Nenad Bjelica at NK Osijek 2020/21 – tactical analysis

On 5th September this year Nenad Bjelica was appointed as new head coach of NK Osijek. Bjelica last job was at Dinamo Zagreb and he made fantastic job there with some impressive performances in Champions League last season. When he came Osijek was sitting at 8th position with only 1 point from three matches. After his appointment, there was only one direction  towards the top. Bjelica managed to turn the bad start around and they were unbeaten in the first 11 games he managed in 1.HNL. In the 13 matches Osijek managed to win impressive 32 points from possible 39 points and scored 22 goals while conceding 9 goals. It is worth noting that he got a role as a manager which is rare in Croatian football which allowed him to get players he wanted leading to him signing Mario Jurčević, Damjan Bohar and Josip Vuković. All of them played a vital role in the team since their arrival.

In this tactical analysis, we will take a closer look into how Osijek looks in different phases of football game. We will highlight what his players tend to do more often and what he implemented into the tactics since he arrived at the club. 

Formation and key players

In this section, we will see what formation Osijek mostly used and which players played crucial roles. 

[image: ShareMyTactics]

Bjelica mostly used 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formation. What rarely changed was their back four, along with Ivušić, Bohar and Mierez. Most rotations happened on right-wing and central midfield positions. On the right-wing Osijek has good depth because they can pick a player based on opponent and what would they try to accomplish in a certain match. Bočkaj could suit them as inside forward, Ndockyt gives them pace on the wing, while Erceg work rate and aggression are good qualities to support full-back in defensive phase. It could be said that that two central midfielders in role of ‘’8’’ are the players who do the most work for the team. Bjelica mostly used Pilj and Žaper because they are capable of playing in both directions on a high level, while Lopa and Kleinheisler are closer to playing as attacking midfielder and are not so responsible in the defensive phase.