Coupe de France 2019/20: Monaco vs Reims – tactical analysis

Spanish manager Robert Moreno kickstarted his reign at Monaco with an impressive win over Reims in the round of 64 in Coupe de France at Stade Louis II on Saturday.

Monaco sacked Portuguese manager Leonardo Jardim once again in December and immediately replaced him with Moreno. The ambitious manager  who previously took charge of the Spain national team only to resign five months later despite an impressive unbeaten run  now looks to bring stability to an already strong Monaco squad.

Meanwhile, Reims  who are currently managed by David Guion  have been on a magnificent run so far as they enjoy an impressive campaign. Guions side have built an impenetrable wall in defence, conceding only 10 goals so far in Ligue 1 (tied at the top ranking for fewest goals conceded) and they are currently sitting in seventh place in the table whilst also qualifying to the quarter-finals of Coupe de la Ligue.

In this tactical analysis, well take a look at both teams tactics and how a free-scoring Monaco managed to scrape out a 2-1 victory against one of the best defences in France.

Lineups

Monaco (4-3-3)

Starting XI: Lecomte  Henrichs, Glik, Maripán, Ballo-Touré  Bakayoko, Golovin, Fàbregas  Martins, Baldé, Ben Yedder

Bench: Sy, Badiashile, Silva, Augustin, Dias, Jovetić, Slimani

Moreno deployed his team in a 4-3-3 system in this game. So far this season, Monaco have only played twice (including this game) with a 4-3-3 system and one of them resulted in a big loss (0-3 at home against Lille). However, Jardims 4-3-3 and Morenos 4-3-3 looked much different. One may even say that Morenos 4-3-3 seemed to be the better version than Jardims.

Monaco previously used a 3-4-3 formation in their massive 5-0 win at home against Lille in Ligue 1. There were not many changes in terms of personnel.

Benjamin Henrichs got his first start after missing out for a while due to injuries and lack of fitness, while Fode Ballo-Touré started as a left-back, replacing Gil Dias. Meanwhile, Benjamin Lecomte retained his spot as the starting goalkeeper while Danijel Subašić was suspended due to the red card he received in the previous match against Lille.

Tiémoué Bakayoko and Aleksandr Golovin once again maintained their spot in the centre of the field while experienced midfielder Cesc Fàbregas was back again in the starting lineup, playing as the 8 alongside Golovin while Bakayoko sat at the bottom of the midfield three.

Monaco retained their three-man frontline of Gelson Martins, Keita Baldé, and Wissam Ben Yedder who all have been very impressive lately.

Reims (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI: Lemaitre  Foket, Disasi, Abdelhamid, Kamara  Munetsi, Chavalerin  Cafaro, Dingomé, Donis  Oudin

Bench: Rajković, Costa, Konan, Kutesa, Sissoko, Dia, Doumbia

Guion brought his team into the game with the usual 4-2-3-1 formation. There were not many changes in terms of personnel as well, as most of the players that started against Lyon in the previous fixture, started again in this game.

Only Nicolas Lemaitre and Anastasios Donis that came into the starting lineup, while first-choice goalkeeper Predrag Rajković and Moussa Doumbia were relegated to the bench.

Monaco dangerous in attack but struggling to score

As usual, Monaco started their build-up phase by playing out from the back with the goalkeeper distributing the ball short to the nearby centre-back.

Theres something that seemed a bit different in their build-up. Usually, Monaco would have only two players at the back (when playing with a back four) but have three in front of the backline. The two full-backs usually sit asymmetrically with the ball-near full-back offering support by sitting a bit deeper while the ball-far full-back would sit high and wide to provide width and force the opposing winger to drop deeper.

However, as you can see above, this time both full-backs sit deeper. This way the opposing winger would often get attracted to press the full-back when the ball was played towards them and this would open up space around the half-space and the flank which would be exploited by the 8 and the winger of Monaco. Though in the build-up phase Monaco seemed quite rigid with their shape, once they get into the opposition half, they would be much more flexible.

With four at the back, Monaco ensured numerical superiority which made it quite difficult for Reims to press them.

Monaco played a possession-based football, keeping possession and mainly exchanged short passes most of the time and moved the ball ar