Tactically, I’ve read Frank Boeckx’s analysis in HLN, with my folder of team sheets open on the kitchen table. Anderlecht face Club Bruges on Sunday, and he proposes man-marking in midfield to cut off the supply to the Bruges forwards. His line, to HLN: “Kana has to follow Vanaken everywhere, if necessary to the toilet.”
To the toilet. I put my pen down.
At my place, the toilets in the prefab dressing room haven’t locked for two seasons. I wouldn’t recommend marking anyone in there. But on the substance, I agree with him. Man-marking, I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is.
I copied out the rest. Boeckx keeps the defence: Ali Maamar, Giulian Biancone, Léo Pétrot and Ludwig Augustinsson. In midfield, Marco Kana, Ilias Koutsoupias and Mario Stroeykens, who have the highest pass completion rates among the midfielders in Anderlecht’s squad: 90.6%, 88.7% and 88.8%. Stroeykens has played only 197 minutes in the league. Up front, Lukas Ambros on the left, Mihajlo Cvetkovic on the right, Tawfik Bentayeb through the middle. Cvetkovic has scored six, Bentayeb three, and Ambros is the one who has created the most chances.
And the detail that made me look up: Club Bruges create the most chances in the league, but very few on the break. Almost everything comes from their own build-up. So you cut off the midfield. That’s exactly what I tell my number 6 when the opposition has a good left-footer. He tells me he has to leave at 4:30pm for his daughter’s party.
According to MyGamePlan, no team concedes fewer expected goals per match than Anderlecht. Me, I don’t have MyGamePlan. I have the delegate (our club’s matchday official), who counts lost balls on the back of a beer mat. A flat pitch away, mind you, it’s the same job.
It’s true, we checked: HLN.
