“36 points on the 20th matchday, that’s just amazing, sensational,” said coach Rico Schmitt after the 4-1 home win against Halle at the end of the year and also had last summer in mind. “In May we stood by the fence crying. That was a very dramatic situation because we didn’t know what to do next.”
It went on – and how! Schmitt, who took over the coaching position at SVM at the end of April 2021 after Torsten Frings was on leave, gave the Meppeners a plan for the 2021/2022 season that was perfectly tailored to the existing player material.
Rico Schmitt on the trail of José Mourinho
Measured by the “performance score”, which describes the current playing strength of the teams, SV Meppen is actually only third division mediocre with 47.11 – twelfth place, the league average is 47.34.
So the Meppener play better than their potential actually allows. The key to success lies in the way they play. The GSN data analysis, which also uses artificial intelligence in its calculation models, shows that Schmitt’s preferred tactical 4-2-3-1 system fits perfectly with the Emsländer.
In addition, there is a game idea with which SVM coach Schmitt (a potential Bundesliga coach with a GSN index of 60.98) follows in the footsteps of José Mourinho a bit. The provocateur from Portugal drove his kind of refusal to play tactics with Inter Milan in 2010 to the point of success, unnerved and beat the big FC Barcelona in the Champions League and also Bayern Munich in the final.
Possession? No thank you!
Meppen is not Milan, but the approach is similar: Possession? No thank you! On average, the Lower Saxony players only have 22.36 minutes per game (16th place in the league comparison). When it comes to pressing, the decisive means to get the play equipment, the third party is noticeably reluctant. 15.65 pressing actions per game are the second lowest value in the third division. Only the upcoming opponent Kaiserslautern (14.55) invests even less in this area. In addition, only 40.89 percent of the Meppen pressing attempts are successful (again in 19th place).
Meppen does it Mourinho-like: It pulls back, forces the opponent into close combat in its own half, where it feels comfortable, and then with the (unloved) ball at its foot to search the way to the opposing goal as directly as possible.
This is consistent, because Meppen has his strengths in the direct duels, leads the fourth-most with 170.25 duels per game and wins 84.70 of them (seventh place). The second most tackles (33.90), the sixth most fouls (13.4) and the second most yellow cards (2.8): Survive aggressively instead of dying in beauty is the Meppen motto.
All or nothing, but in a direct way
In the offensive movement, vertical play is the SVM trump card. The proportion of passes over 40 meters is high for the Schmitt team, averaging 15.59 per game (fourth place, league average 14.09). It goes with the fact that Meppen drives the second most attacks in the league by counterattack (18.20, only Zwickau with 18.35 has more). From the positional play, the SVM only created 55.50 attacks (19th place, only Havelse with 54.7 has fewer). Another indication of the successful stipulation “All or nothing, but on the direct route” is 4.55 key passes arrived per 90 minutes. Here in the third division only leader Magdeburg is better with 5.3.
Efficiency from the Emsland
Building on this game basis, the Meppener manage to be efficient even without a lot of possession. The Emslanders penetrate 44 times per game into the opponent’s last third (only Osnabrück with 50.37 is more determined) and develop impressive 7.30 chances (only Magdeburg creates more with 7.75). The SVM knows where the goal is, brings 45.15 percent of its shots on the opponent’s housing – that’s league top.
In the fairway of offensive tanker Tankulic
Luka Tankulic is mainly responsible for the Meppen final strength. With eleven goals this season, the 30-year-old is the league’s most accurate goalscorer along with Gustaf Nilsson (Wehen Wiesbaden) and Michael Eberwein (Halle).
A “performance score” of 52.67 shows “Lucky Luka”, who shoots faster than his shadow, than the current best attacking midfielder in the league. Measured against Tankulic’s possible GSN index of 56.71, it would easily be enough for the goal-scoring playmaker for the second division.
“Dreaming is also part of it. But we stay with ourselves and keep rattling.”
– SVM trainer Rico Schmitt
For SV Meppen as a whole, too? The data analysis spits out 1.41 “expected points” per game for the North Germans, in fact they currently get an average of 1.80 points per game. As with the “performance score” mentioned at the beginning, the Schmitt team also acted much better here than the data suggests.
If the Meppeners keep this level with their special methods, the league’s surprise team could even move up in the end.