England-Netherlands: Tactical Analysis Euros 2024 semi final
#EURO2024
▪️ The success of England's width moving to a back five
▪️ Both Bellingham and Foden finally finding space
▪️ Netherlands changes and England's issues without the ball
#EURO2024
▪️ The success of England's width moving to a back five
▪️ Both Bellingham and Foden finally finding space
▪️ Netherlands changes and England's issues without the ball
The move to a back five has provided England with much needed width, with Saka and Trippier pushing up, it pinned back Netherlands back 4 creating a 4vs3 as Kane occupied the centre-backs
It means that wherever Foden or Bellingham as one of the two 10's receives from the defence, it pulled Schouten-Reijnders with them. At other times Mainoo pushed up into midfield and with Foden dropping deep, Bellingham would occupy Netherlands defence too
With England's back three spreading the pitch wide and Bellingham-Foden pulling Netherlands midfield two wide, it opened up gaps wide for Rice to switch the ball to the opposite wing. It meant Netherlands struggled marking Foden-Bellingham so England exploited the spaces wide
The roles of Bellingham and Foden were key because it felt like for the first time in the tournament a team wasn't compact and struggled to track both of them as they have 'free' roles to pick up the ball in the half-spaces, allowing them to turn and find attackers
England became more confident as this went on, as Foden dropped deeper a player (Gakpo) would go with him, as Mainoo pushed up, Reijnders was left to mark him with Saka tucking in and Walker pushing wide. With Saka inverting it created space wide for Walker or vice a versa
I think in general, Netherlands press wasn't intense in the first half allowing England's midfielders space to receive, evade their markers and progress the ball up the pitch, which a player like Mainoo is excellent at
England's approach without the ball does have issues. With Foden-Kane-Bellingham pressing it left Dumfries free on the wing to be the out-ball which was easily found (like for the 1st goal)
The problem is clearly because England's front 3 pressing Netherlands back 4 and Rice-Mainoo trackign Netherlands midfielders, you can see how far Trippier is away from Dumfries in this situation. The problem got more complicated when a forward dropped deeper for the Dutch
Reijnders (or Schouten) would move just in behind England's front three, evading Mainoo and Rice allowing the space to be opened up for one of Netherlands strikers to receive in space, it just felt as though Netherlands weren't purposeful with this space and wanted to hold it
This was due to England dominating possession for large periods, so when Netherlands did get their foot on the ball they just wanted to take the sting out of the game. Netherlands did recognise and fix these issues in the 2nd half, tightening up on Foden-Bellingham
It helped that Wegjorst dropped a little deeper rather than press England's back three, with the Dutch forwards squeezing the pitch whenever Foden would receive and going man to man on Mainoo and Bellingham who were pushed up
Ultimately the game was heading to ET, but Southgate's bold change of putting Watkins on for Kane paid off, as finally there was a striker for England running in behind defences as opposed to dropping deep. Though vs Spain the space of a wide fullback is an issue to fix
End of thread!
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