Godson Kyeremeh at Annecy 2021/22: National 1 promotion contenders’ 21-year-old MVP – scout report

This tactical analysis piece will be part two of a series exploring some of the most exciting players in France’s third tier, Championnat National 1. The first part of this series, which you can read here at Total Football Analysis — tactical analysis — focused on 19-year-old Florent Da Silva, who’s currently on loan at third-tier side Villefranche from Ligue 1 giants Lyon. The teenage creator has been described as one of Lyon’s “biggest talents” in the past and has been one of National 1’s finest footballers since making his loan switch to Villefranche in January.

This week’s scout report looks at another exciting young player who’s on loan in France’s third tier, though this player’s parent club is a lower standard than that of Da Silva, as this scout report focuses on 21-year-old winger Godson Kyeremeh (175cm/5’9, 60kg/132lbs), who’s spent the entire 2021/22 season on loan at third-tier promotion contenders Annecy from Ligue 2 Caen — a club that has produced the likes of Chelseas NGolo Kanté, Atlético Madrids Thomas Lemar and Borussia Dortmunds Raphaël Guerreiro in the past.

I’ve been watching Kyeremeh closely throughout the season and can safely say he’s played a very important role in putting Annecy in their favourable second place position with just five games left to play in the 2021/22 campaign. The young Frenchman, who’s also eligible to play for the Democratic Republic of the Congo according to Wyscout, has primarily played as a right-winger in Annecy’s 4-4-2 system this term, though he’s also spent some time on the left. However, regardless of whether he’s placed on the right or left, the attacker has exclusively been used as a wide attacker for Annecy.

Kyeremeh has directly contributed to a lot of Annecy’s attacking output this season. The 21-year-old has provided eight assists for his side (the most of any Annecy player and second-most of any National 1 winger this term) from an xA of 5.39 (also the second-most of any National 1 winger in 2021/22), while he’s also scored eight goals (the second-most of any Annecy player) from an xG of 4.48 (the fifth-most of any National 1 winger this season, per Wyscout). So, having directly contributed to a third of his team’s 48 league goals this term, it’s clear that Kyeremeh’s loan spell with the Haute-Savoie-based club has been fruitful, providing the 21-year-old with valuable experience in acting as a key player for the promotion contenders.

This scout report provides an in-depth analysis of Kyeremeh’s role within Laurent Guyot’s strategy and tactics. I hope that this piece will paint a clear picture of Kyeremeh through analysis of what I’ve identified as some of the key strengths, weaknesses and unique traits within his game, while I hope this tactical analysis clarifies how and why the attacker has been such a success during his loan spell with the National 1 side this season.

Chance creation

The bulk of this tactical analysis will focus on Kyeremeh’s role as a creator for Annecy and we’ll explore this aspect of his game in our first section of analysis. In analysing Kyeremeh’s role in chance creation for Annecy, I’ll specifically look at his dribbling, crossing and off the ball movement.

Firstly, Kyeremeh isn’t someone you should expect to create via line-breaking passes, nor is he someone you’ll often find operating in the half-space, aiming to play in front of the opposition’s backline to create. Rather, the Annecy loanee is a wide attacker in the true sense of the term, typically preferring to remain outside the width of the 18-yard box. If you were to split the wing channel (from the sideline to the edge of the 18-yard box) in two, you’ll often find Kyeremeh receiving the ball out in the wider half before aiming to create from the other half, just on the edge of the box.

Kyeremeh doesn’t get heavily involved in his team’s chance creation as a passer, preferring to remain an option as a runner for his teammates. You’ll often find the 21-year-old aiming to exploit space in behind the opposition’s backline via a run or getting tight to the touchline where he can receive a pass from a teammate and pull an opposition full-back out wide, forcing this defender into a 1v1. From there, Kyeremeh likes to run at the defender, using his technical dribbling quality, as well as physical agility and pace to attack the penalty area.

Figures 1-2 show an example of Kyeremeh making a run to exploit space behind the opposition’s backline in the chance creation phase. Just before this image, we saw the attacker rotate his body to go from facing the passer to facing the space behind the defensive line. Then, he took a couple of steps out into a slightly wider position, creating some extra separation from the nearest opposition defender to try and make himself a more attractive passing option for the passer in midfield, who just carried the ball past the opposition’s midfield line and into the position we see him passing from in figure 1.

The winger timed his run to match the point at which it appeared as though the passer was ready to release and this is where we pick up the play in figure 1, with Kyeremeh in the process of running in behind and the passer just making contact with the ball.