In the first match day back after the resumption of the Belgian Pro League, one of the best fixtures came at Het Kuipje, with Westerlo taking on Royal Antwerp.
This match was by far the most entertaining of the selection in the Pro League, with a high-octane second half resulting in a 3-3 finish.
This tactical analysiswill take a look at one interesting tactical aspect from each side, with Westerlo’s ability to create overloads in the wide areas and exploit the Antwerp high line at times.
From an Antwerp perspective, the contributions that young Dutch midfielder Calvin Stengs played in the late comeback for the 3rd-placed side will be examined.
Lineups
Jonas de Roeck set his Westerlo side up in a 4-4-2 formation, with Sinan Bolat starting in goal.
In the centre-half positions, 19-year-old Turkey U21 international Ravil Tagir started next to experienced former Russian international Roman Neustädter.
In the fullback positions, Club Brugge loanee Maxim de Cuyper started at left back, with American Bryan Reynolds starting at right back.
Moving into midfield, Halil Akbunar started as the left midfielder, with former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Nacer Chadli starting on the right.
Mathias Fixelles and Nicolas Madsen began in the central midfield positions.
The two up top consisted of Malian Nene Dorgeles and South African international Lyle Foster.
Mark van Bommel had a similar tactical setup to his opposite number, with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich midfielder setting his Antwerp side up in a 4-4-2 formation.
Usual #1 goalkeeper Jean Butez started in net, behind a back four of Gastón Avila, William Pacho, Toby Alderweireld, and Ritchie de Laet.
Moving forward into midfield, Kosovan Arbnor Muja started, with Arthur Vermeeren, Calvin Stengs, and Jelle Bataille starting alongside him.
Up top, Dutch international Vincent Janssen started alongside Michael Frey.
Westerlo’s success in the wide areas to exploit Antwerp defensively
Most of Westerlo’s attacking success came by exploiting the wide areas, with the majority of their penetrating carries into the penalty box occurring from either the left or right flanks.
This was a result of Westerlo looking to play quickly at times, playing passes over the top and into the wide channels to catch the Antwerp fullbacks out as a result of their high line.
When Westerlo attacked slower and used build-up play more, they looked to create overloads against the Antwerp fullbacks in the wide areas.
This allowed them to progress the ball into the final third more and created better chances going forward.
The data viz above shows the penetrating carries from Westerlo in the match against Antwerp, with 28 of them making their way into the penalty box.
As the graphic shows, the majority of them originated from the wide area at some point during the attacking move, with the home side looking to stretch the opposition’s defence and create space in the central areas inside the penalty box.
Westerlo also looked to attack quickly into the wide channels at times, with them looking to exploit the high line that Antwerp were looking to play defensively.
The image above shows a good example of Westerlo’s quality in these counterattacking moments.
With Antwerp turning the ball over in an advanced area, they looked to counterattack quickly, catching the Antwerp defence out with the entire back line in the attacking half.
As a result, the ball is played quickly to the striker who has drifted wide to exploit this space behind the fullback, who is able to drive towards the penalty box with supporting runners getting beyond him centrally.
The next part of this attacking phase of play by Westerlo is shown above.
As the striker drives into the penalty box from the wide area, he spots the unmarked Akbunar running into the penalty box at the back post area.
The Antwerp midfielder was forced to track back into the box as well to help, with the cross intercepted by the midfielder and sent back out into the midfield area.
However, as a result of the midfielder tracking back to help, Nicolas Madsen was left unmarked.
As a result, the ball was cleared to him on the edge of the box, where he was able to curl a shot into the bottom corner past the diving Butez, doubling the home side’s lead.
The image above shows an example of Westerlo using the wide spaces to create an overload against the Antwerp fullback, which allowed them to progress the ball into the penalty box and create a decent goal-scoring chance.
In this phase of play above, Westerlo have created a 2v1 overload against the fullback, which allows them to pull one of the opposition centre-backs out of possession as the ball is played into the space behind the fullback.
This allowed the third Westerlo attacker to run into the space left vacant by the central defender, which allowed the ball to then be played to him.
After receiving the ball in the vacant space, he was able to have space to send a ball across goal, but unfortunately, no Westerlo attacker was able to get onto the end of it.
The above image shows another example of the ability of Westerlo to find success in isolating the Antwerp wide players defensively.
In the phase of play, Westerlo are once again able to create a 2v1 overload, which allows space to open up behind the Antwerp defence.
The run of the Westerlo attacker on the edge of the box is able to pull the central defender out of position, which allows the space to open up for the striker to make an in-to-out run into the space.
Unfortunately, the ensuing pass is overhit and goes out of play for an Antwerp goal kick, but the space was able to be created by Westerlo’s ability to get these numerical-advantage situations on the Antwerp defenders.
Westerlo were able to have plenty of success exploiting the spaces left by the Antwerp fullbacks out wide, and this played a large part in the success they were able to find going forward in this match.
The Belgian side are having a spectacular start to their season after being promoted back up to the top flight this season, and are in pole position to finish in a European playoff spot come the end of the Belgian regular season.
Calvin Stengs’s role in the Antwerp comeback
When it comes to Antwerp, the role that Calvin Stengs played in the comeback from 3-1 down with less than ten minutes left was crucial to them coming back in the first place.
Since joining on loan from Ligue 1 side OGC Nice in the summer, Stengs has not really had the greatest of times in Belgium.
With 0 goals and 1 assist this season before this match kicked off, the young Dutchman was not likely people’s first choice of being Antwerp’s Man of the Match.
However, he played brilliantly throughout the match, and his 1 assist and 1 goal in the last five minutes proved to be decisive for the 3rd-placed side.
The image above shows the assist from Stengs that leads to the second goal for Antwerp.
After dispossessing the Westerlo attacker just outside his own penalty box, the young Dutch midfielder was allowed the space to drive forward into midfield.
He is able to spot the curved run from Janssen, who gets behind the Westerlo defence as a result of their poor defensive shape in this defensive phase.
The ensuing through pass from Stengs is perfectly weighted, which allows the Antwerp striker to run onto it and send a perfect shot into the bottom corner past the diving Sinan Bolat.
The image above shows the goal from Stengs that equalised for Antwerp, and dissecting the goal and breaking it down individually is able to demonstrate everything that Stengs did right.
As Antwerp were building up play in the middle and attacking third, the Dutch midfielder was just hanging out, looking to find some space centrally.
However, as the ball progressed further forward, he slowly inched his way into an attacking position, which made him an attacking option as a result.
The ball is eventually played in by Antwerp, with the Westerlo defender making a poor clearance, which allowed the ball to dribble out towards the edge of the penalty box.
Stengs is able to get on the front foot and use a burst of acceleration to get to the ball before the defender and send a first-time finish into the back of the net, with a slight deflection along the way assisting the Dutchman.
This match was by far the best outing of Calvin Stengs’s Antwerp career so far, and if he is able to return to the form he showed when he was with AZ Alkmaar, then the Belgian side will hopefully find themselves moving back up the table.
Conclusion
As this tactical analysis has shown, both the tactics of Jonas de Roeck and Mark van Bommel played their part in this match.
However, in the case of Antwerp, the performance of a singular player outshone everything else for van Bommel’s side.
As the season continues into the new year, both of these sides will be hoping for success, with Westerlo looking to cement their spot in the European playoff places, while Antwerp will be hoping that they can continue moving up the table and get right back in the title race, especially with Genk losing to Kortrijk 1-0 in their first match after the World Cup break.
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