Since being promoted from the second tier of Belgian football a few years ago, Union Saint-Gilloise have been one of the best teams in Belgium, both to watch and from an on-the-field success perspective.
One thing the club owned by Brighton owner Tony Bloom does extremely well is recruit, with Mohamed Amoura another example of the well-run scouting department within the club.
The 23-year-old Algerian forward was signed by Swiss Super League side FC Lugano in the summer for a fee rumoured to be around €4 million.
Since signing, the Algerian has hit the ground running in Belgium, with nine goals in 11 appearances domestically.
He has started all but one of RUSG’s UEFA Europa League group-stage matches.
In contrast, he has started the last three matches domestically, displacing Dennis Eckert Ayensa in the starting XI and beginning to form a partnership with Swedish forward Gustaf Nilsson.
This tactical analysis will be a scout report on Mohamed Amoura.
It will analyse the 23-year-old’s strengths, style of play, and potential weaknesses and examine how he has been implemented into Alexander Blessin’s tactics.
Mohamed Amoura style of play
Since arriving at Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer, Mohamed Amoura has typically been deployed up top by Alexander Blessin in the German’s preferred 3-5-2 formation.
The 23-year-old Algerian has tended to start on the left side of the front two, drifting wide to the left to look to take opposition fullbacks on with his dribbling ability.
Mohamed Amoura Heat Map
The heat map above shows where Amoura tends to find himself when in possession of the ball, with this graphic helping to illustrate the forward’s tendency to drift wide left when in possession.
While he may sometimes drop deeper into midfield to support during build-up phases of play, the 23-year-old tends to stay higher up the pitch. His pace and 1v1 ability are weapons in quick transitional moments.
Amoura excels in these moments when RUSG is playing against a side that tends to hold a high defensive line.
It is common for Blessin’s side to look and exploit Amoura’s quickness up top.
Though he prefers to drift wide in attacking phases of play, the Algerian forward also excels in central areas.
Amoura only stands at 5’6″ tall, but he still displays somewhat of an aerial presence.
In recent matches domestically, Blessin has also opted to start with Amoura instead of bringing him off the bench, with Dennis Eckert Ayensa dropping to the bench in the Algerian’s place.
The introduction of Amoura into the starting XI has also allowed RUSG to break through opposition defences more easily at times.
The forward’s pace allows him to make darting runs behind opposition defenders, which allows Blessin’s side more success at penetrating opposition sides that tend to sit in a low block defensively.
This leads us to Amoura’s off-the-ball movements. The Algerian forward is excellent in this aspect of his game.
These darting runs behind opposition defenders from different angles have brought another dimension to this Union Saint-Gilloise side.
These movements allow Amoura to form a good partnership with 26-year-old Swedish striker Gustaf Nilsson.
The 6’6″ forward offers a much different skill set to the Algerian.
Nilsson looks to drop into pockets in the midfield and either hold the ball up and allow time for runners to get beyond him or flick the ball on into the space behind opposition defences, something that meshes well with what Mohamed Amoura excels at.
As this scout report will show, these are just a couple of reasons why Alexander Blessin has turned Mohamed Amoura into a key player for his side.
Mohamed Amoura Dribbling ability
This scout report will first examine Mohamed Amoura’s ability to take on opposition defenders in 1v1 situations.
In all competitions for Union Saint-Gilloise this season, Amoura has averaged 8.4 dribbles per 90 minutes, with a success rate of 52.2%.
This average per 90 minutes ranks 6th among all players in the Belgian Pro League, highlighting his strength in this area of his game.
The data visualization graphic above shows Mohamed Amoura’s dribbles and other actions in all competitions for RUSG this season when he is in possession of the final third area.
As we can again see from this graphic, the Algerian favours the left side of the pitch when he drifts away from his central starting position.
Inside the attacking third of the pitch, Amoura becomes very dangerous with the ball at his feet, though one potential weakness in his dribbling is his consistency in completing them.
With a success percentage of just over 50%, the 23-year-old would be even more dangerous if he improved this number.
The following examples show some instances of how Alexander Blessin has used his dribbling to create quality attacking chances.
The image above from a recent match against Cercle Brugge shows an example of Amoura’s dribbling in action.
In this phase of play above, the ball is in possession of RUSG’s Finnish wingback Casper Terho.
The opposition are looking to lock the ball to the touchline, with essentially the entire Cercle Brugge team shifting onto this near side.
Amoura has already come wide from his more central position, with the 23-year-old finding a pocket of space in the wide channel.
His movement allows him to make himself an option for Terho to pass to, with the only other option to play long and give the ball back to Cercle Brugge.
The Algerian glances and is able to see the defender behind him, looking to put immediate pressure on him as he receives possession.
So, instead of receiving possession with his back to goal, Amoura dummies the ball, allowing him the space to turn the defender and get away from him into the space, with Amoura able to get back onto the loose ball and drive into the opposition’s penalty area.
The image above shows another good example of Mohamed Amoura’s close control and dribbling ability, this time from their UEFA Europa League match away in France to Toulouse.
In this attacking phase of play for RUSG, Amoura receives the ball and is faced up with one of the Toulouse centre-backs.
This figure illustrates the close control that goes along with the dribbling, as the pass played into Amoura from the midfielder is sent in with a bit of pace.
The Algerian forward is able to control the ball with the outside of his right foot, essentially stopping it in front of him.
The 23-year-old angles his run to make it look like he was planning to take the initial touch and drive into the gap between the fullback and centre-back, but he instead is able to quickly change directions and cut inside after getting the pass under control.
As a result, the Toulouse defender’s momentum continues to send him towards the outside, essentially allowing Amoura the ability to cut inside and drive into the penalty area, where he finds himself in a 1v1 situation with the goalkeeper.
In this instance, the Toulouse goalkeeper does well to anticipate this and gets off his line fast, putting Amoura off and saving the 23-year-old’s ensuing shot.
However, this still illustrates the moments of magic that Mohamed Amoura is capable of, with the forward creating a chance out of nothing due to his close control and dribbling.
Another benefit that Amoura displays in 1v1 moments that complements his dribbling is the Algerian’s turn of pace.
In the attacking phase in the figure above against Gent, Amoura’s turn of pace helps him get past the defender, while his close control and dribbling allow him to keep the ball close.
The 23-year-old also displays a very good change of direction in this figure, with Amoura showing inside to get the defender off balance before using a burst of acceleration to get around the defender on the outside.
This is something that Amoura does often, so it could be considered his trademark move on defenders.
With Gent playing a back three, his movement also drags the centre-back into a position he does not want to occupy, with the Gent wingback caught high up the pitch.
After getting around the defender on the outside, the Algerian is able to drive towards the endline before sending a cut-back pass centrally, looking to find the onrushing attackers.
As this section has illustrated, all of these factors together make Mohamed Amoura a real danger for opposition sides when he is allowed time and space with the ball at his feet.
Shot selection and composure in front of goal
When it comes to shot selection and composure in front of goal, the Algerian forward has shown since his arrival in Belgium that he can consistently score double-digit goals.
In Amoura’s second full season in Switzerland with Lugano (2022/23), the 23-year-old scored 10 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions.
So far, Amoura has managed nine goals for Union Saint-Gilloise in all competitions, and there is still over half the season left to go in Belgium.
Looking at the statistics, the 23-year-old has averaged just over four shots per game for RUSG in all competitions this season, with 56.8% of these shots being on target.
The 23-year-old has the highest total shots per 90 minutes in the Pro League this season and the third-highest shots-on-target percentage.
The data viz graphic above shows the shots for Amoura this season, with the Algerian totalling 44 shots this season for the Belgian side.
As we can see from the graphic, the 23-year-old has rather favourable shot selection. Only 8 of these shots came from outside the penalty box, and one of those resulted in a goal.
Amoura looks to get into good positions before attempting shots, which allows him to display his tendency not to just give possession away cheaply by taking shots from distance or whenever an opportunity presents itself.
The figure above shows an example of Mohamed Amoura’s shot selection, with this shot resulting in a goal against RWDM.
In this attacking phase of play, the Algerian forward receives possession in a wider position with the outside of his right foot, essentially stopping the ball dead and allowing him to take a touch inside with his left before shifting the ball back onto his right.
The opposition centre-back drops off, which allows the forward the time and space to line up a shot from the edge of the area.
The ensuing shot from Amoura is bent into the far corner, away from the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
The image above shows another example of Mohamed Amoura’s shot selection and composure in front of goal this season.
In this phase of play from their last league match against Cercle Brugge, the Algerian is in on goal after receiving a ball over the top after sitting on the shoulders of the Cercle Brugge defensive line.
After taking the ball down and controlling possession, the 23-year-old was able to drive into the penalty box with the defenders bearing down on him.
This is where Amoura displays a good deal of composure, with the 23-year-old forward slotting the ball into the far corner past the onrushing Warleson in the Cercle Brugge goal.
This example is able to display the full package that Amoura displays in front of goal for Union Saint-Gilloise.
As this section has shown, while Mohamed Amoura is not the finished product from a goal-scoring perspective, he has improved under Alexander Blessin’s tutelage.
The 23-year-old Algerian forward has already displayed the qualities he possesses in front of goal often this season, making him a potential player to watch out for from a goalscoring perspective over the course of the rest of this Belgian Pro League season.
Off-the-ball movements & positioning up top
The last thing we will look at regarding Mohamed Amoura is the forward’s off-the-ball movements and positioning up top, which is arguably one of the strongest traits in the Algerian game.
As mentioned earlier in this analysis, Amoura has been able to form a strong partnership with Gustaf Nilsson up top, with the two players’ skill sets complementing each other well.
He also offers a different dynamic to Eckert Ayensa, with the German forward falling somewhere between Nilsson and Amoura in terms of style of play.
The Algerian is able to make more dynamic movements up top and off the ball.
The 23-year-old can play on the last line and make darting runs into wide channels and in behind the defence.
This combines well with what Nilsson brings to the table. The tall Swedish striker looks to hold play up and allow players to run beyond him.
The image above shows an example of Mohamed Amoura’s off-the-ball movements, with his constant ability to make darting runs looking to cause trouble for opposition defences.
In this phase of play from a recent domestic match against Gent, the 23-year-old forward looks to reinvent his run to create a passing lane for the Union Saint-Gilloise midfielder to find.
Though Amoura finds himself positioned between three Gent defenders, the Algerian forward does well to make a run off the blind side of the front post defender, with this darting run going into the space between the Gent defenders and goalkeeper.
He holds off on making the run for a long period of time, which keeps the defenders at home and stuck in two minds. They do not want to step out to engage and risk playing Amoura onside for an easy through pass in behind.
Unfortunately, the attempted through pass has too much weight on it, with the goalkeeper able to claim the pass before Amoura can get onto the end of it.
This still demonstrates the movements that Mohamed Amoura looks to make and his ability to pin opposition and defences back and open up space for midfielders to move into more advanced positions.
Along with the darting runs and tendency to drift wide, another thing that Amoura tends to do off the ball is look to stay on the shoulders of the last defenders.
The Algerian is typically the furthest player forward for RUSG in either the build-up or defensive phases of play.
Though he does not typically start with Eckert Ayensa, in this recent Europa League match against LASK, the 23-year-old was paired with the German up top from the start.
However, notice how Eckert Ayensa is looking to drop into pockets of space in midfield, with Amoura staying high and keeping the LASK backline honest and at home.
Due to Amoura’s position when Union Saint-Gilloise has possession and is building, it forces opposition defences back, with Amoura essentially pinning them in and not allowing them to push up, limiting the space between the lines.
This positioning allows Eckert Ayensa to be free in a pocket of space between the lines, with the German striker in an advanced position for the ball to be played vertically to him.
As this section has shown, Mohamed Amoura offers Alexander Blessin a lot in terms of his positioning and movements off the ball.
As the Belgian Pro League continues to progress, watch how Amoura plays out of possession with this Union Saint-Gilloise side.
Conclusion
As this tactical analysis and scout report has shown, Mohamed Amoura has become a key player for Alexander Blessin since his summer arrival at Union Saint-Gilloise from FC Lugano.
He has evolved in his position and role, with the German tactician surely playing a part in how well the Algerian is playing and in his current form.
Amoura is already playing against Liverpool in the Europa League.
Still, with RUSG at the top of the Belgian Pro League, there is a chance the 23-year-old forward may be playing UEFA Champions League football this time next season.
