2019/20 Europa League | Know Your Opponent - FC Astana
Who doesn’t love the Europa League? Where no-one knows who they are playing and you’d be hard sold to find a fan or a team who loves dancing across Europe to play teams that no-one really knew even existed. But that’s Manchester United’s fate and in FC Astana they face Kazakhstan’s serial winner.
History
While Manchester United was preparing for the season that would see them walk out as the winners of the very first Premier League season, the Kazakh Premier League was formed. It wasn’t and still isn’t the most glamorous league, that had the greatest players in the world compete in it, but for the people of Kazakhstan, it was the league. However, this doesn’t focus on the entire league but instead just one single team.
Created in 2009 under the name Lokomotiv Astana, after Almaty Megasport and Alma-Ata decided that they would merge and form a superclub. It worked and Lokomotiv Astana was born and named, with the word Lokomotiv coming from the fact that their sponsors were the National Railway Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. They started things off well and managed to win their first trophy via the Kazakhstan cup which would normally grant them Europa League football.
But since they were less than a year old, it meant that Lokomotiv Astana was ineligible to play in a UEFA tournament, which required clubs to be at least three years old, and life moved on. They also somehow managed to finish second in the league, behind winners Tobol. Yet that name wouldn’t last long, with the club eventually opting to remove the Lokomotiv and re-named the club just Astana.
It worked wonders and they won the Kazakhstan Cup again, making it’s Europa League debut in July 2013, losing in their very first qualifying round. However, then they joined the newly created Astana Presidential Sports Club in 2013, which proved to be a catalyst for future success. Because as time moved forward, Astana evolved and became even better, breaking into the Champions League. They could never sustain a run in the big leagues, but they’ve made the Europa League group stages every season since 2016, reaching as far as the Round of the 32 in the 2017/18 season.
That was preceded by their first league title, the first of five consecutive ones (they’re on par for a sixth league title, currently sit five points off the top with two games in hand).
Formation and tactics
It’s been a rare sight to watch Astana play badly in the league, which is why they’ve rarely ever varied from their standard 4-1-4-1 formation. It’s the same formation and even tactics that has seen them actually do well, winning five consecutive league titles in a row. But when it comes to the Europa League, especially in the group stages, they’ve varied formations.
From a 3 man central defense, to a tried and tested 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1, but they finally found some degree of success last season and the season before. They used a 4-2-3-1 against every team but Villarreal (which was the toughest in their group back in the 17/18 season), switching to a 5-4-1 and playing on the counter against the La Liga side. It worked to some extent, but Astana lost both games 3-1 and 2-3.
But last season in what was Stanimir Stoilov’s final season for the club, they used a 4-1-4-1 in the group stages, after starting out with a 4-3-3. It could be the way forward for Astana, although under Roman Hryhorchuk, they’ve used a 4-1-4-1 on 18 occasions this season, switching to a 4-2-3-1 on the other six occasions. The former is a formation that Hryhorchuk prefers as it allows his attackers a lot more space on the counter.
Not only that, it allows his wingers to play a more inverted role, allowing the full-backs to charge forward when on the offense. Both Roman Murtazaev and Marin Tomasov play as the left and right-wingers respectively and are great at cutting in from wide to great effect. It allows the full-backs and even the central midfielders to charge past them, spreading defenses.
Key players
Croatian winger Marin Tomasov has been utterly brilliant for Astana since his move from HNK Rijeka, contributing to 39 goals and 43 assists in 98 games. Not just that this season the right-winger has truly impressed, even at the ripe old age of 32. Tomasov has managed to be prolific (13 goals and 17 assists) and creative at the same time this season, cutting in and slicing opening defenses at will. Of course, there is the fact that it is in a league devoid of too much competition but Tomasov has done the business against the bigger sides as well.
In the 2017/18 season, he contributed to 3 goals against Sporting CP in the round of 32, and scored one and created another against Stade Rennes last season. The Croatian’s wing partner in Roman Murtazaev isn’t half bad either, (9 goals 5 assists) and is ambidextrous. It's his biggest strength, combined with his street-smarts allowing him to either cut in or stay out wide.
Then there is Ivan Mayewski, the defensive giant (quite literally at 6’2”) and a regular for Belarus on the international stage. Mayewski is usually found screening the defensive line, at the base of a 4-1-4-1, and isn’t as rough as one would imagine.
Manchester United’s approach
Honestly, there is no comparing what Manchester United can do and what FC Astana can do. The Red Devils should comfortably win this game, even the Astana fans have accepted the fact and even with their younger players on show, the game is with the home side. Yet even then, one thing they still need to be careful about and always well alert to is the counter because Astana tends to sit back and use the fast-break well. They do it at speed and while it may not be as incisive as the Red Devils expect them to be, every dog still does have its day.
Barring that, there really shouldn't be too many problems for the home side, although they may need a proper center-forward to lead the line. But with an injured Anthony Martial and even Daniel James rumoured to be injured, it just might be a complicated ask to bench Marcus Rashford. Then again, plundering Astana for goals could be just the confidence boost the entire team needs.
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