In what was a brutal opening to their Belgian Pro League season, RWDM were trounced at home to Genk 4-0, showing the amount of work the Belgian side have in front of them if they are to stay in the top flight of Belgian football for a second successive season.
One of those puzzle pieces has potentially been found, with RWDM securing the signing of 25-year-old Senegalese forward Makhtar Gueye from second-division side Oostende.
Gueye was on loan last season in the Segunda division with Zaragoza, but before then had two very successful with Oostende in the Belgian top flight.
Signed from Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2020, Gueye went on to score 13 goals in his first campaign in Belgium before 12 the following season.
In fact, Gueye was the club’s top goalscorer in the 2021/22 campaign while having the second most goals in his debut season.
For RWDM, the club have to be hoping that Gueye returns to that form, with this tactical analysis and scout report taking a look at the style of play and strengths of the Senegalese striker, as well as how he could fit into this RWDM side now managed by former Lyon assistant and Botafogo manager Cláudio Caçapa.
Positioning and style of play
When talking about Makhtar Gueye’s preferred position, the Senegalese forward is most comfortable playing in the #9 position.
However, he is able to also play in the wide channels at times.
The image above shows Makhtar Gueye’s heat map from both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons with Oostende.
As we can see from the data viz graphic, the forward actually has most of his involvement in the deeper midfield areas, with him looking to be a passing option and link play together.
However, with that being said, passing is not an area of Gueye’s game that he is strong at; instead, he only really excels at short passing sequences with only a few yards’ distance.
The main focus of the Senegalese forward is to score goals, something he has shown he does well in those first two seasons in Belgium.
Gueye also excels in the air, with him a danger in the penalty box on balls sent into the box from either crosses or set pieces.
This will likely be a common trend for RWDM this season, with the club likely going to be the weaker side in almost every match they play.
This could mean set pieces and long balls into the box could be crucial, with Gueye being a potential x-factor in getting onto the end of them.
Ability to score goals in the air
One strength that 195cm Makhtar Gueye has that will be a huge asset to RWDM is the Senegalese forward’s ability to score goals aerially.
With Oostende, Gueye was a threat when it came to attacking set pieces and crosses sent into the penalty area from the wide areas.
In fact, Gueye averaged 8.38 aerial duels per 90 minutes during his time with Oostende, with a success rate of 41.8%.
This is an attacking style of play that will likely suit RWDM really well, with this section taking a look at a few examples of his ability in the air in attacking areas.
The image above shows an example of the aerial ability that Makhtar Gueye possesses and his ability to find the space off second balls on set pieces.
In this phase of play above from a Belgian Pro League match against Sint-Truiden, Oostende had a free kick with the ball played long into the box from about 30 yards out.
The ball is initially won in the air by an opposition defender, who attempts to clear the ball away from danger.
However, his clearance does not go anywhere, with the ball being sent straight back up in the air and to where Gueye is currently positioned.
After the opposition defender makes first contact of the ball, Gueye is able to get away from his marker, drifting towards the area just outside the six-yard box.
With this newfound space, Gueye can get his head on the second ball first before any defender can come over, allowing him an essentially uncontested header on target.
As a result, the Senegalese forward can loop the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net, giving his side the lead off of a set-piece situation.
The image above shows another example of Makhtar Gueye’s ability to recognise the space between the defenders and move late into it to get an uncontested header off on goal.
In the phase of play above from a match against Cercle Brugge, Gueye makes a late run from the edge of the 18-yard box into the space between the two opposition defenders.
As the ball is situated out in the wide channel, the wing-back drives forward with the impending cross coming at any moment.
The 25-year-old forward spots this clue and makes a late run from deep, moving into the space on the blind side of the central defender in front and just to the left of the central defender behind.
This allows plenty of space for Gueye to meet the flight of the ball and make contact on yet another uncontested header, resulting in another goal for Oostende.
However, this example can more easily demonstrate the recognition of the forward to move into space in the opposition’s defence, with this being a massive positive in the forward’s skill set.
This intelligence to spot these gaps and make late runs into them to get off uncontested headers will be very valuable for this RWDM side, as it could allow them to steal results occasionally and keep them in the top flight for more than one season.
Dribbling ability
Another strength Makhtar Gueye will bring to this RWDM side is his ability with the ball at his feet.
While the Senegalese forward does not distribute the ball much, he does look to take opposition defenders with the ball at his feet.
This sometimes results in the forward creating goalscoring chances out of virtually nothing, something else that the Belgian side may do good to have throughout the course of this season.
The data viz graphic above shows the ball progression of Makhtar Gueye for his first two seasons in Belgium with Oostende.
This graphic looks at how the striker progressed the ball with the ball at his feet, using progressive runs and dribbles over passing.
As we can see, this was one way that Gueye looked to progress the ball into good attacking areas, so it will be unsurprising to see him continue to do this during his time with RWDM.
The image above shows an example of the dribbling ability that Makhtar Gueye possesses, with the example above coming from a match against Genk, a side who are one of the best in Belgium and were recently in the UEFA Champions League.
In this phase of play above, the Genk defenders look to press and close Gueye down as he is in possession, with his only thought to continue driving towards the goal no matter what.
The only realistic passing option is the player beginning to make an overlapping run past him, but the Senegalese forward instead decides to take on the three opposition defenders and make a slaloming run past them and towards the penalty box.
Gueye can get past the first two defenders on either side of him, with the opposition players looking to pinch him and regain possession,
After getting past them, the 25-year-old striker has one more Genk defender to beat, with the forward keeping the ball close to his feet and not giving away which way he is going to go.
As a result, once he notices the defender get off balance and start to slide to his outside, Gueye makes a quick darting move inside, catching the defender out and getting past him.
This dribbling sequence results in a shot for the Senegalese forward, with the ball just going over the crossbar.
The image above shows another example of Makhtar Gueye’s ability to get past defenders with his dribbling ability, especially in such close vicinity and for a striker of considerable size.
Standing at 6’5” tall, not many expect the 25-year-old Senegalese forward to be such a threat driving at opponents with the ball at his feet; instead, many would expect him to act like a traditional target man up top in a sense, with his aerial ability one demonstration of this.
In this phase of play above, Gueye is in possession and has already beaten one defender outside the penalty box with the ball at his feet.
In this situation, Gueye is in very close quarters, with the opposition defender right on top of him, looking to dispossess him.
Instead, the forward does something similar to what he did in the previous example; he keeps the ball close to him with his close control and forces the defender to commit to one side first before beating him the other way.
In this case, the defender finally gets impatient and looks to stick a leg in, with Gueye driving past him to the inside once the defender is caught off balance.
After getting past him, the Senegalese striker can fire the ball past the goalkeeper, scoring a goal for Oostende due to his solo ability.
As this section has shown, RWDM needs a tricky and creative attacker, and Makhtar Gueye fits that description.
Also, the 25-year-old is able to make something out of nothing, another trait the Belgian side would do well to have in their ranks for this campaign.
Conclusion
As this tactical analysis and scout report has shown, Makhtar Gueye brings a lot of ability and attacking prowess to this RWDM side.
Now under a new manager with new tactics, bringing in a striker of the 25-year-old’s quality will likely be an astute signing for RWDM — and also one they hope pays off sooner rather than later.
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