Elfsborg 3 Malmo 1
What can we learn from this Thelin masterclass?
When Jimmy Thelin was confirmed as the 25th permanent Aberdeen manager on April 16th, curious glances (outside of the folks who had tipped him as Dons boss for a wee while) began to take a greater interest in the 2024 Allsvenskan season. It was a mixed start to the campaign for Elfsborg, with two wins, three defeats and a draw in their opening six fixtures.
It would, however, be their May 5th match-up against the team who pipped them on the final day of the 2023 season to the title - Malmo, that would set pulses racing across the North-East. It wasn’t just the fact Elfsborg won the game 3-1, but the fashion in which they did it. Thelin’s side had only 20% possession, yet had 10 shots on goal, six on target and won the game on xG. It wasn’t specifically a smash-and-grab, but a carefully executed plan of attack to defeat teams of a higher budget, capable of maintaining long stretches of possession.
Following the Celtic 2-2 game, in which the Dons had similar possession numbers in the second-half, despite winning it 2-0, this game was heavily referenced.
So in the absence of a Dons match this weekend, I decided to take a look at this game and see how Jimmy’s team did it, identify the elements of Elfsborg’s style of play that have and have not made it across the North Sea and what we might be able to learn for the future.
Tactics
According to the sources, I’ve accessed, FotMob and Wyscout, Elfsborg were in a 4-3-3 with one holding and two attacking and Malmo in a 3-5-2 but the structures in possession and out of possession, as always were often quite different. Elfsborg did not build up too often and were mainly in a 4-2-4/4-4-2 shape.
Defensive Masterclass
Elfsborg led 1-0 at half-time, then added two goals mid-way through the second-half via a set-piece and an own goal, before Malmo struck a late consolation. Though there were certainly elements of fast counter-attacks and some great examples of counter-pressing in the attacking half, but in my opinion this was still largely a result built upon defensive organisation and concentration.
Elfsborg were also very comfortable defending the box, with the whole team back behind the ball just like what we’ve seen from Aberdeen on occasion. Malmo had 15 shot (nine from inside the box) but almost 50% of them (seven) were blocked.
Pressing
Thelin’s side were willing to press high on Malmo’s goal-kicks and the wide players were noticeably higher than Aberdeen’s, with it being much more of a 4-2-4 shape as opposed to a 4-4-2 at least when the ball was in the Malmo defensive third.
As the ball was progressed they dropped back into a lower 4-4-2 block.
What was also very impressive was the compactness of the team and the short distances between the three units of the team particularly between the defence and midfield.
Malmo played a much more possession focused game and their build up formation varied a bit but they usually had one of their wider centre-backs move to the full-back positions and the opposite side swing higher, to create more of a horse-shoe back four shape.
They had a noticeable #6 in Sergio Pena, As we noted in the Celtic game, Aberdeen struggled to deal with the patterns that were employed to get McGregor on the ball and though Malmo seemed less orchestrated with their movements, they were still able to get Pena on the ball in between the lines, however he was quickly closed down by one of their two central midfielders.
What did Elfsborg do with the ball?
Not a lot really. Of course this was a tough game against the Champions, but Elfsborg definitely did not look to try and play out of the back and retain possession like Aberdeen did at Celtic Park (at least in the first half). They rarely played back to the keeper to recycle possession and his goal kicks went long. Defenders getting to the ball first usually focused on playing forward, on some occasions aimlessly.
How were the famous transitions?
Again there were definitely instances of this. Elfsborg’s three shots in the first half (including the goal) came from winning the ball back and getting it in behind quickly.
In the second half, they had seven shots (not including the own-goal) with the all of these (bar the set-piece goal) coming from either a counter-attack or winning the ball higher up the field in a counter-press type scenario. It should probably be noted that three of the chances came beyond 88 minutes, with Malmo pushing forward.
But the Elfsborg players definitely seemed to flick the switch a little quicker when they won the ball back with lots of runs made to support and stretch, compared to where Aberdeen are currently, see below.
Player Profiles and how does this compare to Aberdeen?
One of the first things that struck me was the athleticism within the Elfsborg side and in particular in comparison to the Aberdeen midfield. Thelin had a 22 year old in Andri Baldursson (Iceland) and a 19-year old in Timothy Ouma (Kenya). Neither were particularly great in this game from a passing perspective but they both covered the ground very well, identified moments to step in and turned defensive into attack on quite a few occasions (see image below). Baldursson won 6/6 defensive duels and 3/3 aerial duels, whilst Ouma recovered the ball 7 out of 11 times in the Malmo half.
As I said it was not the best showcase of Baldursson and Ouma’s on ball talent but the data seems to suggest neither, right now at least, has a game built around being clean and tidy in possession like Sivert Nilsen nor a dynamic runner with the ball like Greame Shinnie. But, and we saw this against Celtic, to effectively employ a 4-2-4 pressing shape against a better side, Aberdeen may need more legs in those central midfield areas.
In the centre-back area they definitely appeared to have more pace with Gustav Henrikkson and Ibrahim Buhari.The average position line data doesn’t seem to correlate but from my viewing the Elfsborg defensive line was definitely higher than Aberdeen’s is currently. That also helps the midifeld as there’s less space to cover if the lines are more compact. Though he has had a very strong season, I do wonder if Rubezic’s lack of speed may be an issue for Thelin in bigger games.
There was also pace in attack, which is to be expected with a Thelin team and maybe a little more strength to hold the ball up centrally but for the most part, the tools he has at his disposal right now at Aberdeen would appear to be a decent match for what he had at Elfsborg.
Jimmy has spoken about recruiting players from Africa and he had two Ghanians, a Nigerian and a Kenyan play the majority of the game, all four under 25. A potential avenue for future Dons recruits?
Was it a masterclass?
In truth it was not a brilliant watch. Elfsborg got a wee bit of luck but they did possess a strong threat on the break. It was the execution of a well-coached, counter-attacking game plan. They were willing to defend extensively but carried a real threat on the break. I think this is more likely to be what we’ll see long-term in bigger matches but again who knows. We can certainly see elements of the Thelin style having been implemented at Aberdeen already.
To get a more-rounded picture of Jimmy’s Elfsborg, I will need to watch more games, particularly the ones against lesser teams to truly inform what we might expect to see develop at Aberdeen. The clearest common-ground is in the approach out of possession. Elfsborg did appear to be a little more aggressive than Aberdeen but the general principles still apply. We have also seen the counter-pressing and counter-attacks but still a bit to go to be as co-ordinated and as fast as Elfsborg were in this game.
Some other takeaways would be in a league comparison, Celtic, I would say are better than Malmo. Indeed, Malmo lost at home to Rangers not too long ago. I took a look through Thelin’s games with Elfsborg, and you probably have to go back to 2021 when they played Arne Slot’s Feyenoord (lost 6-4 on aggregate but defeated 5-0 in the first-leg), to find an opponent and coach combination as good as Celtic are currently. So, we have to consider that Jimmy’s still learning and improving too and he’ll only get better the more often he plays against Rodgers and hopefully, good European competition.
Overall it was nice to take a closer look at Elfsborg but it will be nice to see Jimmy back with Aberdeen on Saturday. We’ve got a game to prepare for and a table to get back on top of.
Thanks for reading. Be back on Saturday AM with a St. Mirren preview.
COYR