Sarri's Strong Offense and Counterpress Against Spaletti’s Deep-Block Luciano Spaletti’s initial plan of a low block was securing the 10 (by occupying Napoli’s 6), defended the defensive third using a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1 basic formation, and blocking Napoli’s use of the diagonal passing lane from the left half space into the box. Borja Valero, Inter’s number 10, would join the central midfield duo to secure the area around Inter Milan’s midfield line. This set up was to cope with Napoli’s left side focus. Borja was often found dropping quickly into the ball side half space to prevent Napoli from generating more promising spaces. Initially, the Spaniard orientated himself to Napoli’s 6 post and tried to eliminate it from supporting the possession phase. Such a duty, particularly in middle-block, was alternately done by Borja and Icardi. But, the two didn’t exclusively occupy Jorginho, the Napoli’s nominal 6. The defensive action of Borja and Icardi was somewhere in between space-oriented and man-oriented. Borja’s pressing movement seemed to be simple, but in fact, it was a very helpful one. He perceived and got it right when Napoli started their left side overload. Also, as he had to cover Jorginho, Borja’s positioning often shut down the space for the Napoli’s 6, forcing the hosts to re-circulate via their back liners thus creating a chance for Icardi to press the opponent’s back line. When pressing in a high block, Inter’s first line occupied the opponent’s first line with man-orientation in all locations. In the first line, the one to pick up both Napoli’s center backs (CB) were Icardi and any of Inter’s wide-men nearest to Napoli’s CB. The interesting assignment was handed to Ambrosio (Inter’s right full back), who was responsible to pick up Ghoulam (Napoli’s left back). Initially, the right full back stayed away from Ghoulam. The onward press to Ghoulam was triggered by an incoming pass from any of Napoli’s back liners or goalkeeper. Marking an opponent with such a behaviour was not an easy task. Ambrosio needed to make sure that the back line was secure enough before he could make a forward pressing run towards his assigned opponent. Inter’s high block Napoli’s counterpressing In this match against Napoli, Inter played a very deep block of 4-4-1-1/4-5-0-1. The two sixes, stayed deep almost all the time to secure the space in front of the back line with help from 10 occasionally. The fact that Inter defended in a very deep block indirectly helped in stabilizing Napoli’s counterpress. With their ball-orientated move, all Napoli’s central midfielders (the 8 and 6) were always able to cover the space around the ball. They covered the central space, preventing the opponent’s winger from quickly creating progression access thus providing time for Napoli’s near wide forward to drop and press. Napoli’s high press against Inter’s build up Inter focused their build up on the right side. They established an asymmetric shape with Ambrosio staying deep in the same line with two CB’s. Sometimes, one of the CB stepped slightly higher into the 6 space. Inter were able to bypass Napoli’s first line, but then they found it difficult to break Napoli’s next lines, particularly when it came to the last line. For full read, please visit this link http://outsideoftheboot.com/2017/10/23/tactical-analysis-napoli-0-0-inter-milan/ As always, thanks for reading. You can meet me on Twitter @ryantank100