Before reading this article, go to your preferred search engine, type in ‘Monaco football news’, and check what’s returned to you.
Aurélien Tchouaméni transfer speculation, amid fierce speculation surrounding the midfielder and the likes of Real Madrid and Liverpool?
Tick. One or two bits focusing on Cesc Fàbregas’ future, with the Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona legend looking to end his three-year stint in the principality, potentially?
Possibly. Speculation surrounds sporting director Paul Mitchell, with the Ralf Rangnick-approved recruitment expert reportedly under the watch of clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea. Maybe.
This is completely understandable and not at all a knock on those pieces; I’ve no doubt enjoyed many of them.
However, has football media moved too far toward behind-the-scenes speculation and dialogue while moving away from discussions of on-pitch matters?
If you’re in the circles that discuss on-the-pitch performance regularly, this probably doesn’t matter for you, as you’ll be able to find the content you like.
In the wider domain of football discourse, however, we’re still very much operating in a gossipy world, more so than one of substantial analysis and discussion, even with the likes of Sky Sports continuously introducing more and more data and modern analytics tools into their EPL coverage to provide the viewer with a more informed view on performances.
My point here is — you wouldn’t quickly discover the story of how Monaco secured third place, and UEFA Champions League football for next season — this past weekend, on the final day of the campaign, nor would you easily get informed that Les Monégasques ended the 2021/22 season as Ligue 1’s most in-form side, thanks to 10 wins, one draw and one loss in their final 12 games, giving them 31 points; that’s seven more points than title-winners PSG and second-placed Marseille (both of whom were joint-second on the end-of-season 12-game form table) accumulated in that same time.
So, if you’re someone who wants to peruse a tactical analysis piece looking into some of the strategies and tactics implemented by Philippe Clement to achieve such good results to end the campaign and get his team into Europe’s premier competition for next term, you’ve come to the right place.
This tactical analysis aims to provide some in-depth analysis of AS Monaco’s performances during this impressive run of fixtures, not overly focusing on individuals, though of course, individual quality, ability to fulfil instructions and perform specific roles are of the utmost importance in any football team, instead this piece aims to focus primarily on Monaco as a team and how their Belgian coach and his football philosophy has led them together, as a group, to a dominant season’s end.
Philippe Clement Build-Up
We’re going to start this tactical analysis piece by examining Monaco’s performances in possession, and where better to begin than from the back, by analyzing Les Monégasques’ build-up play?
Monaco sit fifth in Ligue 1’s overall possession table (52.3%) and third in Ligue 1’s overall passing table (452.55 per 90). It probably won’t come as a massive surprise that more often than not, they start their attacks via short passes from the goalkeeper to the centre-backs or full-backs — perhaps even a holding midfielder.
Monaco place lots of importance on either creating space between the lines for their wingers, midfielders and forwards to invade and collect the ball from a deeper player’s pass before charging at the opposition’s backline, or creating space behind the opposition’s backline for their pacey forward line (usually featuring the likes of Wissam Ben Yedder, Gelson Martins and Kevin Volland, all of whom represent pacey forward options) to attack the open space.
They can regularly create this space with great efficiency via their build-up play, which often focuses on drawing the opposition’s press upfield as the deeper Monaco players circulate the ball between themselves while looking to forge an opening to cut through the opposition’s defensive shape.
When starting their attack with the ‘keeper, Monaco look to create five secure passing options for him. We see an example of this in figure 1, where just before this image, the ball was sent back to the ‘keeper’s feet from one of the centre-backs, who then pushed wide, along with his central defensive partner, to open the central passing lane into midfield, where Tchouaméni moved from his left holding midfield position in Monaco’s typical 4-2-3-1 system to a more central and slightly deeper position than his midfield partner Youssouf Fofana.
At the same time, Monaco’s full-backs advance to be in the same line as Tchouaméni at this moment, while Monaco’s wingers and ‘10’ will roam about ahead of Fofana between the lines, all likely operating on slightly different vertical and horizontal lines to make themselves more difficult for the opposition to mark and offer their deeper teammates different angles and passing options to each other.
