Will Still and Stade de Reims have received plenty of publicity and praise over the last year—and rightfully so.
On initially taking over as manager of Les Rouges et Blancs in mid-October with the club in 15th place on the league table and threatened with a relegation battle, Still led the team to an initial 14-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
He kept the team performing to a high level throughout the rest of the season, guiding them to an eventual 11th-place finish, well clear of the relegation zone.
Reims demonstrated some impressive recruitment work during the summer, experiencing a significant squad turnover but ultimately making a €10.5m net transfer profit, per Transfermarkt.
They brought in the likes of Mohamed Daramy from Eredivisie giants Ajax, Teddy Teuma from Belgian Pro League heavyweights Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Oumar Diakité from Austrian Bundesliga champions Red Bull Salzburg.
At present, Still’s side sit sixth in Ligue 1, four points off the UEFA Champions League places.
Furthermore, at the time of writing, they’ve scored 20 goals in 14 games — the third-best goalscoring record in France’s top-flight.
Set-piece expert here at Total Football Analysis, Karim El-shesheiny, went into detail on how Reims have benefitted from their training groundwork on set-pieces this term, as he analysed their effective corner routines and the positive impact they’ve had on their goalscoring numbers in 2023/24 in his October set-piece analysis piece.
This Will Still analysis and team-focused scout report will centre more on Will Stills Reims’ attacking tactics and approach from open play.
We will look into the new dynamics Still has fostered within his flourishing team this season and how Les Rouges et Blancs are benefitting from this offensive system in which those aforementioned summer signings — Daramy, Teuma and Diakité — along with one of the previous summer’s savvy buys, Junya Ito, and, finally, Marshall Munetsi have proven to be key players.
Early possession phases: Establishing how Reims set up on the ball
Under Will Still coaching style, Reims have utilised a few different formations this season out of possession.
Earlier in the campaign, it was more common to see them playing with two centre-backs, primarily lining up in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen them shift to playing with three centre-backs off the ball, with some variation of a 3-5-2 being a regular sight.
On the ball, their approach has some common features regardless of their out-of-possession shape, along with some differences.
When playing with two centre-backs (4-3-3/4-2-3-1), it’s common to see Still’s side split them on either side of the goalkeeper in build-up while the full-backs sit a line higher, hugging the touchline on either side of the pitch.
We’ll see a staggered midfield with players sitting on different vertical and horizontal lines to aid ball progression.
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