wingers before that winger can have time to turn and drive towards goal.

This defensive territory map below shows how Bah gets involved in the defensive part of the equation in both low blocks and during a higher press. Bah can often cover the entire right flank due to his strong physical skills.

During a high press, Alexander Bah will look to step up and attempt to win the ball back in the opposition’s third. Bah is quite aggressive and has the speed to be able to regularly attempt and succeed in winning the ball back when high up.

However, at certain times, Bah has lacked the judgement, so has stepped up and over-committed when he was nowhere near winning the ball back, which has left the rest of his defence overly exposed. This part of his game needs to be cut out to make him a reliable defender.

This example below shows that he has the energy and ability to win the ball in a high area, whilst having the timing to arrive at the ball before the defender has had the time to turn and face forwards.

Another key aspect which has made Bah an extremely efficient 1v1 defender, especially in wide areas, is his ability to recover lost ground due to his running speed. Bah has often demonstrated his ability to overcome his opponents in 1v1 duels by being able to not commit, and instead wait for the attacker to attempt an attacking move where he can outrace the opponent to the ball.

At times, Bah has struggled by getting too close to the opponents, which has led to him getting unbalanced a bit too easily. Bah sometimes would get so close that he had to commit to a tackle. Otherwise, the attacker would easily outrun him. So, it has led to moments of him almost tripping over his own feet when coming up against very agile wingers.

However, in the example below, Bah perfectly positions himself and uses his impressive speed to beat the onrushing full-back to the ball.

Bah’s excellence in defending wide areas has allowed him to become a strong defender during transitions, which has helped Benfica to defend against one of their bigger weaknesses.

Conclusion

This tactical analysis has demonstrated why Bah had become a player in demand last summer for both club and country. His passing and technical base can increase the floor level of certain top clubs; however, a player who is limited in quite a few areas will struggle to perform if he were to be left in more isolated positions where he was trusted with a role that required too much of him. 

Bah will have the opportunity to demonstrate his ability at the World Cup, hopefully, and during Benfica’s Champions League run. So, we will hopefully get a clear idea if Bah has always performed at a similar level, or if Roger Schmidt can really improve him significantly.