EURO 2020： Gosens cooks Portugal’s goose – Portugal vs Germa

　　Line-ups and formations

　　首发阵容与阵型

　　Portugal’s use of quick breaks

　　葡萄牙对快攻的利用

　　The Germans looked to exploit the attacking width provided by the wing-backs by narrowing Portugal’s 4-5-1 out of possession as much as possible. They used quick interplay between their midfielders and all three of Gnabry, Havertz and Muller were given the licence to drop in and help overload in central areas.

　　Germany’s defenders would push forward to allow them to stretch the pitch too. Below we can see right-sided centre-back Ginter pushing forward to provide an outlet as Germany drew the Portuguese shape towards the left flank.

　　But what allowed Germany’s wing-backs to push even further forward was how aggressive the German centre-backs positioning was. When Hummels felt there was the possibility to step forward and help switch play himself, he would do sobd体育app官网入口. This Ginter to move out of that position and shift wide to where right wing-back Kimmich would have beenbd体育app官网入口. And then of course this would allow Kimmich to push further forward.

　　Throughout their possession phase, Germany looked to have their attacking players cover the entire width of the pitch. We can see how with both wing-backs pushed high in the image below, Portugal’s back four is outnumbered.

　　Kroos would drop deep to get on the ball and would hit diagonal balls in behind on top of using combination play with those around him. We can see in the previous image how Portugal’s midfield five stay rigidly narrow, and whilst they are heavily protecting any central forward passes from Kroos, the only German player in this area is Gundogan. This left plenty of space in between the lines for Muller, Gnabry or Havertz to drop into, but it also meant that both Kimmich and Gosens were necessary attacking outlets for Germany to use to play behind.

　　Or Kroos might look to instantly play in a wing-back behind. We can see Kimmich looking for this with an angled 45 degree run behind.

　　The use of Gosens in attackbd体育app官网入口

　　进攻中对戈森斯的使用

　　It was through this tactic that Germany were able to get their third and, to an extent, fourth goals of the game.

　　Again for the fourth goal, Germany were able to pick out Gosens at the back post, and this was partly down to some marking from Rafa Silva, who allowed the wing-back to just glide into the box whilst the Portuguese refrained from getting goal side. This allowed Gosens to score on the hour mark, and put the game to bed with 30 minutes left to play.

　　It wasn’t just through combination and narrowing the opponent where Germany were able to exploit the wing-backs.

　　Gnabry would look to bounce the ball back safely to a player who could then pick out the wing-back with a direct diagonal pass, and allow the inside forward to run in behind and exploit the overload.

　　Conclusion

　　结语

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