Scotland vs Switzerland
Switzerland utilized a 4312 system, which would fall back into a 4132 when defending. The Swiss were once again defensively compact, as they forced the ball into wide areas, but used their central positioning to transition forward through the strikers and midfield support play. Vogel and Koller covered the inside channels, both in and out […]
Romania vs Spain
Romania maintained their use of a narrow front three, supported by the forward movements of Hagi. Ilie offered lots of dynamic movements to stretch the game, which was complimented by Stinga & Raducioiu linking the play into the final third. Hagi’s free role saw him pull into the inside left channel predominantly. Galca and […]
France vs Bulgaria
France focused much of their attack play down the left hand side, using Lizarazu as the width, Dugarry as the target who would drop to receive the ball and Djorkaeff would would penetrate with runs in behind. Deschamps worked as the anchor in midfield, linking play efficiently and often starting transitions going forward. Guerin & […]
Euro 96 Round 2 Attack Analysis
Now that Round 2 of matches has drawn to a close, let’s take a closer look at each team’s attacking performance and see whether there have been any upgrades since our last breakdown. Lowest Attackers Last weeks lowest scoring attackers Turkey move themselves into mid table this round, after a departure from their 4-5-1 to […]
Croatia vs Denmark
Croatia were far more fluid in their use of the 352 system, using more ball possession to breakdown the spaces within Denmark’s structure. The first structural difference saw Stimac start lots of attacks by carrying the ball into midfield and then starting attacks from a far more advanced position. This was met with a positional […]
Russia vs Germany
Germany’s attacking set up mirrored lots of the same facets of the opening game, however the change in the strike partnership saw them alter the ball movements ever so slightly. Talisman and captain Jurgen Klinsmann came into the line up to replace Kuntz, as did Oliver Bierhoff make the line up to replace Bobic. Hassler […]
Scotland vs England
England’s system of play would alter during the match, however the basic premise was a 3-5-2 system as illustrated below. The pivot point in the midfield was taken up by Southgate, how would press forward with the midfielders, but could also drop back into defense when required. Neville and Pearce were given license to attack […]
France vs Spain
France’s overall attack play was predicated upon a cohesive defensive shape that then gave them opportunities to attack centrally, should the opponent leave gaps, or to attack the flanks on the weak side should they pin an opponent to one side. When starting play France were quite direct, often using a long chipped ball from […]
Czech Republic vs Italy
Italy maintained their Arigo Sacchi trademark system and style, working within an aggressive 4-4-2 system that covers every blade of the Anfield grass. Sacchi has changed out the wingers and strike partnership in this match, which slightly alters how Italy attack during build up and in transition. No longer do Italy have the creative skill […]
Portugal vs Turkey
Coach Antonio Oliveira would again set up Portugal in a very fluid system, which in this particular match took more of a 4-1-4-1 shape. With Oceano dropping out of the team it caused a slight re-shuffle, led primarily by Folha coming into the left side and taking up the role of a more traditional wide […]