Thorsten Fink Tactics 2024/25: Elevating KRC Genk With A Pressing & Possession Masterclass

KRC Genk have become a staple in the highly coveted Championship Playoff of the Belgian Pro League over the last few seasons, qualifying for international competitions multiple times.

Under manager Wouter Vrancken, the club finished first in the 2022/23 regular season, but in the end, the team of the long-time Mechelen head coach failed to secure the league title in the Playoff.

After a rather underwhelming follow-up season, Genk barely scraped by and got into the Champions Playoff on the last matchday.

Still, Vrancken openly spoke about his desire to leave the club for the upcoming campaign and was fired three weeks before the term ended.

Not only did the coach wish to leave the club, but multiple players followed in his footsteps.

With earnings of about €86m, the club had a lot of money but suffered a drastic loss of quality after a disappointing season.

The team hired Thorsten Fink from VV Sint-Truiden as a replacement.

Fink has had an up-and-down career up to this point; after a strong start to his managerial career at Red Bull Salzburg and Basel, Fink had an average stint at Hamburger SV and failed to have a long-lasting impact at Austria Wien and, therefore, was fired from both jobs.

From then on, Fink travelled the footballing world, working in Cyprus, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, and Switzerland before joining Sint-Truiden.

Now, at age 57, he leads the league with KRC Genk.

In this tactical analysis and head coach analysis, we will examine Thorsten Finks tactics that he implemented at Genk to help them improve their situation in the summer.

Stretching & Long Balls

There was a reason why Genk brought in Thorsten Fink, even though the season of VVST ended in a rather expected way.

The German manager implemented a possession-based style of play at the small Belgian club and surprised many teams during the season with his sides excellent passing play.

Fink usually preferred a 4-3-2-1 formation and brought that over to KRC Genk as well.

Still, after a series of problematic defensive performances to start the season, he decided to return to a back four and a 4-2-3-1 formation that his predecessor Vrancken used during his tenure, just because his players are more used to that.

Looking at their possession tactics, Fink still implemented many of the positive strategies he also used at VVST last season.

One thing that catches the eye right from the start is their very narrow shape in possession.

The centre-b