BSC Young Boys’ Transition 2024/25: Unpacking Patrick Rahmen’s Early Struggles And Solutions – Tactical Analysis

For many years, the Swiss Super League has been the domain of dominance for FC Basel.

However, the giant started to struggle in 2017, which was the chance for new champions in the Alps.

BSC Young Boys, a club that has been runner-up multiple times during the years of Basels championships, stepped up to the task, winning six out of the seven league titles in Switzerland.

With prominent coaches like Adi Hütter and Gerardo Seoane, BSC Young Boys (YB) took over the league by storm, becoming the new dominant force.

After only finishing third in the 21/22 season, YB opted to appoint Raphael Wicky as the new Head Coach to regain control over the league.

While things looked good during their first season (Young Boys crowned themselves champions with a 16-point lead over Servette), things became tighter during the 22/23 season, and they decided to move on from Wicky.

After Magnin took over as an interim coach and won the league again, they still opted to sign a new coach in the summer.

Obviously, the job opening was the most appealing in the Super League since the job became available the last time so that YB could choose from a big pool of potential candidates.

Their coach of choice was Patrick Rahmen, a very experienced coach who previously worked for Hamburger SV, FC Aarau, FC Basel, and last season for FC Winterthur, where he was able to achieve a surprising sixth-place finish, coaching the third-best offence in the league.

Still, Young Boys start to the season was a huge disappointment, losing their first two games to freshly promoted FC Sion and last years third-place team in Servette.

With the expectation of becoming champions once again, that is a rough piece of work to start on for Patrick Rahmen.

In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will provide an in-depth analysis on what part of Patrick Rahmen tactics he brought from the small FC Winterthur to the prominent Young Boys and how he implemented his playing style in the first two games of the season.

Patrick Rahmen Formations And Players Used

Patrick Rahmen brought his style of play to Bern, but he also respected the style of play that the club has implemented over the last couple of years.

In both games, YB have used a 4-4-2 formation to start the game, a rather traditional way of playing.

Captain von Ballmoos starts in goal after winning the battle against Rahmens last goalkeeper, Marvin Keller, a Swiss U21 national team player.

The back four underwent changes on the left side after Hadjam was sent off in the first game against Sion, with Persson and Zoukrou rotating into the starting eleven against Servette for Hadjam and Husic.

The right side of the defensive line consists of Sandro Lauper and Lewin Blum.

Filip Ugrinic is the key player in midfield.

Currently, he is partnered with young holding midfielder Miguel Chaiwa.

Out wide, Joel Monteiro started both games, with Kastriot Imeri and Mershack Elia playing on the other wing.

Up front, Silvère Ganvoula has earned his starting spot at the moment, starting both games.

Against Sion, Rahmen opted to use the quick and shifty Elia as a partner for the big target man Ganvoula, but against Servette, Rahmen even used a second target man in Cedric Itten to pair up with Ganvoula.

While the double pivot and the right side of the formation seem set, YB used a hefty rotation on their left side in just two games of the season, showing that Rahmen has not found his perfect eleven just yet.

Wing-Play And Diamonds

Patrick Rahmen was surprisingly successful with his small club side at FC Winterthur.

The offence, especially their efficient attack of the wings, was vital to this success.

In the first two games, YB are also showing many of the traits that Winterthur showed last season.

Rahmens men are focusing on attacking through the wings, especially on their right side.

In the build-up, the centre-backs are tasked with relatively easy passes between themselves until they trigger to play through a pass onto one of the full-backs.

Most of the time, Rahmens men trigger play through a pass from Lauper to Blum.

The full-backs are tasked with receiving the ball in at least a half-open stance and turning towards the field with their first contact.

The moment the ball reaches the full-back, Young Boys start to build triangles on that side of the pitch.

More specifically, they are building a diamond on the wing consisting of the full-back, the near-sided central midfielder, the winger, and the near-sided striker.

Rahmen implemented this at Winterthur last season as well but in a slightly different way.

After receiving the ball, Blum has multiple options.

In this example, he plays a first-time pass to Ganvoula, who is dropping into midfield and dragging his defender out of position.

Ganvoula now has multiple option