🔴Sterling a world-class talent when in the mood
🔴3-4-3 pinned the Germans back
🔴Low's leaky backline bites again
🔴Grealish Game-Changer
🔴Back 5 helped English midfield (options)
Starting lineup thoughts, the Saka decision was brave and the correct one as he can penetrate space inside and outside. Perfect for a counter attack set up.
Abit too perfect as its effectiveness ended up pushing the Germans back...
As we can see the beauty of the 3-4-3 is that by matching the German formation, England went man for man and the Germans were forced to match them.
This freed up Saka and Sterling from double marking and they were dangerous in the 1st half. Germany got caught out several times.
Germany dropped off and played with a back 5 in an attempt to stifle Saka and Sterling. It worked to a degree.
Kane who was off the pace struggled even more when this happened. He was surrounded with no passes being made into him. His own lack of movement was also a problem.
The only German chances came from transitions and they were not really of a high quality. England generally managed it quite well although there were some scary moments on the far post due to Kimmich and Gosens connecting once again.
Lets also give praise to Gareth's front foot pressing tactic. We mentioned it in our preview but a 3-4-3 allows you to press high up the pitch and England matched the Austrians, Czechs and Swiss by doing this.
It disrupted the Germans rhythm and Kroos struggled to influence.
What a sub by Gareth to bring in Grealish who had a hand in both goals. It pushed Sterling to the right and that is where Sterling was able to make an impact.
Nothing tactically amazing about this, just a great run by Sterling who drove at the space left behind Kroos...
Very few players have the ball mastery of a Raheem Sterling. So good in tight spaces and can eat up yards too.. the English Hazard.
For City he too often passes the buck or flops the finish in the elite games but for England he takes responsibility.
Kane still worries me. He got a goal which is great but it was after the game opened up. Against smaller sides who will shut up shop, he needs to be sharper and move more. Still one to keep an eye on and not get carried away.
Subs are so important in this tournament. The sheer number available and the quality of the benches this year means the momentum of a game can shift like crazy. Tactical versatility highlighted by Tuchel’s recent impact is becoming more and more important.
The comparison between Sven v Gareth is intriguing.
Sven would shoehorn as many stars into a side as he could to not hurt egos and Gareth seems intent on pissing off as many stars as possible.
At least he is focused on what he thinks will win him the game.
🔴Enhances the right flank? yes to a degree...
🔴Freedom to roam (is AWB a good fit?)
🔴Likes to switch flanks...
🔴What formation/signings will maximise his potential?
Pre Sancho signing, United have really struggled down the right hand side. At one stage they even put Rashford there but he did not look happy at having to vacate his favoured left sided role.
Greenwood and Mata, came inside often and AWB did not bomb on enough...
Sancho when he does stay out on the right, can drive at men and beat them in all manner of ways (drop of shoulder, skills, quick one two and get in behind). Therefore he will definitely improve the flank.
However as he has evolved as a player, he drifts away from this flank...
Key points:
- Lack of width from France
- Switzerland bully Lenglet and Varane
- Rabiot is not a defender; barely a midfielder
- Both sides style of play is a reflection of their mentality
To accommodate Rabiot filling in at LWB, #FRA had to adjust their defensive structure.
They started in a back five but would have the ball sided wingback press the player in possession, joining the midfield line, forming a 4-4-2 as #SUI are forced to go backwards.
In doing this, #FRA give #SUI time to switch to the opposite flank, isolating the French central defenders as they change positions, making crosses into the box easy... as we saw.
Key points:
- Croatia looked to defend from the start
- Modric's attempts at man-marking expose Croatia
- Spain's off the ball movement
- Croatia COMEBACK after Spain collapse
- Football is mad
Croatia looked to defend from the moment the game began.
Spain's attacking structure resembles a 3-3-4 or 3-2-5, so to defend against this, #CRO would have their wide players Vlasic and Rebic track Gaya and Torres.
While the Croatian wide players defend the Spanish wide players, Kovacic, Modric and Brozovic were free to remain central and press Spain's midfield passing options.
As the game went on, Spain was able to move this defensive unit out of position and create space to play in.
🔴Portugal Xmas Tree (Off the Ball)
🔴Belgium bringing their wing backs inside
🔴Portugal build up is awful (Huge distances)
🔴Time to move on from Ronaldo?
🔴Portugal right flank poor.
Portugal adopted a low block in the first half and it was a 4-3-2-1 (Xmas Tree) when they did not have the ball.
The plan was to make Belgium keep passing into wide areas and flood the middle so that KDB and Hazard could be locked off.
This did not work when Belgium rotated the position of their forward line, confusing the Portuguese defence.
More importantly, Belgium outnumbered in the middle by bringing in Meunier and Thorgan, who was then able to shoot from distance shell-shocking Patricio and Dias.
⚽️Malen over Weghorst was a mistake, as Czech press and then dropping deep when Dutch got through made a physical presence up front important
⚽️Blind nullified and exposed
⚽️De Ligt 😱
The Czech man-marked the Dutch from Steklenburg's goal kicks adopting an aggressive 4-3-3 marking a 3-4-3. This made it impossible to play out from the back and forced the Dutch long... where there was no Weghorst as a target man.
This destroyed Dutch rhythm and confidence.
Before the sending off... Czech's failed to put enough men into the box despite dominating the right flank and putting in good crosses.
Soucek was not gambling enough, but after the sending off was another story as the absence of De Ligt have the Czech's confidence to bomb on.
Germany built up down the right predominantly and switched the ball out to the left whenever they wanted to go for the kill.
When this switch was made, Havertz went central and Muller took Havertz position. This confused Portugal's defence and Kai's physicality is so effective.
With Germany's front three moving so fluidly compared to the French game, it sucked Semedo inside to try and help the bewildered central defenders and CDM's.
This opened it up for Gosens to get in behind in that right wing/right half space.