Pitso Mosimane has enjoyed a successful start to life at Al Ahly since taking the reins at the Egyptian club on 2nd October.
He joined the Red Devils in time to help them see out the 2019/20 season in style, as they won the Egyptian Premier League, the Egyptian Cup, and the CAF Champions League.
More recently, Pitso Mosimanes tactics guided his team to the bronze medal in the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup—their joint-best-ever performance in that competition, a feat they achieved just once before, in 2006.
Al Ahly have lost just two of their first 26 games under the former Mamelodi Sundowns manager, who won five Premier Soccer League titles and one CAF Champions League during his eight-year tenure with the South African side, which ended as he embarked on his new challenge with Al Ahly, and in this tactical analysis, we’re going to take a look at the tactics Mosimane has deployed with his new side, which have helped them to perform so well under the 56-year-old during the early stages of his tenure in charge.
This tactical analysis will explore Mosimane’s tactical philosophy and analyse some of his Al Ahly side’s key strengths and weaknesses, on and off the ball.
Al Ahly’s shape and positional roles under Mosimane
We’ll kick off this tactical analysis by looking at how Mosimane’s Al Ahly side has typically lined up, both in terms of the personnel that usually take to the field and their typical formation.
Mosimane has mainly utilised a 4-2-3-1 shape with his Al Ahly side.
Under this manager, the Red Devils have also played in a 4-3-3 formation, but only on a handful of occasions.
In Figure 1, Al Ahly can be seen lined up in their 4-2-3-1 shape out of possession while their opponents are playing out from the back.
We can see that they’re utilising a fairly high block here, and their 4-2-3-1 is very compact, both vertically and horizontally, with Red Devils players sticking very close to ball-near opponents.
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