⚫️Ukraine too much distance between defence, midfield and attack.
⚫️De Jong & Wijnaldum = Press Resistance Overload
⚫️Dutch build up down left and switch to Dumphries
⚫️Comeback!! No..
Dutch attack down the left, with Blind to LB and Van Aanholt and Depay occupying the wing. This forced Ukraine to shift across and get bodies over to that side of the pitch.
As is the Dutch way, they then played the switch to Dumfries again and again - and he finally delivered.
Ukraine struggled to get the ball off the Dutch, as they possess two of the best press resisting midfielders in the world.
De Jong and Gini kept wriggling out of tight situations and feeding their forwards or wing backs.
Ukraine distances between defence, midfield and attack was huge. They looked like strangers compared to the slick and cohesive Dutch.
Whilst stretching the team to cover the pitch can do the same to the opposition, it makes it very hard to connect passes together - isolated.
Not convinced by midfield combination of Ukraine off the ball - but it may be that the Dutch with two 8's pushing high were kryptonite for this midfield set up (top heavy).
Against more conservative midfields they may be okay - but they were left for dead in the first goal.
There was not anything really tactical about Ukraine's come back, it just came against the run of play. Great shot by Yarmalenko - but sending him on to his left foot was comical defending.
To have drawn this game would have been tragic for the Dutch as they were far superior.
The Dutch impressed me overall. I was not terribly convinced by their manager going into this tournament and I still do not think they will win but they have a good route in this tournament and they will be a good watch for the neutral.
My favourite game so far in the Euro's.
If you've enjoyed this thread, consider following and retweeting it as we will be doing post match threads for all the games during #EURO2020 , as well as match previews for all the upcoming match days on our website:
⚽️France balance high press with backline dropping off
⚽️Germany too narrow, Kimmich not holding width and inside forwards lack pace to stretch game
⚽️Give Pogba space at your peril
France were so difficult to break down. They did not just sit back and absorb pressure but kept Germany guessing by pressing with their forwards and Pogba... and dropping off defensively if they broke through.
This frustrated the Germans who could not settle into a rhythm.
Muller and Havertz were invisible in this system. Both need to be the focal point and here they were deployed as wide inside forwards.
They lacked the dynamism to stretch the game and with France defending narrowly, and Kimmich staying too central - they were ineffective.
- Czech take advantage of set piece & transitional weaknesses
- Dykes off the ball movement was crucial in Scotland's attacking phases
- Scotland's build up play is promising, but needs work
Scotland's build up play was surprisingly progressive for a team that historically doesn't aim to play pretty football.
McTominay struggles as a lone pivot, so depending on the side of play, one of McGinn or Armstrong would drop from deeper from their half-space to help.
Czech Republic did great to keep McTominay out of the game. He was isolated & needed assistance. Having said that, when he got help in the build up phase, Scotland were able to play progressively.
Dykes/Christie drops deep to drag their marker out of position, creating space.
- Sterling and Mount double team in the left half space
- Kane redundant (lacks penetration)
- Phillips puts in a Kante performance and dominates the right half space
- No overlaps
Whilst Tripper held, Mount bombed forward in support of Sterling. Both gave Vrsaljko a torrid time, combining with one another and taking turns to go round him and cut in side.
Kane is a flat track bully. Lacks the pace to stretch well organised defences and despite facing a sub par Croatia backline, he was incapable of stretching them and finding pockets of space.
Do not see him hurting bigger sides deeper in tournament.