Date : 30/10/2016
Venue : Stadio Luigi Ferraris
Competition : Serie A 2016/2017, Matchday 11
The starting line ups:
Inter left the city of Genova with yet another defeat, their fifth of the season, after a disappointing performance against one of the most out-of form teams in the league.
With Marco Giampaolo’s Sampdoria being one of those teams that keep their distinctive style intact from game to game, deciding to do only slight tactical adaptations depending on the opponent, the match became influenced primarily by Frank de Boer’s decisions.
The most important adaptation the Dutchman made, and the one that shaped a big part of the match was a result of the opponent’s formation.
Because of the fact that Sampdoria use a very centrally focused formation, the 4-3-1-2, that leaves no spaces at the centre of the field to be taken advantage of but instead very big ones on the wings, the Ex-Ajax manager decided to present a very wing-oriented Inter side.
As you can see from the above image, already from the build-up phase of each possession, one triangle was created on each side, by the FB, the winger and the nearest side CM. This meant, that in case the ball reached the side, connections and opportunities for combinations by three (possibly four if the DM moves closer to the ball) were already established in order to take advantage of the space that was left near the sideline and between the blucerchiato CB and FB (that was created by the fact that the CBs were remaining centrally in the width of the penalty area, while the FB was closing on the Inter winger that was stretching the field).
Another advantage of these positionings was that in case of a quick change of sides, via a diagonal or parallel ball, there was already a structure to support the one meant to receive the ball and combine quickly before the whole opposing team had shifted in unison properly.
Of course though, football is a game in which you cannot gain an advantage in one area without conceding a disadvantage in another one.
It can already be seen by the previous image, how those two wing triangles left J.Mario isolated in the centre of the field, in constant danger of being in numerical inferiority against two, three or more opponents, immediately after the ball was lost by his team. The fact that the opposite side of the ball FB didn’t move centrally next to the Portuguese,(probably due to the fast rhythm of the game that was in constant transitioning for long periods, making their time to there too limited), in order to be ready to press and slow down the opposition when the ball was lost, made the situation even worse, as Sampdoria was constantly finding central spaces to attack through during the first half.
In the above two images, the differences in Inter’s structure while on attack are obvious.
The first image depicts the structure for the Sampdoria match, with the opposite side CM, staying on the opposite side inside channel, near the winger, ready to combine if the ball reached them. The FB of that side is also wider than usual.
On the second image, that depicts the attacking structure used in most of the matches this year, the opposite side CM is positioned more centrally ready to support the ball carrier, while the opposite side FB moves centrally and next to the DM, creating something like a momentary double pivot that is ready to stop the opposition from transitioning quickly.
By comparing now, both of those images, it can be easily seen how weaker the structure in this match was.
But Inter’s problems didn’t stop there as Giampaolo fully took advantage of Inter’s way of defending.
With Inter’s CMs applying, most of the times passive, pressure to the CBs when they had the ball, moving thus out of position and leaving spaces behind them, it proved to be a very good opportunity for the ex-Empoli coach to have his CBs pass to each other constantly, seemingly without reason, in order to take advantage of those opposition reactions.
You can see how, a simple pass from one CB to the other drags out of position first Banega and then Brozovic, creating a space behind them for a penetrative pass to reach Baretto.
And it was indeed this exact way that the Sampdoria build-up before the only goal of the day, evolved.
Second Half
Inter managed to improve with the start of the second half as Banega started to position himself lower when the ball was on the wing in order to take advantage of Sampdoria’s semi-active/semi-passive press towards the side, and the fact that their trequartista was not supporting continuously, defensively on the wings. This way the Argentinian was able to make more long balls towards the other side of the field, something that forced Sampdoria shift from side to side and creating spaces, especially between the CMs and the DM.
Brozovic also started to make more movements towards the centre of the field in order to give passing options to Banega and the opposite side players.
However, the nerazzurri didn’t manage to avoid defeat, as Sampdoria managed to defend well against most of Inter’s crosses and stay on defense with a lower defensive block and much more space up front to counter-attack.
Conclusion
De Boer lost for the first time this year a tactical battle clearly, in what proved to be his last game as the Inter coach, against a Sampdoria side that until now hadn’t showed on the pitch what they are really capable of.
For more Inter and non-Inter related Tactical Analysis, you can find me on Twitter,@ThanosChelas.
