Vitesse 2023/24: Unmasking the culprits behind their relegation battle quandary – tactical analysis

In recent Eredivisie seasons, Vitesse Arnhem have been a club that have regularly finished in the top half of the table, almost always pushing for European qualification. In fact, the club were in the UEFA Europa League group stages back in the 2018/19 season, while they competed in the UEFA Europa Conference League in the 2021/22 season. 

However, this season has been nothing short of a disaster for the Dutch club. Currently, the club sit bottom of the Eredivisie, three points back of the relegation playoff position and seven points from safety. Former Barcelona player Phillip Cocu was in charge at the start of the campaign but resigned in November after only earning eight points in the club’s first twelve matches. Since then, the club have been put in temporary charge of former player Edward Sturing, with the 60-year-old Dutchman not faring much better. 

This tactical analysis and scout report will take a deeper look at the main problems that are affecting the Eredivisie side this season, as well as potentially offer some solutions as to how Vitesse could get out of this situation and still be playing top-flight football next season. 

Poor box defending and man-marking 

One of the main problems that has plagued Vitesse throughout the course of this Eredivisie campaign has been their poor box defending, which has arisen from the constant tendency of the Vitesse defenders to be poor at man-marking inside the penalty area. 

The data viz graphic above shows the defensive territory of Vitesse this season, with this graphic able to give a bit more of a clearer picture of where the Dutch club’s problems lie. As we can see, the average height of Vitesse’s defensive line is inside the middle third of the pitch, with the Dutch side looking to hold a high defensive line.

Most of their defensive deficiencies this season have occurred in the penalty area, with the graphic highlighting the rather lack of defensive actions occurring in this area. This has mainly come down to the poor marking ability of the Vitesse defenders inside this area, with their poor box defending leading to plenty of uncontested shots by opposition attackers.