Introduction
It was the game which had huge influence on the title race in Italy. The league leader, Internazionale, visited to Napoli who are the second in the league. The game was a draw as Dimarco scored the direct free kick while Napoli eventually broke down Inter’s deep defensive block in 87th minutes.
One of the features of the game was the similarity between Conte’s side and Inzaghi’s side. Both set up in a 5-3-2 out of possession, although Napoli tweaked the shape into the back four in possession. Additionally, they tend to keep tight to the opponents when pressing and there was a consistent 3v3 in the midfield. In addition to the system, both had target players up front, Lukaku and Thuram. They were the key to beat the opposition man to man pressing.
In this article, the game of the top against the second is going to be analysed and how they utilised the target players up front to beat the opposition pressing will be discussed.
Before moving on, here’s the lineup in the game.
The similar set up in the midfield
Even though the starting position of Napoli was a 5-3-2, the shape slid to the right side as Politano positioned himself as a winger and formed a back four. However, Raspadori often stayed in the central lane, so the shape tilted to the right and was asymmetrical which lacked a left winger.
Against this, Inter pressed high and went man for man as usual. When they pressed high, both wing backs stepped up to Spinazzola and Di Lorenzo who played as fullbacks in possession and the three midfielders sticked to the opponents in front of them.
Against Inter’s midfielders who stayed tight to the midfield of three, Napoli showed a great example in 6th minutes by rotating the positions. The right 8 Gilmour tended to drop deep next to Lobotka while the left 8 McTominay often stayed higher. In this example below, McTominay exploited the space which was left by Gilmour.
In this example, McTominay drove forwards and tried to break through the gap between Barella and Dimarco, resulting in getting fouled.
In the final third, thanks to the asymmetrical shape, Napoli often created chances from the right side and two forwards and McTominay arrived in the box to meet the crosses. It was from a second ball situation though, they penetrated the box which ended a cross finding McTominay at the first post in 19th minutes. Rrahmani played a long ball onto Lukaku and they secured the second ball there. Then, Politano passed to Raspadori who played it to Lukaku and he took on Acerbi and delivered a low cross which was met by McTominay.
Like this example, playing long to a target player was a frequent pattern in the game to play over the man to man pressing.
Inter, on the other hand, made the most of Thuram as a target player. In 9th minutes, Acerbi played to Thuram who held up the ball with Rrahmani on the back of him and generated time.
Then, he gave it to Dimarco and he played back to Bastoni.
As Thuram kept the ball a few seconds, he attracted Gilmour and Di Lorenzo, who took thier eyes off Bastoni and Mkhitaryan. Then, Dimarco played back to Bastoni and he passed to Mkhitaryan who drove forwards and switched the ball to Barella on the opposite side.
This is the power of creating time against man to man pressing. Creating time to draw the opponents out enables to make the other teammates free, which breaks the structure of the man to man pressing. The detail of the method to break through the man to man pressing will be analysed later.
Breaking down the stubborn defensive block
Both teams tried to use the target players to break through the opposition man to man pressing, so most of penetrations into the opposition final third came from playing long like Napoli’s penetration into the opposition box in 19th minutes as mentioned in the previous chapter. However, the game was completely changed in the second half as Inter scored the first goal at the end of the first half.
Inter, as usual, organised a compact and deep block with the 5-3-2 and Napoli tried to break it down. Napoli recorded 12 shots in the second half while Inter had zero. The effort was finally rewarded in 87th minutes. Napoli broke it down with a beautiful combination and it was a great example of how to find a gap against a stubborn defensive block.
Although somehow Inter tried to step up which stretched the shape by themselves, Lobotka received the ball in between the opposition first and second line and turned forwards to play to McTominay. After that, he ran past Zielinski to create a 2v1 against Bisseck, and McTominay laid off back to him to break the opposition last line.
After having driven forwards and drawn De Vrij and Acerbi, he found Billing who made a run into the tiny gap between Acerbi and Dumfries. If Lobotka didn’t attract De Vrij and Acerbi’s attention enough before playing to Billing, especially Acerbi would have been able to turn his body to close him down. Additionally, you can see Billing scanned and recognised the space between the defenders and adjusted his run.
All of these individual tactical actions were outstanding and this level was required to break down the Inter’s compact defensive block.
Why the target man is important against man to man pressing?
The main topic of the game was how to play through the opposition man to man pressing and how to utilise the target players, Lukaku and Thuram.
The first obvious reason of utilising the target players up front is to have an aerial advantage up front. As it was often seen in the game, when the team out of possession went man for man, the goalkeeper on the ball had no options and nothing had happened for a few seconds. This is just because it is always 11v10 for the team in possession, so the goalkeeper had no pressure as the opponents out of possession keep marking each outfield player of the team in possession.
Of course, it is possible that one of the attackers of the team out of possession jumps to the goalkeeper with accepting the risk of leaving one of the players of the team in possession, usually a centre back. However, most of teams have become able to reverse the press by using the third man combination as shown in the illustration below, so the risk became higher and higher these days.
Therefore, the team out of possession cannot apply pressure on the opposition goalkeeper on the ball, so they often decide to let the goalkeeper have the ball while keeping marking all outfield players.
Then, the option for the goalkeeper on the ball would be only playing long. It can be a lofted ball or a pass along the ground, but no matter what the type of pass is, the attacker who receives it will face a duel against the opposition defender. But as there is a risk of a pass along the ground being intercepted, most goalkeepers often try to avoid the risk and play over.
Therefore, the attacker up front who receives it needs to compete the opposition defender in the air. If the attacker easily loses the duel, the ball will be headed back longer, which can lead the opposition counterattack. Thus, the attacker at least needs to make it difficult for the opposition defender to clear the ball away and tries to make the ball drop nearby to increase the chance for the teammates to win the second ball. This is the quite obvious reason why the target players are important against man to man pressing.
Another reason is similar to the first one, but this time the pass from the goalkeeper is along the ground. The target players will be required to perform their physical capability to hold up the ball and the biggest thing they can provide is time.
Thanks to the target attacker holding up the ball, it is possible to attract the opposition attention and make them take their eyes off the teammates. For example, in the illustration above, the left defensive midfielder is in the blind side of his marker, so he can make a run behind the opponent. Moreover, when the target attacker receives the ball, the other defenders often come close to the ball, which gives space for the teammates like the right defensive midfielder in the example above.
It is difficult to gain time against man to man pressing because as soon as an outfield player receives the ball, the opposition marker will close him down quickly. But if the target attacker keeps the ball for a few seconds, the other teammates can have time to make a move in a blind side or receive the ball laid off by the target attacker in bigger space.
Also, it can be someone like Grealish or Saka in order to gain time on the ball. They can receive the ball by dropping back to hold it up or drifting inside. As these players carry the ball inside, it is possible to drag the opponents out and make the teammates free.
Finally, if it is possible to keep the ball longer, the chance of getting a foul would be increase. Getting a foul around the halfway line is a great way to progress, even though it is difficult to do it intentionally.
Overall, against man to man pressing, it is important to make the most of the target attackers who can keep the ball in order to generate time. The time provides the teammates to make a support run or receive the ball in bigger space. Therefore, the duel up front is crucial when playing against man to man pressing and this will determine if the build up will succeed or not.
