Following a first-ever Ligue 1 campaign in their history in which they finished 17th, avoiding relegation and the relegation playoff, Clermont Foot saw several key players leave in the summer, including frontman Mohamed Bayo and right-back Akim Zedadka who both departed for Lille, centre-back Cédric Hountondji who joined Angers, and midfielder Salis Abdul Samed who joined Lens — a side that currently occupy a UEFA Champions League qualification place, as they occupy second in the French top-flight.
Muhammed Cham Saračević (180cm/5’11”, 67kg/147lbs), who initially joined the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes club in the 2020 summer transfer window from Austrian side Flyeralarm Admira Wacker before spending the full 2020/21 season on loan with Danish side Vendsyssel FF and then spending the 2021/22 campaign on loan with Austria Lustenau in the Austrian second division — scoring 15 goals and providing 12 assists to help them win the league — meanwhile, returned to his parent club for 2022/23.
The Austrian is a versatile left-footed midfielder who’s got experience playing out wide or centrally, in both advanced and deep midfield positions. This term, he’s primarily played as a ‘10’ in Ligue 1, either in a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-2-1 shape, and he’s been one of the brightest sparks in Pascal Gastien’s side, with three goals and two assists to his name in his first Ligue 1 season from 15 appearances (906 minutes) so far.
This tactical analysis and scout report aims to provide some insight into the 22-year-old’s role in Les Lanciers’ tactics, and the key strengths and weaknesses within the midfielder’s game by providing analysis of three key areas of his game — off-the-ball movement, dribbling and passing.
We rate the Austrian midfielder highly and he may be one of the next Clermont players to be sold on to greener pastures in the near future, so he is one to keep an eye on as the Ligue 1 season progresses after the FIFA World Cup.
The above pizza chart in figure 1 ranks some key areas of performance for Cham against other attacking midfielders from Ligue 1 in 2022/23.
Defensively, Cham is a great asset for his team in midfield, as the high percentile ranks in defensive duels per 90 and defensive duel success % indicate. You can’t fault Cham’s defensive work ethic and he demonstrates great ability to regain the ball for his side, particularly when pressing on the front foot. His speed, agility and quick reactions help him to thrive in such situations and are a major reason for his solid defensive performances.
It may be helpful to reference figure 1 where relevant throughout this tactical analysis piece but for us, the key areas to take note of are Cham’s decent performance in received passes per 90, his dangerous passes per 90 and his dribbles per 90.
Off-the-ball movement
Cham receives plenty of passes per 90 for an attacking midfielder in one of Europe’s top-five leagues. The player has also received the fourth-most passes per 90 of any Clermont Foot player this term (31.62), trailing only Yohann Magnin, Maxime Gonalons and Johan Gastien — all of whom typically occupy deeper positions whereas Cham plays in a more advanced position, so would be expected to see less of the ball due to the heightened level of opposition presence.
However, Cham still gets on the ball a lot — and a lot more than any other Clermont Foot attacker/attacking midfielder. A major reason for this is the player’s off-the-ball movement which frees him up to receive the ball in the threatening, advanced areas he generally occupies.
Figure 2 shows the player’s touch map from the 2022/23 season and we can see he tends to make plenty of touches all over the pitch, but more than anywhere else, he tends to get on the ball in the half-spaces just on either side of the halfway line.
Indeed, Cham often vacates the very centre of the pitch to invade the half-spaces as he often finds more space here than he does in the central, number ‘10’ position. From there, he can give deeper players a good passing option, receive the ball, turn and either carry the ball forward into an even more threatening area or launch a defence-splitting through pass — both of which are skills he’s adept in applying.
Figures 3-5 show an example of Cham shifting out from the centre to the half-space in order to give his deeper teammate on the ball a good, available passing option that can increase the team’s level of threat.
He creates a good passing lane between himself and the right centre-back which the deeper player doesn’t hesitate to use after receiving the ball, shifting it onto his right foot and coming under pressure from the opposition.
He sees Cham and finds him with time and space in the position he moved into from the centre. From there, as figure 5 below shows, the playmaker can turn and drill a through ball into the overlapping attacker’s path, sending Clermont from the middle third straight into the final third without having to spend much time looking for a way through.
This demonstrates impressive vision from the Austrian which is helped by his constant intelligent scanning. Cham is very diligent with his scanning while moving into space to give his teammates options. He scans intelligently between touches or when the ball is in motion between players, ensuring he doesn’t miss any important changes in the situation on the ball. His diligence with this skill helps with his subsequent decision-making after receiving the ball, both in terms of quality and speed.
In this case, Cham acted as an immediate link between the backline and the forward line thanks to his movement to make himself a good available option for the centre-back, scanning to improve his decision-making and technical quality to take the ball on the half-turn and play such a high-quality through pass to the overlapping attacker.
Gastien can rely on the 22-year-old to be this link because of his trust in the player to find space often and create options for the deeper players, along with his trust in the player’s technical and mental quality on the ball.
This role in the team results in Cham making so many touches and receiving so many passes, particularly in the half-spaces.
Passing
Clermont Foot have got the fifth-lowest PPDA against in Ligue 1 this term (10.11) meaning they face the fifth-most aggressive pressing of any Ligue 1 side. This sees them often playing against a high line and means that Cham often finds himself receiving the ball on the deeper side of the halfway line as he did in the example above, but still in a position to split the opposition’s backline open with a through pass.
Cham’s quality on the ball sees him generally playing these through passes from deep into space with a good weight, accuracy and pace for the runner ahead of him to chase down and get onto the ball in a threatening position.
Although the player plays tonnes of valuable defence-splitting through passes into attackers’ paths from these areas, he doesn’t make tonnes of shot assists or generate tonnes of xA as a result, as players often pick up the ball quite deep too meaning they still have plenty of work to do before getting into a realistic shooting position. However, they won’t often have defenders in front of them meaning they are running into clear air behind the opposition’s defence.
This often sees Cham playing the pass that assists the person who gets the goal/shot assist rather than directly making that assist himself or assisting goals that include a dribble into space over distance towards goal.
Figures 6-7 show another typical example of Cham splitting the opposition’s defence open with a through pass on the Clermont side of the halfway line in the half-space — this time, the left half-space.
He spots the overlapping attacker’s run on the outside down the left wing and takes the opportunity to slide the ball with pace into his running path. The pass and the run eventually meet perfectly at the right moment for the Clermont man to pick up the ball in his stride without having to adjust his speed or angle. This allows the Clermont attack to continue moving at a good pace towards the opposition’s goal, demonstrating the value of Cham’s ability to time and weigh his through passes well.
Mentally, the player demonstrates excellent vision, as we’ve already mentioned in our off-the-ball movement section. This is aided by his scanning and we see another example of this impressive vision in figure 8. The playmaker spots a forward’s run through the opposition’s backline from the deep right half-space and slides the ball at pace and with the right timing into the runner’s path. As the play moves on, Cham’s teammate meets the ball in the final third and is in a good position to carry it all the way into the opposition’s box.
As well as defence-splitting passes like those we’ve already seen in this section of analysis, Cham is often seen switching the play from his advanced position or from deeper positions to find teammates in space on the wings. This is especially useful when not playing against a high line but rather playing against an organised, settled defence that’s compact in the centre but leaves space out wide, as was the case versus Auxerre in figure 9.
Here, Cham gets on the ball, evades the pressure from the nearest defender via his ball control and dribbling quality, setting up a switch of play out to a teammate in space on the left wing.
This is a useful skill when playing as a ‘10’ or in a deeper position. Cham is a good playmaker, but he’s also capable of dictating the play, moving the opposition around the playing a role that sees him not directly splitting the defence open but rather just moving their block around and creating the gaps that his side will eventually exploit with that defence-splitting ball.
His long passing is generally smooth and crisp, he’s capable of playing slow, looped balls that gently fall into his target’s feet or drilled balls over distance that require a good touch from the receiver but can help his team to quickly exploit space, giving the opposition little time to react.
Dribbling
As for the player’s dribbling, the final key area that we’ll focus on with a full section in this scout report, Cham is very impressive in terms of controlling the ball and his body in motion to progress his team into more threatening areas. While his off-the-ball movement and passing are evidently impressive aspects of his game that play an important part in his role at Clermont Foot, the 22-year-old’s dribbling is arguably the centrepiece of his game.
Cham is excellent at breaking lines centrally or out wide via his ball-carrying. Figure 10 shows the player’s penetrating carries from 2022/23 and highlight the extent to which he breaks lines not only via his passing but also via his ball-carrying. The map on the left highlights his penetrating carries around the penalty box while the map on the right shows a broader view of his penetrating carries on the pitch, with plenty coming in deeper areas too.
The Austrian midfielder loves breaking lines with his dribbling and carrying the ball over a distance; as a result, he should probably not be deployed as a holding midfielder, as he has in the past on occasion, and should be given the freedom of a more attacking and advanced role with cover behind him for protection.
As a ‘10’ or even as an ‘8’ in an attacking 4-3-3 midfield, Cham is a great option and he’s good at driving the team forward into space from deeper areas or evading tackles in tighter areas in more advanced positions.
Figure 11 shows an example of Cham picking up the ball deep, just on the edge of his own box, holding off a defender with his body — ability to hold defenders off while remaining in control of the ball is something he’s great at doing and constantly shows in his dribbling game — and then knocking the ball ahead of him to chase down and get to before the defender, enticing that defender in with the heavy touch and then knocking it away from them and carrying it past them into the space they’ve left open behind with some quick footwork.
Cham is a master of knocking the ball between his feet at pace to keep it away from defenders and continue the dribble forward. In this case, in the bottom-left quartile, as the defender approached Cham, he knocked the ball from the defender’s side with the inside of his left foot to the inside of his right foot which met the ball and quickly knocked it ahead into the space behind the defender. The 22-year-old’s quick footwork left the defender with no chance of regaining possession and stopping Cham’s progress after he committed following Cham’s initial heavy touch.
Figure 12, then, shows Cham operating in a tighter dribbling scenario. Here, in the top half of the image, we see Cham moving into space and a good position to receive the ball while scanning his left shoulder to ensure he can receive on the half-turn and he knows where pressure is incoming after receiving the ball.
As he receives the ball in the top-right image, he takes it on the half-turn and begins moving to the left. As we pick up with the play just a second later in the bottom left image, we see that Cham has been pressed aggressively by two players but, again, his quick footwork and impressive ball control allows him to evade the defenders’ challenges and knock the ball through the little space they’ve left between them.
Finally, Cham escapes the pressure and ends up being able to find an overlapping runner in space on the left wing, again progressing his team into the final third and a promising position despite picking up the ball in a difficult situation. Cham quickly turns difficult challenges into promising opportunities for Clermont via his quality on the ball as we’ve seen throughout this scout report. This makes the playmaker a very valuable asset for his side in the advanced midfield position.
Conclusion
To conclude this tactical analysis and scout report, we believe Cham is one of the most promising talents in the current Clermont squad and is developing well under Pascal Gastien this term. The attacking midfielder excels in playmaking thanks to both his passing and his dribbling ability on the ball, along with his spatial awareness and intelligent off-the-ball movement.
In terms of areas of improvement, Cham can improve his shot selection and his weak foot. At times, these two weaknesses come together with Cham forcing a shot from a not-so-good area on his left foot where shooting with the right foot may be more natural, but is uncomfortable for the Austrian. If shown onto his weaker right foot when dribbling and lining up a through pass too, it can significantly reduce the 22-year-old’s threat.
In closing, we’d recommend keeping an eye on Cham, as the 22-year-old Clermont man still has plenty of scope for improvement despite being one of the most effective playmakers in the French top-flight for Les Lanciers in 2022/23 thus far.
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