David Guion at Reims 2019/20 – tactical analysis

Reims have surprisingly become one of the best defences in Europes top five leagues this season and the best in Ligue 1 with only 21 goals conceded from 28 games. Thats three goals conceded less than table-toppers Paris Saint-Germain and third-placed Rennes who have also been quite solid in the current campaign.

Credits primarily should go to manager David Guion whose tactical choices and philosophy have helped bring the best out of a low-budget Reims squad. After bringing the team up to Ligue 1 in 2017/18, Guion brought Reims to finish on the upper-side of mid-table, finishing eighth in their first season after promotion, in the 2018/19 season. And now, they may have a chance to snatch themselves a European spot as theyre currently sitting fifth on the table with 41 points, eight less than fourth-placed Lille with ten games to go. It certainly will be interesting to see whether or not theyll be able to finish high on the table, especially with such a cheap yet talented squad.

In this tactical analysis, well dissect and analyse the tactics used by Guion this season at Reims.

Favoured formations

At Reims, Guion mainly uses 4-2-3-1 with some variations of it (4-4-2, 4-4-1-1 (one main striker, one supporting/secondary striker) as his preferred formation although there are times where hell use a 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 in a game. His tactics and player choices are quite consistent and he tends to keep most of the players that started in the previous match in the starting lineup for the following fixture, preferring to only do small squad rotations rather than big rotations in every fixture.

Predrag Rajković is a mainstay in the goalkeeper post. The Serbian goalkeeper is extremely vital to Reims mainly because of his suitability to the system and, of course, his impressive ability. The 24-year-old goalkeeper is neat on the ball and has good passing ability in open play. To add to that, his anticipation, judgment, and quickness when coming out are outstanding, making it very hard for the opposing teams to play passes into the back of the defence.

In front of him, Axel Disasi and Yunis Abdelhamid have been the main centre-back partnership at Reims. Both centre-backs are very strong and athletic. Both are quite aggressive and physical and are dominant in the air. Though both centre-backs cant be described as explosive, both actually have pretty good pace over long-range, so catching up with opposing attackers or tracking back can be done in a fairly quick fashion and theyre both not that prone to losing foot race, especially over long-range. Both, however, are rather lacking in agility and can be beaten by attackers who are quick on the turn.

Thomas Foket and Hassane Kamara are the main pair of ful