West Ham’s quarter-final against KAA Gent really was a tie of two halves – despite the 1-1 scoreline, the Hammers were undoubtedly second best away in Belgium, but an emphatic 4-1 second-leg victory under the London Stadium lights was enough to see them advance to the semi-finals.
This time last season, David Moyes was preparing for a tricky tie against Oliver Glasner’s Frankfurt, a heartbreak that many fans will still not have got over, and that the players will be keen to remedy.
Their opponents this time round will be Alkmaar Zaanstreek, more commonly known as AZ (not AZ Alkmaar), or by their nickname, Kaaskoppen (“The Cheese Heads” – yes, really).
Pascal Jansen’s men enjoyed a similarly dramatic quarter-final against West Ham’s group stage opponents, RSC Anderlecht, with a Vangelis Pavlidis brace helping them to overcome a 2-0 first-leg deficit before going on to win the penalty shootout in front of their home fans.
Both teams come into the tie on the back of good results, with AZ earning a point away at Ajax and West Ham beating Manchester United in the Premier League for the first time since 2019, setting the stage for an exciting clash, and perhaps an even more exciting second leg in the Netherlands.
This article will explore AZ’s playing style, both in and out of possession, and highlight some players that West Ham should pay close attention to if they want to reach the final…
Tactical Analysis: In Possession
What makes AZ particularly interesting is that they are not wedded to one particular game plan. Against weaker opposition, they adopt an intricate passing style of play that sees them dominate possession and work overloads in the final third – AZ have averaged the third-highest passes per minute of possession (14.5) and the third-fewest ball losses (97.4) per 90 in the Eredivisie.
Nonetheless, against stronger sides, they are more than happy to sit back, soak up pressure, and devastate teams on the break. This approach has resulted in a healthy record against the Eredivisie’s better sides, including home victories over both Ajax (1-0) and PSV (2-1) in which they had just 41% possession. With this in mind, it is unlikely that they will come into this game with anything other than confidence that they could cause an upset against an established Premier League side.
AZ’s form in the Europa Conference League will give them further confidence still, coming into this tie as the competition’s most prolific outfit, having scored 36 goals (six more than West Ham, though they have played four more games) since their second qualifying round tie against FK Tuzla City. Their most impressive performance of all surely came against Lazio, whom they put four past across two legs; Maurizio Sarri’s side are currently third in Italy’s Serie A.
Whether dominating or ceding possession, one constant is AZ’s emphasis on creating spaces on the flanks for their wide players to exploit. There are three key components to the successes of this approach play, those being the inverted runs of their wide attackers, the overlapping runs of their advanced full-backs, and the late arrivals in the box of their central midfielders.
A typical attacking sequence for AZ might look something like this – the ball is played out to the flank by one of the central midfielder, the centre-back, or the goalkeeper; the full-back receives the ball and carries it forward into the final third; the wide attacker makes an inverted run in between the opposition full-back and centre-back, dragging the defender away from the ball-carrier; this creates the space for the full-back to a) cross the ball into the box, where a box-crashing central-midfielder will join Pavlidis in trying to get on the end of it, b) make a run to the byline and cut a low ball back across the box, or c) play a pass in behind the defence for the inverted runner.
The beauty of this build-up play is that it can be effective irrespective of how much possession AZ have. If they want to sit off, they can play a direct brand of this where they rely on the distribution of their central midfielders and the pace of their wide players to hit the channels early and hit teams on the break. Alternatively, when they want to control possession, the system instead focuses on recycling possession as the attackers, including the advanced full-backs, make intelligent rotations in the final third until a gap opens up for a wide player to receive and create a chance.
When necessary, they are willing to bypass the midfield entirely, with the goalkeeper playing long to Pavlidis who will look to win the aerial duel and either flick it into the wide channel himself or head it to a midfielder who can then play the decisive pass into the flanks. If West Ham are to win this tie, they will need to make sure they are dominant in the air, and that they are alert to the intelligent runs made by both the full-backs and the inverted wingers.
Out of Possession
AZ’s success under Jansen has been built on the foundations of a defence that has conceded the third-fewest goals (32 – 0.95 per 90) in the Eredivisie this season, limiting their opponents to an average shot value of just 0.11 xG per shot, the same as (likely) league champions, Feyenoord.
In addition to former Premier League players Matthew Ryan and Jordy Clasie, Jansen’s defensive approach is another thing about AZ that West Ham fans will already be familiar with. The Zaan-based outfit look to congest the middle of the park with their three-man midfield, funnel the opposition into the wide channels, and then defend their box – straight out of the David Moyes playbook.
Key to their success in this respect is Sam Beukema, the six-foot-two, twenty-four-year-old Dutch centre-back that sits at the heart of their back four. No player in the Eredivisie has been more effective in defending their own penalty area than Beukema, who has won 77.3% of the aerial duels he has contested there, a whole 7.5% better than the next-best player.
Additionally, he is also not afraid to put his body on the line and throw himself in front of a shot, averaging 0.85 blocks per 90, the highest of any defender playing for a club currently inside the Eredivisie’s top five. Depending on how he handles his battle with Michail Antonio, it would be no surprise if Moyes takes a liking to the Dutch Craig Dawson. That said, I doubt he has ever marked a striker quite so physical, and I expect that he could be up against it if Antonio is in form.
As crucial as Beukema will be for AZ in this tie, their defence would not function half as well without the work being done by the players in front of them to funnel the opposition out wide. A good way to describe their approach to front-footed defending is to press smart, not hard.
Compared to their competitive rivals, they are not a particularly aggressive side, with a challenge intensity (duels, tackles, and interceptions per minute of opposition possession) of just 5.4 (11th) and a PPDA (opposition passes per defensive action) of 10.96 (6th).
Their approach is not to chase down every ball, but to pick and choose their moments to engage to ensure that their defensive structure remains intact and that gaps in their midfield are limited. They will often allow the opposition centre-backs time on the ball, closing off passing lanes into the midfield in order to buy time for their advanced full-backs to return to their defensive positions.
If the defender is able to play a pass into a midfielder or full-back, this will trigger a press from AZ’s midfielders, with the aim of forcing the receiver into a back pass to the GK, who will then be pressed by their striker in an effort to force a misguided clearance.
When defending in their own half, a similar approach is adopted, with the same pressing pack looking to cover the space inside and force the opposition into the wide spaces, banking on the fact that Beukema and the rest of the backline can deal with the subsequent balls into the box.
With this in mind, West Ham might be wise to play with as press-resistant a defence as they can field and, assuming AZ stick to their principles in attack, play directly into the spaces vacated by AZ’s advanced full-backs. Areola, Aguerd, Cresswell, and Kehrer are all more than capable of clipping passes into the channels for Bowen and Antonio to get on the end of and exploit the gaps in behind.
Ones to Watch
Anyone that keeps tabs on emerging talent in Europe will be aware of the threat posed by Milos Kerkez, AZ’s 19-year-old Hungarian left-back that currently leads the competition in assists (6), and fortunately for West Ham, the young star will miss the first leg through suspension. This article will focus on players that could feature in Thursday night’s fixture, but for those that do want to know more about Kerkez, you can read all about him in this scouting report. And, if you want to hear me talk about his similarly dangerous teammate and fellow full-back, Yukinari Sugawara, who has 11 assists in all competitions so far this season, then you can do that here.
Vangelis Pavlidis
There is no better place to start than with AZ’s top goalscorer, 24-year-old Greek international Vangelis Pavlidis, who has scored 22 goals in all competitions this season (0.69 per 90). Of those 22 goals, nine have come in the Conference League (0.91 per 90), making him the competition’s leading marksman if you include the qualifying rounds – if you don’t, he’s only one off the top with five.
Given AZ’s emphasis on creating space out wide and getting the ball into the area, it is no wonder that Pavlidis, whom you might best describe as a traditional “fox in the box”, has thrived this season. There are only two strikers in the Eredivisie that have recorded more touches in the opposition penalty area this season than Pavlidis’ 5.7 and both of them play for the league’s most possession-dominant side, Ajax – Brian Brobbey (7.3), and Dušan Tadić (7.2).
This movement inside the box, coupled with his clinical nature in front of goal, has seen Pavlidis establish himself as one of the Eredivisie’s premier attackers this season. No striker to have averaged more than two shots per 90 has found the target more often than the Greek forward (57.5%), resulting in one in four of his shots (25.5%) finding the back of the net and him having outperformed his expected goal return by 3.2 this season (12 goals > 8.8 xG).
To label him solely as your archetypal “fox in the box” would be doing him a disservice though, as he has shown great touch and vision in this AZ system, particularly in his willingness to drop deeper to receive the ball and play passes into the channels. Similarly, AZ’s box-crashing midfielders and inverted wingers really benefit from his hold-up play in and around the box.
Jesper Karlsson
Perhaps even more valuable than Pavlidis is AZ’s Swedish talisman, Jesper Karlsson, who, like Kerkez, is unavailable for the first leg, but whom they will be praying is fit enough to feature in the second fixture. For those of you who have been following the Conference League closely, you might recognise the prolific left-winger following his incredible performances against Lazio, in which he either scored or assisted all four of AZ’s goals in the tie.
In the context of a West Ham side that would benefit from upgrading their left-hand side, Karlsson is an especially interesting prospect, as he is the perfect blend of ball-carrier, creator, and goalscorer. He has averaged the most key passes (0.92) per 90 for AZ in 2022-23, and despite missing more than 16 games through injury this season, the 24-year-old still has 10 goals and nine assists to his name, a healthy haul to add to his 35 goal contributions (21 goals and 14 assists) in 2021-22, and 22 the season prior (12 goals and 10 assists).
If AZ’s medical team can nurse him back to fitness, then one thing West Ham will need to be aware of is not affording him too much time or space on the edge of the area. Though he has a range of finishes in his locker – 45.8% of his 2.3 shots per 90 have found the target this season – he poses a real threat from range. Of his 10 goals this season, three of them have come from outside the box, and another was a bicycle kick vs Excelsior – at risk of being too scientific, that’s a 40% banger rate.
And, when he isn’t busy scoring screamers against Lazio or FC Groningen, he is making intelligent off-ball runs, either in the wide areas to create space for Kerkez to run into, or at the back post in an effort to get on the end of a delivery from the right flank. The line between stepping out to close down Karlsson and leaving a gaping hole in behind for a full-back to attack is a fine one, and West Ham will need to be on their A-game if he does end up featuring in the tie.
Tijani Reijnders
It would have been reasonable to single out any one of AZ’s first-choice midfield trio, as both Jordy Clasie and Sven Mijnans are equal parts talented and integral to this AZ side, but Reijnders is perhaps the most interesting of the three given his complete profile, and high ceiling.
The six-foot-one Dutch midfielder is reasonably described as a late bloomer, having only really broken into AZ’s first team last season at the age of 23. Now, having been given a regular run of games at the start of this season, he has established himself as a well-rounded, one-man machine in the middle of the park, and is surely one of the first names on the team sheet for Pascal Jansen.
Usually deployed in a box-to-box role, Reijnders is crucial both in and out of possession, and often acts as the link between the two in transition, breaking up an opposition attack before relying on his impressive distribution to spark an AZ counter. So far this season he has averaged 5.3 possession-adjusted interceptions, won 62.9% of his 5.4 defensive duels, and completed 86.6% of his 6.2 passes to the final third per 90. The numbers are equally impressive when looking at his progressive ability too, with 80.8% of his 6 progressive passes finding their intended target, whilst also averaging 2.5 progressive carries per 90 – that’s more carries, and greater accuracy, than Declan Rice.
Perhaps the best evidence of the crucial role played by Reijnders in AZ’s build-up is the fact that he is leading the Eredivisie in second assists – that is the pass before the assist for a goal – with seven, a number that increases to 11 when you consider all competitions; of these 11 pre-assists, seven of them have been passes into wide players. For a perfect example of his ability to bisect defences with passes from deep, see AZ’s second goal against Anderlecht in the second leg of the quarter-finals.
And, as if this wasn’t enough, Reijnders has chipped in with seven actual assists and six goals this season too. Given how well-rounded a midfielder he is, it would be no real surprise if Ajax or another established European side were to come in for him this summer, despite the fact he only recently extended his contract to 2027 in January. With Rice expected to leave East London this summer in a big-money move, and West Ham potentially looking to add a more progressive but still defensively sound midfielder to their ranks regardless of Rice’s departure, they might even have a look at Reijnders themselves – interestingly, Rice and Reijnders’ track very similarly in the data.
