Beerschot 2020/21: Their defensive structure within a back four – scout report

When pundits of the Belgian First Division A mention the compound ‘G5’, they are referring to the five ‘biggest’ teams in Belgium football. These are Anderlecht, KRC Genk, Club Brugge, KAA Gent and Standard Liege, according to the experts.

The 2020/21 season in the Belgian First Division A is already 16 games old and the so-called ‘G5’ aren’t occupying the first five positions, as is expected from them. This caused some surprises at the top of the table. One of the teams overachieving at the moment are Beerschot.

They are the league’s most entertaining team due to scoring more goals than any other team in Belgium thus far. On the other hand, their defensive stats are not to be so proud of. Remarkable is that they also conceded the most goals thus far but still occupy a place within the three best teams in the Belgian League. Although it wasn’t Beerschot’s target to become champions at the beginning of the season or anyone’s expectation that they would do so well, their defensive performances have to improve.

This tactical analysis in the form of a scout report will take a look at the key principles and tactics Hernan Losada and Will Still apply to their Beerschot. This analysis will focus predominately on the defensive phase of Beerschot’s game with a back four.

Back to basics

In my latest analysis about Beerschot, I described their defensive issues in a back five. Most recently Losada started sending his team out in a back four formation. This consequently had an impact on their defensive organisation and dynamics. Thus so far this season, Beerschot have utilised different structures depending on the structure of their opponents but with the same intensity and principles in defence/when pressing. The purpose is to be proactive and even though they are not in control of the possession to still be able to decide/control the game by forcing opponents into the spaces they want them to play into.

In defending as a unit, Hernan Losada and William Still apply principles described by AC Milan legend Arrigo Sachi. The former Atletico Madrid manager used four reference points that when coaching his team in the defensive phase, these are also clear to see when analysing Beerschot’s shape:

– Position of the ball

– Teammate

– Opposing player

– Space

As a unit is the sum of the individuals, Beerschot also apply individual principles during the defensive phase of the game. These are:

–The conviction to always win the ball back with the initial press.

– Track the opposing receiving player and making him unable to turn in order to win the ball back through a steal or force a pass back. They also use the principle to Intercept the pass but to a lesser extent. Although intercepting the ball is cleaner and avoids making a foul which allows more fluid transitional moments.

– Covering your teammate in a ball near spaces but this can also apply to ball far spaces.

– Covering opposition player to block any passing options to their teammates.

To a certain degree, one could say that every team uses these principles when defending. But the difference to each team lies in what direction and intensity they use them. For example, current Tottenham manager José Mourinho usually sets his teams up in a low block during the defensive phase. The direction refers to the state of the block being low starting in the middle third but mostly defending in their own third. Thus the intensity in a low block is very high due to the higher aggressiveness and marking becomes tighter.

Keep in mind that the description above is the most minimal explanation about a team. Especially when we consider the 32 possible combinations can be formed from the six dimensions of a teams personality.

Beerschot statistically

Firstly, we look at the area where Beerschot do their most recoveries. The graph below suggests that the darker an area is, the more recoveries have been made in this area. In Beerschot’s case, this is in their own defensive third. Although their initial attempt starts higher op the pitch. This clarifies that their initial pressing trap/attempt to win the ball back higher up the field isn’t really effective. We will discuss this later on.

Another graph below shows us the average PPDA from every team in the Belgian League this season. PPDA measures the opponent’s passes per defensive action in the opponents final 60% of the pitch. A low number indicates a faster recovery. Again, Beerschot will fall back and defend deeper in a low block against teams with sustained possession. But when they lose the ball high up the pitch, their first thought is to win the ball back as soon as possible also known as counter-pressing. Note without any system in place, but relying on principles such as blocking passing lanes and pressurising the opposition with at least two players.

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