Tactical Analysis: Lazio 3-1 Nice

Discussion in 'Italy' started by Covershadow, Oct 26, 2017.

  1. Covershadow

    Covershadow Member

    Aug 30, 2016
    Both sides had a similar basic shape of 3-5-2/5-3-2. They implemented a patient circulation within the 1st phase of build up. From the defensive third, both Nice and Lazio tried to access the higher area using both half backs from both half spaces. Another similar principle was that they played with one defensive midfielder. Despite some similarities, there were a couple of differences in the set up by each coach.


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    One of the fundamental principles in Nice’s progression from the first line to the next lines was that they tried to stay close in a narrow structure as they looked to establish strong connections between players around the ball to support the patient possession.

    Sneijder was arguably the most important player in Nice’s offensive play. His technical capability + Nice’s attacking set up enabled him to take part and create play around Nice’s 8 and 10 space.

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    The second principle was the ball carrier from the first line played the ball to the space behind Lazio’s midfield line. Again, Sneijder was crucial in this principle. The space targeted by Nice’s first line was the space which was often occupied by Balotelli or Sneijder.

    Lazio’s build up and possession purpose

    One of the most different aspects in Lazio’s possession compared to Nice’s was that despite both sides progressing patiently from the back line, Lazio were more direct in their final third penetration. Lazio also switched the ball between both flanks more often than Nice. With such an approach, Simone Inzaghi’s players tried to create big distances for the opponent to cover and forced them to keep shifting horizontally.

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    Radu and the center half stayed at the deepest line of the overload. Two wide players on the flank corridor tried to stretch Nice’s horizontal compactness with Savic on the tip of the overload. From Radu, the deep pass could be played to two different targets. The first one, to the player in the half space (Savic) and the second one, to the widest man in the ball side flank (advanced winger). The diagonal-onward dot lines on Savic indicate the next route he might have flicked on to after receiving the deep pass from Radu.

    Pressing set up to contain the opponent’s possession

    Nice slightly focused their positional play on the left half space so it was crucial for Lazio’s right sector to be able to eliminate the progression number available for the ball carrier. One of the most essential pressing actions was the timing and speed of movement from the right central midfielder to press Nice’s ball carrying half back supported by the cover behind the said central midfielder during the opponent’s left side attack.

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    The goal in the 2nd half

    Lazio managed to add two goals by Savic. Particularly the second goal was triggered by a planned dis-marking pattern by Lazio players. The pattern took place in the wide area. This would take minimum 3 players to be directly involved in. The principle was simple, playing an aggressive diagonal pass through the horizontal space between two defenders.

    For full read, please visit this link
    http://outsideoftheboot.com/2017/10/26/tactical-analysis-nice-1-3-lazio/

    Thank you for reading! You can meet me on Twitter @ryantank100
     

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