The dust has finally settled after Euro 2020, and it’s time to analyze the main tactical trends and tendencies of the tournament, which has surpassed our wildest expectations.
The Background
In an increasingly distant past, major international tournaments were the biggest deal in football. During the World and European Championships, the football community had the opportunity to follow the trends in the development of the game. Gradually, in the nineties of the last century, club football became the main driving force behind the development of the game. The growth of the club squad potential, top leagues, and their budgets left no chances for the national teams.
Major international tournaments have retained their sacred status only owing to tradition – we are all accustomed to waiting for the World Cup or the next Euro. But the very meaning of these forums has seriously changed. We no longer considered them as an opportunity to determine in which direction the game was developing. Recently, it has become more like a football festival, which does not always determine the strongest team. The way the tournament stages were organized contributed to the flourishing of the factor of chance. In such conditions, the success of national teams that adhere to the most primitive methods of building a game is not surprising.
For example, the Euro and World Cup of 2016 and 2018 were respectively won by the national teams of Portugal and France, which, having top-level personnel potential, relied on positional play in defense and quick attacks. National teams, trying to comply with tactical trends, finished their tournament path at the stages of semifinals and quarterfinals. The triumph of Deschamps’ France and Santos’ Portugal brought absolutely nothing new to the table.
The long-awaited Euro 2020 erupted like a volcano, broke through this trend, and showcased all the motley tactical variety of modern football. Despite the fact that Italy won the tournament with two penalty shootouts, there is little doubt about the champion’s worthiness, which is supported by the overwhelming opinion of the global football community.
Overview
First of all, it was a tournament of teams, not players. Such tactical diversity and high intensity of interactions at the national team level, perhaps, have never been observed before. The average level of the tournament was very high, while the majority of teams tried to play bold, attacking football, which affected their performance. Euro 2020 has become the most productive in the history of European championships – 2.78 goals per match.
The current national teams of Italy and Spain demonstrated team coherence, mental and strategic speed at the level of the leading European clubs – Manchester City, Chelsea, Bayern. Along with the Italians, the Danes appeared as a kind of transformer, which, depending on the conditions, is able to rebuild its game system for different goals.
To avoid getting lost in the endless ocean of information created by the tournament, we conditionally structure our review by analyzing what we saw through the prism of schemes, aspects, and new methods of interaction in different phases of the game. At the same time, in our conclusions, we will try to abstract as much as possible from the result, guided by the level and methods of playing the game.
Defense
In total, about 15 basic tactical schemes were recorded at the tournament, not counting phase changes and minor variations. Quite often, during the matches, the teams were rebuilt.
If we draw a parallel with structures with two and three center-backs, then 46 matches began with the three center-backs in the team, and 56 matches with a pair of center-backs later rebuilt into three. That is, at the initial stage of the development of positional attacks, the national teams, in most cases, gave preference to three players in the defense line.
In particular, we had the opportunity to observe a similar practice in the system of the finalists’ game. This is one of the few things in common in the team structure, with a basic setup with a pair of nominal center-backs. The left-back of the Italian national team Spinazzolla, in fact, performed the role of the lateral, and Di Lorenzo in most cases remained behind with Bonucci and Chiellini. For the British, the left full-back also went forward – Shaw and Walker complemented a trio.
The Danish national team repeatedly rebuilt from 3-4-3 to 4-3-3 due to the displacement of one of the center-backs – Christensen, to the middle line. This move by Kasper Yulmand, who is often rumored to hone his strategic thinking by playing online blackjack for free, is fully justified and has long been ripe for more massive exploitation. In recent years, the tendency has been to add central defenders in constructive technical and tactical actions.
It is this factor that makes it possible to gradually move away from the previously-regular lowering of the nominal defensive player into the defensive line when playing the ball in their own half of the pitch. On the contrary, now we increasingly see center-backs form a trio with one of the full-backs for interactions at the midline level.
Midfield
The Swedish national team was unique in terms of structure. It was the only team in the tournament that started the matches according to the once classic 4-4-2 scheme. At the same time, in the attacking phase, even the Swedes also switched to playing with three central defenders. Left full-back Augustinsson moved up, and Lustig became right-center.
Hybridity and asymmetry were one of the main tactical features of the tournament. In the second and third phases of positional attacks, it was often observed how one of the flanks was overloaded with players, and in the second, the winger was isolated.
Also, it should be noted that in fifty-one matches of the tournament, forty-five times one of the teams, at least once in the match, changed the tactical scheme during the game. This fact underlines the expanding tactical arsenal of national teams, as well as the need to have alternative methods of playing the game.
Regardless of the scheme, the concept of space-time has a large impact on the development of the game. At the national team level, the actions and interactions of players without the ball are reaching a new, higher quality level. Leading teams skillfully created space by moving players, opening up, and overloading certain areas.
One of the main reasons for the record performance was the factor of creating a phase space through proactive defense methods, that is, pressing and counter-pressing. With the exception of England, which more actively used the principles of positional defense and resorted to pressure more occasionally, all the most successful participants in Euro 2020 relied on high pressure and active actions in the transitional phases of the game – Italy, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria. In general, the diversity of the tactical arsenal of most of the national teams should be noted. The intense pressure from Spain and Austria was particularly impressive.
Attack
Perhaps only Spain and Germany played in the same style and always adhered to the same model of the game, except for the occasional practice with a false nine. Dani Olmo successfully coped with this role in Luis Enrique’s team. This is another of the trends in the decisive stages of the tournament. Italy and England also often supplied their strikers with rather original functions. For the British, Kane, who demonstrated the skills of a playmaker, sank into the depths, and for the Italians, to switch to a similar style of play, Mancini switched Immobile and Insigne.
One of the most unusual and unexpected trends is the use of right-backs on the left flank of the defense – more precisely, inverted full-backs or laterals (depending on the scheme). Only a few have resorted to such avant-garde trends, but, apparently, this is just the beginning. The examples of Spinazzola (Italy) in the 4-3-3 scheme and Mele (Denmark) in the 3-4-3 make it possible to seriously consider this technique in mass exploitation. In some matches, Southgate also tried a right-footed Trippier on the left flank.
Right-footers were actively involved in attacks and shifted to the center. At the same time, the wingers were also inverted. This made the game more varied and unpredictable, and the direction of development of the flank attack was more precise.
Also, at Euro 2020, the technique of opening a compact low block by the interaction of laterals was clearly manifested. Perhaps, it was demonstrated so brightly that it can be safely attributed to the main tactical trends of the tournament. The most vivid example was in the Portugal-Germany match, in which the Bundesteam, by and large, thanks to this one technique, destroyed the still reigning European champions at the time.
The high and wide positions of Gosens and Kimmich allowed the Germans to keep five players in the attack line. This forced the Portuguese four defenders to squeeze as tightly as possible and guaranteed ample space on the flanks. The forwards and insiders created a gravitational field that kept the lines within certain limits, and the free laterals easily assisted each other.
For the Danish national team, when they managed to close the opponent in a low block, Mele and Wass acted in a similar way. For the British, the Trippier – Shaw connection worked out in the final, when the latter became the author of a quick goal. For the Ukrainian national team, a very important role in the victory over Sweden was played by laterals Zinchenko and Karavaev. The system itself contributed to the success of the former, who was transferred to Manchester City.
Finally, the most common attack tactic was the systematic interchangeability of attacking players. Coordinated and intense position changes are a great method of breaking down your opponent’s defensive lines. At the very least, this guarantees options for the ball’s advance in the final third of the field and promotes short-term deformation of the defense lines, the formation of “pockets” through which positional defense can be opened. These methods were effectively used by almost all the leading teams of the tournament.
The role of the forward continues to evolve in its usual form. The Euro emphasized that goal targeting is not the main goal of a striker in modern football. First of all, he is a direct part of the team’s game mechanism, the same as the center-back, defensive midfielder, or winger. The forward is one of the details that allow the system to function, which should create space and time for scoring. The yardstick for forwards being the number of goals scored is a sign of outdated thinking. The functions performed by Immobile, Kane, Morata, and others during the tournament are indicative of that.
Top 10 Innovative Tactics
Let us summarize the most innovative tactics used during Euro 2020 with a top-10 list, featuring more details of each stratagem:
- Hybrid schemes
One scheme for the entire match in 2021 is absolutely not enough. The teams start the game in one formation, then grope for the opponent’s weaknesses (or level their own) and switch to another, then often trying the third. A hybrid helps to own two schemes at once: this is when teams, with the help of a pair of players, switch between playing with four or three defenders.
For example, while defending, you can keep four players in the last line, and while in possession of the ball, you can send one of the defenders forward. This summer, Sweden, Italy, and Russia have shown proficiency in the technique. The Italian and Swedish coaches were assisted by the full-backs Ludwig Augustinsson and Leonardo Spinazzola to hybridize the schemes.
- Center-back in the position of a holding midfielder
If in the middle of the 2000s a defensive midfielder could move to the position of a central defender in the course of his career (for example, Javier Mascherano), now the defenders are so good at passing that they can, if necessary, play the midfield. The aforementioned Kasper Yulmand regularly destroyed the opponent’s pressure by transferring the nominal center-back Andreas Christensen to the position of a holding midfielder.
- Right-footers on the left flank of the defense
Spinazzola, Maehle, Trippier – all three are right-backs, and all played on the left the entire tournament. Spinazzola and Maehle were especially vivid and regularly joined the attack to the benefit of the team. According to InStat, the Italian and the Dane made an average of 10 and 7 strikes per match, respectively.
- Laterals against the compact block
Breaking the bus scheme is now in vogue with the extended wing-backs. Provided that the opponent defends with a low block at 4-4-2, this potentially gives a 5 to 4 advantage in the last line (2 wingers, 2 insiders, 1 forward) allows for stretching this formation.
The tactic was used by Germany (Gosens and Kimmich), Denmark (Maehle and Wass), Ukraine (Zinchenko and Karavaev), England (Show and Trippier) – all with obvious success. Luke Shaw’s goal in the final against Italy gave England the hope of winning, but the real master class was taught by the Germans Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens, who defeated the Portuguese.
- Fast attacks after pressing
“The greatest success at the Euro was achieved by the teams that maintained a high intensity of pressure”, claims InStat. According to the company, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Spain have shown themselves more efficiently than others in this regard. After intercepting the ball, they tried to catch the opponent in the transitional phase.
- High positions of holding midfielders in pressing
In order to maintain pressure, central midfielders need to move high. This allows them to close in with pressing when the opponent overcomes the first line of pressure from the group of attacking players. The compactness of the pressure block used by Italy allowed Jorginho to obtain the stats of an elite defensive player: with a tackle efficiency of 43%, he made an average of 6 returns per game.
- Corner scatters
Gareth Southgate’s attention to basketball has been setting trends in international tournaments for the third year in a row. InStat considers the following play of a corner to be the most typical: when all the players of the attacking team stand compactly and after the cross (which usually is sent to the center) quickly scatter across the penalty area.
The essence is that in this situation, the defending side cannot apply personal blocking. Under these conditions, for example, Harry Maguire shone: 7 crosses on him were accurate, and 4 ended in goal attempts.
- Vertical passes from center-backs
Almost every team tries to get out of defense through a pass and build attacks from central defenders. Therefore, defenders with high passing and playmaking skills acquired a pivotal role. Emeric Laporte (Spain), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy), and Harry Maguire (England) stood out in these roles.
Laporte became the best passing player in the tournament (an average of 91 passes per game, 96% passing accuracy). Interestingly, his passes were often addressed directly to the center. Bonucci ended up completing 11 key passes (immediately leading to dangerous situations).
- Exchange of attack roles
To create space for attacking partners, the forwards have to move to the flanks or even deep into the pitch. In the French national team, Karim Benzema created the space for Kilian Mbappé, and England gave the Danes a master class on using the “false nine” by Harry Kane.
- Winger Finishers
In a tactic where the center striker is busy intercepting the ball at his part of the pitch, the wingers acted as finishers. Lorenzo Insigne (2 goals) shone in this role, and Raheem Sterling became the personification of the technique.
The Englishman pushed his national team to the playoffs (scored 2 of England’s 2 goals at this stage), scored the most expected goals in the tournament (3.82 xG), and, according to InStat, finished the Euro with 13 chances to score.
