Brian Priske Tactics & Coaching Style At Sparta Praha 2023/2024 – Tactical Analysis

For almost a decade, Sparta Praha had not won the Czech First League.

That was until last season when Brian Priske took charge of the team and led them back to the very top of Czech football.

This year, they’ve made another step while leading the league over rivals Slavia Praha, qualifying for the UEFA Europa League knockout stage from a tricky group containing Real Betis, Rangers and Aris Limassol. 

When watching Sparta Praha’s games, the most impressive aspect of their performance is their pressing.

They are a very disciplined team that controls the opponent out of possession.

This scout report provides a tactical analysis detailing how they set up their press under Brian Priske tactics, how they utilise it to create chances, and how their European opponents have responded to it.

Brian Priske Zonal man-man press

The Czech champions have utilised a 3-4-3 formation under Brian Priske coaching style.

One reason might be that the Danish coach has always found this a good way to press the opponents with a clear division of responsibilities on the pitch. 

It allows them to use a zonal man-man scheme, locking each individual down and not letting the opponent easily find a free player in the build-up.

At the same time, the last line would be more organised to defend zonally rather than following their man all the way.

There are interesting observations in the Sparta Praha defensive territory graph.

They usually intercept the ball in the half-spaces or wide areas of the opposition half, and not many of these events occur centrally.

Then, there is an even clearer trend if we examine the locations of fouls. They were also scattered on the sides, and there were barely any red dots in the centre.

Then, defensive actions are almost empty in front of the opposition penalty box, but the grey dots are condensed nearer the sidelines.

Here, we’ll use some game examples to explain how Sparta Praha shaped their press; they have mainly been able to control most opponents, including Liverpool.

Although the Reds beat them 11-2 over two legs, many of the goals conceded were attributed to Sparta Praha’s build-up mistakes rather than the press being outplayed.

In a 3-4-3 formation, the front three players were rarely on the same line; it would be more of a 1-2 shape, but the shape is not as important as who the mark is.

The shape was merely an outcome of the striker, Jan Kutcha, marking the opposition midfielder, Wataru Endo, while the wingers, Veljko Birmančević and Lukáš Haraslín, were going for their centre-backs in a back four.

Then, the other two Sparta Praha midfielders should also lock the Liverpool midfielders to match it a man-man in midfield, as shown here where we see Kaan Kairinen marking Alexis Mac Allister, leaving the opposition full-backs initially unmarked as bait.

Then, it was about angling the press and seeing the pressing trigger.

If Jarrell Quansah passes to his partner, Ibrahima Konaté, then Haraslín should jump on the receiver with speed.

But it wasn’t the case, as Quansah gave the ball to the ‘keeper instead of his partner.

Then the press of Haraslín has to be different if he wants to press Konaté — the Slovakian winger should curve his run a little bit to cover the centre more and push Liverpool to one side (at the expense of giving up some speed to access his mark.)

Liverpool, of course, were clever to anticipate the nearest potential danger.

Hence, the ‘keeper avoided the pass to Konaté, as he thought Joe Gomez would be a better option out wide without a marker near to him at first. 

However, this was a pressing trap! 

The chipped ball was more difficult to control and required more time to travel to the receiver, so it became another clear pressing trigger for Jaroslav Zelený to jump on his mark — wing-back on full-back.

Then, Liverpool FC could not keep the ball and conceded a throw-in.

Here, we have another example of Sparta Praha pressing their league opponent, FC Zlín.

The latter played in a back three but pushed the central centre-back higher in the build-up phase.

Kutcha’s mark changed from marking the midfielder to tracking this centre-back so that they kept a 3v3 and allowed the midfielders (Kairinen and Lukáš Sadílek) to mark the opposition midfielders.

Then, the wingers easily identified the wide centre-backs as their mark.

Sparta’s wingers led the press in the example versus Liverpool, but this time was different, as the striker could take that role.

Here, when Kutcha’s mark played a back pass to the ‘keeper, it was clear that he should chase the pass down and put pressure on the goalkeeper from the centre instead of a winger showing direction from the side.

They were a very disciplined side in the press—except for Kutcha, who jumped on the goalkeeper. The rest stayed on their marks. 

Again, the press on the goalkeeper was not only straight but intent on guiding the play direction to one side by curving the runs.

Kutcha did that when going out.

Then, the question was, how to keep the player who made the back pass under control?

This was how the zonal man-man worked.

To compensate, Birmančević had to stay inside a bit longer to control that space and ensure he could run towards that mark if the keeper played central while leaving the wide centre-back as bait.

Then, the ‘keeper was tempted to play wider so Birmančević could curve his run to push the play outside.

Now, FC Zlín were in the pressing trap.

Birmančević went towards the receiver with speed, who was trapped on the side, while Kutcha ran back to take his mark; there was no option on the same side as well, as Tomáš Wiesner was going tight on the opposition wing-back.

And look at the broader picture — see how disciplined the press was — the Sparta Praha far-side winger and midfielder stayed on their mark instead of chasing the ball. 

Despite pressing on a zonal man-to-man basis, Sparta Praha’s front three’s defensive roles were also similar to those of prime Liverpool, with Sadio Mané, Mohammed Salah, and Roberto Firmino in the team.

The Brazilian striker usually marks the opposition midfielders, allowing his wingers to shape their runs towards the ball holder.

It was a decent tactic when the players had the legs and intensity to make the effort.

Using the press to create chances

The best part of this press was not only its usefulness in trapping the opposition on one side; Priske’s side could also use it to create goal-scoring chances because their wingers were usually disciplined and good at closing passing lanes.

We used the example of Sparta Praha-Aris Limassol to illustrate the situation.

The zonal man-man was clear: Sparta Praha had a front three marking their respective mark, Kutcha inclining to the right side this time, plus midfielder Qazim Laçi (midfielder) on the opposition midfielder.

Then Angelo Preciado (RWB) was on the Aris Limassol wide defender, so the opponent went back to the ‘keeper.

When the ball went back to the ‘keeper, Victor Olatunji left his mark (Franz Brorsson) and jumped centrally to force the opposition to play.

And look at Haraslín’s defensive position.

Although he was marking the centre-back, he did not completely get tight; he stayed more between the Aris Limassol midfielder and his mark.

This was crucial because it gave him a chance to intercept the pass if the ‘keeper went central while keeping the possibility to run towards the mark with speed if the central defender received.

Because of Haraslín’s good defensive position, Sparta Praha intercepted the ball high and also assessed the conditions to counterattack.

They regained possession in front of the opposition’s penalty box, with two players ahead as passing options to finish.

Olatunji was clearly offside in this case, but the other attacker, Kutcha, was in a good central position and ready to finish.

How to solve their press

Despite our mention of Sparta Praha’s good pressing and how they used it to create chances, we must remember that footballers are not robots.

They have weaknesses that opponents can exploit.

Galatasaray solved their defensive problems by playing out from the back a few times in their matches.

Here, Sparta Praha is setting up a similar zonal man-man press in Turkey, with the right-winger Adam Karabec pressing the goalkeeper from one side to shape the play angle.

However, as Karabec left his mark, Davinson Sánchez became the free player to receive.

Sparta Praha could not block the central pass as Kerem Demirbay was receiving in front of his marker, and this was a good pass from Fernando Muslera.

As Demirbay was able to control in front of Kairinen, he identified the former Tottenham player as a free option to receive, as we explained above.

Then, Sparta Praha was also exposed centrally as they did not protect the space if the opposition’s movement took out the midfielders.

There was ample space in there and a significant distance between Kairinen and Laçi.

Karabec was too far away to run back and close down Sánchez.

Meanwhile, former Arsenal player Lucas Torreira seized the opportunity to move forward.

The problem was that Kutcha had lost the mark and got caught ball-watching in the sequence, so Torreira became totally free to receive without a Sparta Praha player next to him.

Good European teams could change the speed of their attack and build on that when they broke the first wave of pressure.

Here, we saw Mauro Icardi react very quickly and check back from an offside position to make another run, exploiting Sparta Praha’s last line and resulting in a 1v1 chance against the goalkeeper.

Conclusion

As explained in this analysis, Sparta Praha is a very good pressing team under Brian Priske’s tactics.

They turned the tie around against Galatasaray from a 2-3 deficit in the first leg by winning 4-1 on their home soil.

They also beat Real Betis in the UEFA Europa League group stage, all thanks to an intelligent, effective press.

It would be interesting to see if they can carry on to win the league title again this season, cementing Priske’s era in charge as one of sustained success.