Six Players in the Box, on Every Cross: Inside N.E.C.'s 2025/26

Six players in the box. On every cross. Not once, but on average, all season. The highest number in the world, not just the Eredivisie. That is N.E.C. this year: eighth in the Eredivisie last season, third this one, behind only PSV and Feyenoord.

The easy story is that a club like that overachieved. Punched above its budget. Caught a good run. I get why people reach for it, because it is the explanation that needs no work. But look at what N.E.C. actually did, week after week, and "lucky" falls apart.

A defensive identity, measured

Start with the side of the ball that does not make highlight reels. N.E.C. restricted opponents in build-up more than any team in the league. Sides simply could not play out against them. Fewer of their opponents' build-ups reached the final third than against anyone else in the division, and fewer balls reached the assist zone. They allowed the fewest passes played through them in defensive positions, and they conceded the third fewest shots in the whole league.

That is not one good defensive game. It is a defensive principle, held all season.

Press, then collect

N.E.C. did not just defend deep and survive. They pressed high and won the ball back where it hurts. They recorded the most ball recoveries in the final third in the league, won off their high press. They also won more second balls than any team in the division, including the most after opponents' long goal kicks. They pressed, and then they collected. The loose ball after the duel was theirs more often than anyone else's.

And at the other end

The attacking signature is the one that stops a scroll. Six players in the box on every cross, on average, across the season. That figure is the highest in the world, not just the Eredivisie. When the ball came in, N.E.C. arrived in numbers.

It showed up on the scoreboard. They finished second in the division for goals scored, with the best transition-to-shot ratio and the best transition-to-goal ratio in the Eredivisie. Win the ball, and the next picture was already a chance.

These are not stats off a shelf

Here is what matters about every number above. None of them is an accident, and none of them is generic. You will not find "second balls won after a long goal kick" or "players in the box per cross" in the standard metric pile next to xG and possession. They are this staff's own principles, made measurable and tracked match after match.

That is a game model. A clear one, coached every week, with the same ideas turning up again and again until they became who the team is.

It's football, not statistics

That is the work we do at MyGamePlan. We take the principles a coach actually believes in and make them trackable, week by week, with the video moment behind every number. So a season like N.E.C.'s stops looking like a surprise and starts looking like a plan.

The clubs that climb the table are rarely the lucky ones. They are the ones who decided exactly what they wanted to be, and then measured whether it was true.

If your club has a clear idea of how it wants to play but no clean way to see whether it shows up on the pitch, that is the gap we close. Book a demo with MyGamePlan.