Beijing Guoan 2020: their positional attack – scout report

Beijing Guoan scored 36 goals in the regular season of the 2020 Chinese Super League, the highest in the league. Under former Ligue 1 head coach Bruno Génésio, as the replacement of the current PSV head coach Roger Schmidt, Guoan play an offensive style of football in the league. They have 63.4% in possession, the highest in the league.

In this tactical analysis, we shall examine Beijing Guoan’s offensive tactics. In this scout report, we shall delve into how Beijing Guoan dominate in the positional attack in the league.

Lineups and system

Beijing Guoan utilise a 1-4-3-1-2 offensive system. Usually, they keep a narrow four in the midfield, forming a boxed shape, which will be detailed in the next section in this analysis.

However, different players might bring a bit of different tactics on the pitch. For example, former Leverkusen player Renato Augusto could use his mobility to occupy the width in the midfield/ front-line.

The frequent starting-eleven is manifested below:

Bakambu and Alan would pair up as the front-two, while Zhang Yuning would replace Alan from time to time. Former La Liga player Jonathan Viera is deployed as the number ten. Three midfielders would be Renato Augusto, Fernando and Chi Zhongguo. Zhang Xizhe and Nico Yennaris would also play in the midfield in the match. The back four are rather stable: Li Lei, Yu Yang, Min Jae Kim and Wang Gang. Guo Quanbo is the goalkeeper.

Playing out from the back

For Guoan, they intend to develop the play through the centre. Thus, one of their principles of play is to create density in the central spaces, which leads to the boxed shape of their midfielders. They would have two pivots to support the defensive line and two in front as options to develop central plays.