Player Analysis: Mostafa Mohamed following footsteps of Egypt’s greatest No.9s

UEFA B and El Gouna FC youth coach Omar Lasheen provides a tactical breakdown of Egypt and Zamalek’s rising star striker Mostafa Mohamed.

With the return of the Egyptian Premier League, KingFut’s weekly tactical series of upcoming talents from the Middle East and North Africa takes aim at an emerging star right at home, El Zamalek striker Mostafa Mohamed.

Mostafa Mohamed has recently announced himself to the world after winning the 2019 U-23 African Cup of Nations golden boot, taking Egypt to the Olympics in 2021. After coming back from loan from Egyptian club Tanta FC, the 22-year-old has added many goals to Zamalek SC, one of the superpowers of African football.

READ: France Football name Mostafa Mohamed as one of the three rising star forwards in Africa

The striker has been in the rumor mill lately with many clubs after his services since his rise to prominence. This player analysis will highlight Mostafa Mohamed’s main qualities and look at areas where he can improve to make his way into promise land of European football.

Player Profile – Mostafa Mohamed

Strength: Offensive Movement

Mostafa Mohamed’s ability to interpret the development of the offensive situation allows him to anticipate the placement of his teammates’ final pass. His spatial awareness and ability to scan the area around him maximizes his chances of positioning himself close to where the ball will be played.

Reminiscent of a classic #9, his movement in the final third is impeccable in terms of timing and positioning to both the near post and far post he possesses physical qualities that allows him to be competent in all areas of the penalty area.

Both the Egyptian national team and his club side, El Zamalek, play with width in attack to cater for the qualities of Mostafa Mohamed. As balls are played in wide areas, he is able to analyze the positioning of the opposition defenders around him.

His quick decision-making in tight areas allows him to make the suitable movement to get to the ball ahead of the defender and in a position where he can finish the situation in a clinical manner.

This season, with both the U-23 national team and Zamalek, Mostafa Mohamed has scored 13 goals, with 11 of them being one-touch finishes. This shows his immaculate technical execution of his movement allowing him to reach the intended area at the right time to get in contact with the ball and test the goalkeeper with his first touch.

In the attack below against Cameroon in the U-23 African Cup of Nations, his teammate is in possession of the ball in a wide position outside the penalty box. Mostafa Mohamed, interpreting the position of the defenders around him and locating the space, anticipates where the ball will be played into.

The technical execution of his movement allows the player to position his run in between the opposition central defenders as it makes it very difficult for one of them to vacate their position to mark him.

The speed in which he makes his run reflects his physical characteristics, which he maximizes to get away from the defenders.

The diagonal direction of his movement allows him to approach the ball in the correct body position to get good contact on his first touch and finish the offensive situation with a goal.

In terms of his movement, one of Mostafa Mohamed’s most underrated qualities is his ability to drop between the lines and link up play as well as vacate spaces for his teammates. His interpretation of the area and the ability to see openings allows him to adjust his movements to get more in contact with the midfielders, which gives them the option to control the attack and keep possession of the ball until a possibility to penetrate arises.

Mostafa Mohamed’s movements into deeper areas also attracts opposition defenders to him, which creates gaps in their defensive line for his teammates to exploit by giving them space to run beyond him into goal scoring positions.

This is exemplified in the situation below as his teammate is driving with the ball in a counter-attacking situation. Mostafa Mohamed is starting to make his customary run into space until the ball is played into his feet in between the lines.

He quickly adjusts his body position and movement to receive the ball, attracting the opposition central defender towards him, vacating space for another teammate to run beyond him into a threatening position.

He plays the ball back into the path of his teammate, who is facing the goal, seeing the complete picture of the attack. Mostafa then picks up another space to create danger for the opposition, giving two viable options for his teammate; playing again into Mostafa Mohamed’s feet or playing the ball into the space Mostafa has provoked with his earlier movement.

Strength: Hold-up play

Mostafa Mohamed’s physical presence is one of his most important characteristics. His strength, especially in aerial duels allows him to challenge for the ball in situations where he is isolated from his teammates.

His anticipation and his ability to assess the flight of balls played into him gives Mostafa Mohamed the opportunity to time his jumps and gain an aerial advantage over his direct opponent. His interpretation of space combined with his understanding of his role in each specific moment of the game allows him to maximize his ability by preparing his body stance.

His jumping reach and big frame are valuable assets in this aspect of his game as he is able to reach the ball in difficult situations. His teammates use him in direct offensive transitions and organized offensive situations as he is able to control and keep the ball for his team in situations where they prefer not to play through midfield.

In games where they are pressed high up the pitch, Zamalek use Mostafa Mohamed as an outlet to beat the pressure. This is a tactical ploy constructed by Zamalek head coach Patrice Carteron; to use Mostafa Mohamed as a target man and for the team to push up to support their striker. 

In this organized offensive situation in the 2019 African Super Cup final against ES Tunis, Zamalek build their play up from the back through a direct ball from their central defender into the chest of Mostafa Mohamed. Mostafa, interpreting the area around him, realizes that an ES Tunis defender is directly challenging him aerially.

Appreciating the situation, he understands he only has a limited number of touches to play the ball into the path of his teammate. He uses an open body stance to hold off the defender while getting contact on the ball, and decides to flicks the ball onto the path of his onrushing teammate.

This allows his team to sustain the attack in the opponent’s final third, four seconds on from the start of the attack through his quality in being to be able to deal with a long, direct ball.

Mostafa Mohamed’s awareness of his surroundings allows him to make the suitable decision for the particular scenario; whether to play a flick-on (similar to the last example) or control and keep the ball depending on the proximity of defenders around him. Mostafa possesses qualities to keep the ball under control through the way he releases and softens his chest or foot as soon as he gets in contact with the ball to comfortably progress the attack.

In this situation below, Zamalek are under pressure in the right-back position. In congruence with their tactical plan, a long ball is played into the striker, Mostafa Mohamed.

Aware of the marking around him, he moves into a space where he can receive the ball in a less congested area.

His jump allows him to reach the ball and control it onto his chest, with an open body stance, while he uses his second touch on his foot to control the ball completely onto the ground and make his next action.

Room for Improvement: Defensive Awareness

Tactically, many teams look to their forward line as being the first line of defence, with the striker leading the press and closing down the opposition back line. Zamalek usually have the majority of possession during most of their league campaign, but it is in the games where they have less of the ball where Mostafa Mohamed has inconsistently shown the willingness to defend.

In terms of his physical qualities, he has the running capacity, physical strength, and speed to close down with relative aggression to cause discomfort to the opposition. However, it is down to his mentality that he lacks the readiness to fulfill his defensive duties.

When El Zamalek are in an organized defending situation, Mostafa Mohamed’s role is to close down the opposition’s central defenders and force them to play in a direction where Zamalek can shift across to recover the ball.

This is shown below where Zesco United have the ball in midfield and pass it backwards to recycle the attack. This is a trigger for Zamalek players to push up and put pressure on the ball, starting with their forward line.

As the Zesco United central defender receives the ball, Mostafa Mohamed is making his way between the central defenders to close down the space to force the ball carrier to play the ball down the line.

Easily, the central defender is able to withdraw Mostafa’s pressure and bypass him to play the ball to his central defensive partner.

Mostafa Mohamed’s lack of real intent close the space combined with his incorrect body position to force the play into a wide area allows Zesco United to build the attack more easily, giving Zamalek a more dangerous, open attack to deal with.

In many situations where teams lose the ball in their offensive organization, they look to win it back as soon as they can to sustain the attack and stop their opponents from counter-attacking. Counter-pressing; pressing as soon as a team loses the ball, requires quick reactions and speed in switching from offense to defense. In these instances, Mostafa Mohamed’s inability to think about his next action is shown through his dissent towards his teammates losing the ball as opposed to transitioning quickly and participating in his team’s defensive work.

Here, Zamalek are on the attack in the middle third of the pitch.

As they lose the ball, the two closest players look to close down the opposition player who is in possession, while Mostafa Mohamed turns his back on the ball, unhappy at his teammate’s loss of possession.

His inability to quickly react and close down the ball allows the opposition to progress the attack with more comfortably, forcing Zamalek into a longer distance defensive transition.

Conclusion – Mostafa Mohamed

Likened to the great #9s in Egyptian football, including Hossam Hassan, Amr Zaki, and Mido, Mostafa Mohamed has the abilities to make a move to the world’s top leagues. 

His exemplary movement, link up play, aerial strengths will see him make the step up and fulfill his talent, adding to the growing list of Egyptian exports in the last number of years.

Let us know your thoughts on this analysis in the comments section and which players you’d like to see featured in this series…