There were suspicions that Italy may struggle more against the smaller teams, as they did against Scotland in the build-up to the Euros, and these suspicions were proved to be true.
Line-ups
Italy
The same line-up for Italy, aside from Florenzi coming in for Darmian on the left hand side. Not a lot to discuss here, Italy would follow much of the same patterns as they did against Belgium (which you can read what I wrote about here). De Rossi would hold while Parolo and Giaccherini attempted to penetrate the Swedish backline with their runs, while Pellè and Éder dropped deep in order to provide knocks on for each other and the midfielders.
Sweden
An interesting 4-4-2 from Sweden here, that ended up being more of a 2-3-3-1-1. Ibrahimovic dropped deep to receive the ball and create in a #10 position. Sweden looked to stretch Italy’s backline like Belgium couldn’t and create some 1 v 1 opportunities for Guidetti and Ibrahimovic. Another interesting note here is Italy were facing a true fullback in Martin Olsson for the first time, who would provide width in a way the Belgian FBs couldn’t.
Italy’s midfield sacrifices
In the Belgium game, Italy created in a rather unique way that suited the personnel they put out on the field. However, against Sweden, there wouldn’t be as much space in midfield due to Sweden not pushing Italy as deep. Plus Sweden had a rather pragmatic approach to this game, whereas the pressure was on Belgium as they were expected to top the group and went into the game looking to beat Italy.
The midfield ended up shaping up the same. De Rossi sat deep while Giaccherini and Parolo pushed up and into wide positions, Italy again sacrificed the most central part of the midfield. This is fine against Belgium, as Italy could build via long balls and the wing backs. But against Sweden, this was never going to work.
De Rossi’s positioning and midfield intellect really isn’t high enough to contribute to build-up against these smaller teams. The Roma midfielder should be occupying the space in between the CFs and MFs and initiating build-up. However, he seems to have a reliance on the CBs doing all the work. Granted, Italy’s CBs are fantastic at build-up, but long balls against deep blocks are simply not an efficient way of creating chances.
Even when De Rossi does penetrate behind the CFs, Sweden are able to deal with him easily. Erik Hamrén knew De Rossi doesn’t have the slick movement, passing range or positioning sense to take advantage of small midfield spaces.
Sweden created a box trap around De Rossi. What this did was essentially remove him from play. If an Italy player dared to pass to him while boxed up, Sweden would press him instantly and he doesn’t possess the technical skills to release the ball and take advantage.
This created a huge gap between DEF and MF. Essentially the only way Italy could build was long balls to the CFs or distribute to the wings. The problem with distributing to the wings is that Sweden’s original 4-4-2 created a numerical advantage and Candreva and Florenzi couldn’t get into efficient wide areas.
A few examples of the disconnect:
The spacing with the midfield here is awful. Even if a ball was played to the CFs, Sweden have done well to push the Italian players all together, a knock on wouldn’t even work here. There’s no room for Italy to initiate anything.
For the love of God, play Thiago Motta
Since his emergence under Jose Mourinho at Inter, Thiago Motta has become somewhat of a favourite amongst fans. The Parisien midfielder oozes coolness, and is the only player who can offer what he offers in this Italy team.
Even Motta’s presence speeds up play. The midfielder is quick into getting into a position to receive the ball, before Sweden have even initiated a forward press.
De Rossi’s simply isn’t able to switch the ball at this speed. He doesn’t have the agility, the soft touch or even the vision to complete a sequence like this. Switching the ball is incredible important in a system like this, as illustrated by Pirlo’s time in Turin. In speed’s up Italy’s general play and the distribution to the wings, which Italy struggled to use this game is a lot faster and advantages can be created.
Motta also just generally improves the midfield spacing of the team. Sweden do not have to be constantly marking De Rossi, as his movement isn’t subtle or creative enough. Whereas Motta…
What Motta does is subtle. The little glance over his shoulder to drag the Swedish MFer out of the interception distance of the ball is something that stats can’t quantify or many people notice. Other Italian MFers simply don’t have the intelligence for this.
This helps the MF spacing. It gives the CBs more options such as playing the ball on the ground to CFs, which is far more efficient in terms of control and predictability.
This is just lovely, really. Once again, there is no midfielder in Italy’s arsenal (miss you Marco and Claudio, also Jorginho should have gone) that can distribute the ball like this. Against smaller teams and if Italy are chasing the game, Thiago Motta has to start for me.
What can Italy do against Ireland?
Some experimentation would be nice. Perhaps trying out a player such as Lorenzo Insigne to add some creativity and fluidity to the forward line. Also Thiago Motta has to start at this point. He has to, gametime will be important if Italy progress deep in the tournament.
Forza Italia and forza Thiago Motta.
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