This season in the Challenger Pro League has mainly been one of disappointment for SK Beveren. The club was one of the early favourites for promotion, but after a very poor start to the season, they are now stuck in the Belgian second tier for the 2024/25 campaign. However, one player who may not be in the second division with Beveren next season is Goduine Koyalipou. The 24-year-old Central African Republic international is the current top scorer in the Challenger Pro League and likely to attract plenty of interest.
His 16 goals scored in 29 league appearances makes him the top scorer, with the 24-year-old joining Beveren on a free transfer last summer from Swiss Super League side Lausanne-Sport. It would be unsurprising if clubs in the Belgian Pro League and abroad were already looking closely at the forward for a potential summer move, with this tactical analysis and scout report looking at Koyalipou’s strengths, weaknesses, and style of play in more detail.
Positional overview
The figure above shows the heat map of Goduine Koyalipou over the course of this Challenger Pro League season. The 24-year-old has typically either been played as a single #9 in a 4-2-3-1 formation or as a second striker in a 4-4-2 this season. One early strength to point out in Koyalipou’s game is that the Central African Republic international has the ability to play well in either a one or two front, with the forward able to adjust his style of play and skillset to make a significant impact for his side.
As we can see from the heatmap shown above, Koyalipou does not just look to play as a forward who sits on the shoulder of the last defender and makes runs in behind. The 24-year-old has the ability to drop into pockets and assist in build-up or look to run at defenders and take them on 1v1 with his dribbling ability. However, the penalty box is still where he shines. His presence in this area has been crucial for Beveren’s attacking output this season, with Koyalipou having the third most touches in the penalty area out of all players in the Challenger Pro League this season.
Ability to link play and support teammates in build-up
While it has already been made clear that Koyalipou tends to excel the most when he is in more advanced attacking positions, his work rate off the ball helps him to be involved in linking play in deeper positions, looking to support teammates in these more central and less advanced positions.
The data viz graphic above shows the pass map of Koyalipou this season for Beveren. While he is not majorly impactful with his passing range, he will look to drop anywhere around the pitch to gather possession of the ball, as the graphic is able to illustrate. We can also see from the graphic that the greatest concentration of these passes have occurred in the wide channels, with there being times throughout this season where the 24-year-old has played more as a wide midfielder for Beveren.
This image above gives a more visual descriptor of Koyalipou’s ability to link play and advance the game forward. In this phase of play, Beveren has just successfully defended against an opposition attacking moment, with the ball being cleared towards the 24-year-old, who has stayed in a more advanced area of the pitch.
After receiving possession, instead of just turning and running towards the defenders and trying to do something spectacular, Koyalipou instead looks to slow play down, demonstrating a bit of strength to hold play up while his teammates are looking to quickly make advanced runs beyond him to start an incisive counterattack. The Central African Republic international can attract two opposition defenders towards him, subsequently opening up a gap behind them. After a little bit of individual skill as well to keep the ball away from the defenders, Koyalipou is able to play a perfectly weighted pass into the path of his teammate, making an underlapping run centrally, with Beveren able to embark on a counterattack.
This image above shows a similar situation for Koyalipou as the previous example, with the same end product. For Beveren, Koyalipou is not always frequently behind the ball in defensive phases of play, with the 24-year-old striker typically used as the Belgian side’s outlet when they are looking to relieve pressure or attempt a counterattack.
In this phase of play above from one of their recent Challenger Pro League matches, Beveren are able to successfully defend against an opposition attack, with the ball getting sent upfield to Koyalipou. The 24-year-old receives possession with his back to goal, using good body shape to prevent the defender at his back from looking to dispossess him. The Beveren striker is able to manoeuvre himself well, slowing play down and allowing time for the wide player to make an overlapping run beyond him. Koyalipou can then turn and face up the defender, playing a through ball that splits the opposition’s defence and allows the wide player to run onto the pass.
Close control inside and around the penalty box & ability to take defenders on
Another tendency that Koyalipou tends to display in his style of play is his dribbling ability, with the 24-year-old forward not afraid to take opposition defenders on 1v1 if the situation presents itself. He also displays excellent close control, especially inside the penalty box and around the danger areas, with him scoring quite a few goals due to his ability to keep the ball on the half turn with his back to goal and get shots off on target.
The data viz graphic shown above shines a little more light on the dribbling and ball progression ability of Koyalipou with the ball at his feet. As we can see, most of these progressive actions have occurred near the edge of the penalty area, more specifically, in the left half space and wide channel. This is where the striker tends to drift when he finds himself in possession, as it allows him to take opposition fullbacks on 1v1. He will also look to make dribbles and progressive runs in deeper areas of the pitch, not just looking to limit his output to the final third.
The image above shows an example of Koyalipou’s close-control ability inside the penalty area. In the phase of play above, the ball was played to the 24-year-old forward on a cutback cross, with the striker able to take a touch and control the ball with his weaker right foot as the opposition defender put pressure on his back.
Koyalipou’s touch is able to essentially stop the ball in its track, with his body shape also preventing the centre-back on his back from having any sort of an opening to try and get a touch on the ball. The 24-year-old’s touch can keep the ball in front of his right foot and not bounce back between his feet, where the defender may have been able to get a tackle in on him. As the ball takes a bounce, Koyalipou can shield the ball and get a shot off on the half turn with his left foot, with the ball ending up in the back of the net.
The image above shows another example of Koyalipou’s close control and dribbling inside the penalty area, with this moment leading to a very good chance that the striker puts off target. This attacking move starts with good movement off the ball from the 24-year-old, with the striker moving from his position splitting the centre-backs to being 1v1 with the right-sided central defender, with this movement opening a passing lane for him to receive the ball from his teammate.
The striker receives the ball with his back to goal, with his body shape preventing the defender from making any sort of defensive interaction. His ensuing touch gets the centre-back off balance, which allows him to turn with the ball and drive into the gap between the centre-back and right-back. His first touch with his right foot after turning is perfectly weighted, with this first touch able to cushion the ball onto his left to get a shot off from a tight angle, with it being dragged wide of the goal.
Constant threat in front of goal
Goduine Koyalipou’s most exciting attribute to analyse is, without a doubt, his goalscoring ability, as the Central African Republic international has officially finished the Challenger Pro League regular season as the highest scorer in the division. However, Koyalipou’s goalscoring has not just come out of nowhere. When he was signed by Beveren on a free transfer last summer, the 24-year-old had just come off a loan spell with French third-division side US Avranches, where he scored 13 goals in 18 appearances.
The graphic above shows the shot map of Goduine Koyalipou this season for Beveren. As we can see, most of the forward’s shots have come from inside the penalty area, with the majority of his shots and goal coming inside or on the edge of the six-yard box from a more central position. While leading the Challenger Pro League in goals, the 24-year-old ranks second in xG (expected goals) for the Belgian second tier, showing the quality that he also possesses in front of goal with his shots, with the Central African Republic international attempting the second most shots in the Challenger Pro League.
The image above shows an example of Koyalipou’s finishing ability and intelligent movement inside the penalty box to create the space for his shot. In this phase of play from Beveren’s match against Seraing, the 24-year-old makes a run into the penalty box and towards the six-yard box, with the ball in possession of the left-sided wide midfielder. Koyalipou does well to angle his run to split the opposition centre-backs, with the cut-back cross able to find him unmarked for a first-time tap-in.
When it comes to his goalscoring ability and the types of goals he scores, Koyalipou is not just a poacher inside the six-yard box who waits for the ball to reach him in central positions. The Central African Republic international is a much more dynamic forward, sometimes taking up unpredictable locations inside the penalty area that allows him not to be one-dimensional, instead always making opposition defenders worry about where he is located.
In this phase of play above, the 24-year-old striker finds himself in a wider position outside of the two posts. The position that he takes up allows him to be unmarked at the back post area, with the opposition defender closest to him busy worrying about the ball instead. Koyalipou’s teammate is able to spot the striker in this back post area and looks to play a cross into the area at the edge of the six-yard box, which makes it almost impossible for the goalkeeper to come out and claim.
The image above shows how the chance ended, with Koyalipou scoring a bullet header past the goalkeeper. The pace on it was too much for the goalkeeper to react to. We can also see how Koyalipou was able to ghost past the opposition defender at the back post, with his reaction too slow to get the goal side of the forward. The 24-year-old scored with essentially a free header.
This intelligent movement off the ball is one of the reasons that Koyalipou is able to be such a clinical finisher in front of goal. His ability to reinvent runs allows him to create space for himself, resulting in chances that are easily put away. As shown above, this attacking phase of play from Beveren is a good example of Koyalipou’s ability to reinvent his runs to get away from opposition defenders and find space.
It is currently a 3v3 for Beveren in this attack against the opposition defence, with Koyalipou initially making a near post run, which would crowd out any potential cross being played across goal from the wide midfielder. Knowing that the defender marking him is going to keep tracking back and attempt to block the near post area, Koyalipou looks to reinvent his run. With the defender at the back post marking the run of the far-side wide midfielder, Koyalipou begins to run parallel to the goal, looking to run into the space in the centre that is left vacant as a result.
The image above shows how the phase progresses. Koyalipou’s movement allows him to find some space at the edge of the six-yard box, with the rest of the opposition defence tracking back to protect their goal. He slows his run just enough so that his teammate can play a square ball perfectly into his path, which the forward is able to dispatch first time from close range.
This season with Beveren, Goduine Koyalipou has been able to show his ability in front of goal more prevalently, showing what he is capable of over a full season of senior football with one side. However, it is not just his finishing ability, with his off-the-ball movements in advanced areas also show that he is not a one-dimensional striker. Instead, he offers some unpredictability to his side as well as an attacking sense.
Conclusion
As this scout report and analysis of tactics has been able to show, Goduine Koyalipou has all the makings of being a very successful striker in a much bigger league. Whether or not he leaves Beveren this summer is another question, but there should be plenty of suitors this summer for the Challenger Pro League’s top scorer, especially with Beveren stuck in the division for yet another season.
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