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1-3-5-2 V 1-4-3-3 Analyzing the fluid tactical clash of systems of play that the 2023 UCL final between Internazionale Milan and Manchester City revealed

TACTICS

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THE AUTHORS

YouCoach staff can count on a technical team made up of coaches, athletic trainers, goalkeeper trainers, psychologists and managers who work for major and non-professional leagues. Thanks to these diverse experiences we can be familiar with different points of view and provide practical advices along with theoretical considerations, in order to share a certain way of thinking. We hope we can contribute to new soccer training methodologies development and evolution.

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YouCoach staff is constantly evolving; thanks to the participation of our readers we can grow and spread new ideas, providing you a better service that can meet your needs on the training field.

Cross experiences, open debate and an open mind are our guiding principles, as we want to look ahead while studying present and past currents of thoughts of this beautiful sport.

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INTRODUCTION

A NEW WAY TO INTERPRET TACTICAL CLASHES The first and fundamental factor to take into consideration when talking about tactical clashes nowadays is to fix a staple about what systems of play are present in modern soccer and how they have evolved into structural bases to shape fluid organizations in the field where players perform functions concerning the situations of play and not roles as the old-styled systems of the game would request (picture 1).

Picture 1 - Soccer teams’ shapes and organization in a complex system.

As soccer is a clash between systems, there are many types of tactical relations (picture 2).

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Picture 36 - City’s new build-up phase and Aké again free to receive.

High pressure against the opposition’s build-up phase The high-pressure defensive phase isn’t a tactical answer to the opposition’s build-up from the back, as the basic idea of pressing high in the field is to win the ball close to the opposition’s goal, to say the least.

Otherwise, Ajax and the Netherlands National Team in the seventies and AC Milan in the early nineties wouldn’t have pressed the opposition in their field’s half, as most teams didn’t play short very often from the back, except Cruijff’s Barcelona.

High pressure is a principle of positional play, a tactical need born from the seek and recovery of the ball as quickly as possible, and the shape’s disruptions of the positional play-based teams when attacking. High pressure is a tactical need to prevent the opponents from exploiting the spaces that might appear due to the shape disruption required by the attacking model of positional play idea. Counter-pressing is born from the same tactical need.

On the other hand, when positional play spread out as the main soccer philosophy, possession became the dogma and, obviously, long goal kicks didn’t fit its principles of play.

Short build-ups from the back aim to find free players between the lines and exploit the gaps in the opposition’s defensive shape.

Then, two tactical answers are possible; to sit deep in a middle or low block, or counter the opposition’s build-up high in the field, paying attention not to “accept the invitation” to press by the opponents, and trying to force their build-up phases.

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3. TACTICAL CLASHES ANALYSIS IN MODERN SOCCER: OFF THE BALL

In other words, the possession team wants the opponents to accept the invitation to press, but the defending team must accept this invitation its way (pressing traps).

Besides high pressing or low blocks teams, which are signs of defensively active or passive teams, there are also defensively active teams that aim to become active when they are forced to be passive; Pep Guardiolaʼs teams are an example of this strategy.

Once they are forced to sit deep, they don’t look to save the final third only, but they aim to place as many players as possible inside the opposition’s half as soon as possible, with or without the ball.

Picture 37 - High pressure against middle and low blocks against the opposition’s build-up phase plus Manchester City’s middle and low blocks aim.

The next pictures show a Man City defensive sequence that proves how all these “defensive moments” are often connected and that they can bring to either a direct or indirect ballʼs recovery.

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Picture 54 - The right winger Bernardo Silva triggered the pressure phase, shifting across from the flank, pressing the opposition’s center back with the ball and forcing him to play a quick pass out wide on the right.

Picture 55 - The right winger also pressed the right center back, while the left winger, the right and left center midfielders moved toward the ball’s area to create numerical superiority against the potential receivers, and forced a long pass toward the middle third.

4.2 POSITIONAL PRESSURE AND DEFENSE IN THE MIDDLE THIRD Internazionale Milan (1-3-5-2) Inter tactics during that match was far from being just defensive, as the system of play is commonly recognized. The right and left center-backs often pushed high and joined the midfielders to counter the opposition’s additional (John Stones) or attacking midfielders and prevent their teammates in the middle third from leaving the center channel.

Darmian (the right center-back against De Bruyne and Gündoğan) and Bastoni (the left center-back, against Stones) were recurrent duels during the first sixty/seventy minutes of the match (pictures 56 and 57).

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4. EXAMPLES OFF THE BALL

Picture 56 - Darmian was retreating after a preventive pressure action against De Bruyne after Man City switch of side.

Picture 57 - Bastoni was tracking John Stones after pushing up to preventively press him, joining the midfielders, who could stand and cover the passing paths between the lines.

The center-backs also acted as full-backs, when the wingbacks left the position to press and support the creation of congested areas around the ball. In this example Di Marco, the left wingback, put pressure against the ball carrier along the flank, and Bastoni, the left center-back, shifted wide to cover the teammate (picture 58).

Picture 58 - Pressure phase by Di Marco, while Bastoni covered the space at the left.

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02

PRESSURE TRIGGERS IN THE FINAL THIRD: CONGESTED AREA AROUND THE BALL

DRILL TYPE

Game-related practice

DURATION 26 minutes

PREPARATION

Playing area: half field Players: 11 + goalkeeper Series: 3 of 8 minutes with 1 minute of recovery after each round

EQUIPMENT • • • • • •

4 poles Cones 6 vests 2 mini-goals 4 markers Balls

OBJECTIVES • • • •

Pressing Transition Press 1 v 1 defending

ORGANIZATION

Divide half of a regulatory field into two equal halves using cones. Place a pole on each corner of the regulatory half field. Place two mini-goals as shown in the picture. Using markers, create a pressing area (yellow in the picture) placed in the final third of the defending team. Divide players into two teams, one of six members and the other of five plus a goalkeeper.

DESCRIPTION

• Two teams create a 5 + goalkeeper against 6 game in half of a regular field • The possession team must build up in a 3 center-backs and 2 running wingbacks formation. They should go over the opposition’s pressure shape and allow a wingback to score in the mini-goal • The defending team aims to: • Press the first wide center-back who receives to force the build-up toward the opposite side (ball-sided winger) • Overload this side in a 3 v 2 duel to force a long ball • Recover the possession in the middle third before the opposition’s wingback can arrive on the ball, receiving the aerial pass • If the defenders win the ball, they must counter-attack and score in the regular goal

RULES

Both teams must build up and press as tactically required: • Build-up to go over the opposition’s pressure shape and allow a wingback to receive after tucking in 76

• Press by forcing the direction of play toward the opposite side concerning the first pass, before congesting that side and forcing long passes

COACHING POINTS

• Force the opposition’s build-up toward one side to isolate an opponent on the opposite side • Congest the ball’s area • Aggressively press the receiver to win the ball and counter-attack

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