PSV Eindhoven Scouting Report 2024/2025 – Malik Tillman & Ryan Flamingo’s Vital Roles

PSV Eindhoven have gotten off to a brilliant start to the 2024/25 domestic season in the Netherlands.

With five wins from five in the Eredivisie and a whopping twenty goals scored, Peter Boszs defending Dutch champions could hardly be doing better.

In this analysis, though, rather than examining the sides tactics in depth, the focus will be on two players who joined permanently in the summer and have already become key: Malik Tillman and Ryan Flamingo.

Both acquired in the summer (Tillman permanently after being on loan last term), this tactical analysis and scout report will aim to explore the roles of the young stars who have been significantly contributing factors to the Eindhoven outfits early-season success and how they have plugged themselves into the setup there.

Malik Tillman Scouting Report  22 Years Old, AM/LW

Tillman was undoubtedly a key cog in PSV winning their first league title in six years last season, having registered 20 goals and assist contributions throughout the campaign, a tally only bettered by the lethal attacking force of Luuk de Jong and Johan Bakayoko.

There was little question over whether PSV would attempt to sign him on permanently from FC Bayern this summer.

Indeed, they did, for just €12m, which seems like a drop in the ocean for a player whos done as much as the USMNT international has done in his relatively short career in two loan stints at PSV and Rangers.

As Tillman slots into Boszs preferred 4-3-3 system, there are a couple of key things to note about what the player brings to the team: his movement off the ball to find pockets of space to receive the ball in areas where he can impact the game, as well as his defensive awareness and contributions when needed.

Tillman is an attacking player by nature who likes to get on the ball and make things happen.

Although players like him are most effective the higher up the field they are, his ability to support defensively has led to him finding a berth in PSVs midfield as an attacking #8.

Given that PSV usually has high possession and attacking stats in the Eredivisie, they can play such offensive players in a key area of the field more, thus giving Tillman more license to leave his imprint on games.

First, lets look at his off-the-ball movement when playing as a #8.

In the above example from the Super Cup against Feyenoord, Tillman can be seen dropping in between the Feyenoord lines and finding space to receive the ball in an area where he can control and turn directly towards their goal on the attack.

Feyenoords coverage is poor, with no one pi