Freyr Alexandersson Tactics At KV Kortrijk: The 41 Year Old Icelander Tasked With Saving The West Flanders Club From Relegation – Tactical Analysis

Who Is Freyr Alexandersson?

Kortrijk are in the midst of a season that almost seems destined to end in relegation.

The club currently sit bottom of the Belgian Pro League, 11 points from safety.

They are also on their third permanent manager of the season, with former Iceland women’s national team and Lyngby Boldklub boss Freyr Alexandersson being appointed over the winter break.

The 41-year-old Icelander is now tasked with the seemingly impossible mission of saving the West Flanders side from relegation to the Challenger Pro League.

This tactical analysis will take a look at some of Alexandersson’s tactics from his previous managerial stop in Denmark with Lyngby, which will be able to give Kortrijk fans, as well as Belgian football fans, a good idea of what to expect from Kortrijk under the 41-year-old.

Freyr Alexandersson Preferred formations

When it comes to a preferred formation for Freyr Alexandersson, during his time at Lyngby, the 41-year-old tended to play with either a back five or back three system.

In his first season (2021), Lyngby were among the strongest teams in the Danish second division.

This allowed Alexandersson to mainly play with a 3-5-2 system, allowing Lyngby to consistently be on the attack and not need to be as worried, leaving gaps in behind the defence, with this campaign resulting in promotion to the Superliga.

However, the last two seasons in the Superliga have forced the 41-year-old coach to adopt more of a back five, with Lyngby usually playing a 5-3-2 in this period of time.

However, a 3-5-2 was still utilised relatively often, while an occasional switch to a back four has also happened, though much rarer.

At Kortrijk, a switch to a 5-3-2 looks like the likely outcome, at least initially, with the Belgian side currently having the worst defensive record in the Belgian top flight.

However, goal scoring is also a major problem, with Kortirjk’s 12 goals scored through 20 matches this season far and away the worst goalscoring record in Belgium.

While scoring goals is a crucial part of the game, keeping them out at the other end is often more critical for a team struggling as bad as Kortrijk are.

The goals will come, but Freyr Alexandersson’s first order of business should be shoring up a defence statistically near the bottom in almost every major defensive category in Belgium.

Defending as a unit, looking to force the opposition long 

As we have already mentioned briefly in the previous section, one of the first problems that needs to be fixed at Kortrijk is the defensive ability of the side.

At Lyngby, Alexandersson’s side also did not have the best defence, with the Danish club being near the bottom of the table in reference to goals conceded the past two seasons in the top flight.

However, with that being said, one key trait in how Lyngby defends is their ability to defend as a unit.

This is something that has been lacking at Kortrijk, with poor communication and poor defensive positioning leading to poorly conceded goals.

While Lyngby still struggled defensively at times under Alexandersson, their constant communication and tendency to try and get into the correct defensive positions helped the side.

This season in the Danish Superliga, Lyngby have the fifth-highest shots against total, with 216.

However, their 65 shots blocked are the second most in the division, showing their willingness to get in the way of shots and throw their bodies in front of the ball to prevent shots on target. 

The data viz graphic above shows the average defensive territory of Lyngby this season under Freyr Alexandersson.

As we can see, the Danish side have been active in all areas of the pitch from a defensive perspective.