Under former Bayern and Frankfurt head coach, Niko Kovač, Monaco had a good 2020/21 season by making it into third place and participated in a cup final. This won Kovač the best coach in Ligue 1 of the season award, and the project could continue as Monaco kept key players such as Aleksandr Golovin.
While there were high expectations for the 2021/22 campaign, the slow start of Monaco might be a bit disappointing to their supporters. The team recruited Myron Boadu, Jean Lucas, and Ismail Jakobs to strengthen the squad, but they could not make it into the UEFA Champions League group stage. In Ligue 1, they also struggled to produce the same intensity, only recording one point after three games.
So, which part of the tactics were not working? This tactical analysis will delve into some key games of Kovač’s team and see where the team did could improve.
Statistical comparison
By using the data from Wyscout, we compared the first seven official games of Monaco to their average statistics last season:
| xG-G per 90 | xGA-GA per90 | Shots per 90 | Possession | PPDA | |
| 2020/21 | 1.8-2.02 | 0.9-1.09 | 11.95 | 55.22% | 10.55 |
| 2021/22 | 1.7-1.14 | 0.62-1.14 | 14.43 | 59.7% | 7.69 |
As the numbers told, Monaco were more aggressive in the defence this season, as the PPDA dropped from 10.55 to 7.69, which shows their intensity increased. This also resulted in higher possession, from 55.22% to 59.7% suggested Monaco controlled the ball more often this season. This positively reflected in shot per 90, as they had 2.48 more shots per 90 than the previous campaign. However, the improved quantity of shots was not equivalent to improved quality. Despite more shots were taken in each game, their xG dropped slightly from 1.8 to 1.7, while the conversion was not good too. Last season, they scored a few more goals than expected, but now they were seriously underperforming, only scored eight from 11 xG. The underperforming issue also occurred defensively, as they conceded eight goals from 4.34 xG, which was a poor display.
Positional struggles in Lorient
Against Lorient, Monaco rotated a bit as there was an important midweek fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk. The likes of Golovin, Caio Henrique, and Wissam Ben Yedder were rested but Kovač still got a good plan to achieve strategic advantages.
The team came with a 4-2-3-1 on paper, but the full-backs operated asymmetrically and the exact shape was a 3-2-2-3. Theoretically, it was a great plan against Lorient’s 5-3-2, as Monaco had a 3v2 in the first line while enjoying a 4v3 overload in the midfield. You can refer to the shape of the above image. However, things did not work ideally according to the plan.
In that game, Monaco had serious depth issues, width issues, and individual issues that led to too many turnovers in the midfield. Firstly, their high front three (Jakobs, Gelson Martins, and Boadu) were unable to pin the opposition backline. Hence, Lorient defenders always stepped up aggressively from the back to press the closed body receivers in half-spaces. We indicated the situation in the above image as well.
Subscribe To TFA To Unlock All Posts - Free 7 Day Trial
Try TFA Free For 7 Days
Gain access to all of TFA's premium contents.More than 12,000+ articles.
