The 2019/20 Belgian Pro League season came to an early end due to the worldwide pandemic. As a consequence Club Brugge were crowned champions of Belgium and qualified for the Champions League. Teams like KAA Gent, Antwerp and Charleroi completed the top four and tried to give Brugge a good run for their money.
With this in mind, the game between last season’s third-placed Charleroi and fourth-placed Antwerp promised to be an exciting game. Both teams came into the game with totally different perspectives. Charleroi topped the table with nine points and because of Beerschot’s unfortunate slip up, Chareloi could be the lonely leaders if they could win this game.
Antwerp have had a rather disappointing start to the season despite winning the Belgian cup. The Great Old lost, drew and won one game before going into this game.
In this tactical analysis, we will provide an analysis of the tactics employed by both teams during this game.
Lineups and formations
Ivan Leko chose to start his team in a 3-4-2-1 system with only making one change from the previous game. Jean Butez started between the posts. The three centre-backs for the day were Ritchie De Laet, Abdoulaye Seck and Dylan Batubinsika. The wing-backs were Simen Juklerod and Didier Lamkel Zé. The midfield box consisted of Birger Verstraete, Faris Haroun, Lior Refaelov and Pieter Gerkens. Dieumerci Mbokani led the attacking line for Antwerp on paper.
The Charleroi manager Karim Belhocine went for the 4-2-3-1 formation to field his eleven. Nicolas Penneteau was the goalkeeper. The back four consisted of Maxime Busi, Steeven Willems, Dorian Dessoleil and Joris Kayembe. In front of them were the two pivots, Guillaume Gillet and Marco Ilaimaharita while on the left was Shamar Nicholson and on the right Ali Gholizadeh. With Ryota Morioka in behind the striker Kaveh Rezaei.
Both pressing strategies frustrating each other
Both teams came into this game with different perspectives. And this was clearly within their pressing strategies. Antwerp was more urged to press forward and win the ball back in Charleroi’s defensive third.
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