Roberto de Zerbi- Football, but slow
A tactical analysis
Nowadays everything in the world moves fast. Social media apps have lowered our attention span. We get bored too quickly, so everything needs to happen fast. We talk fast, move fast, think fast and act fast.
Even football focuses on speed (mental speed, at least).
If a player takes too long, he’ll get pressed.
If the ball moves too slowly on a break, the opponent can reorganize.
If you press too slowly, you’ll get outplayed.
So in a world where football depends on speed, it’s fascinating to see a manager who insists on the opposite.
His name?
Roberto De Zerbi
Introduction
At this point, you’re probably Intrigued. Unless you often find yourself looking at tactics posts on social media’s, you haven’t heard of him.
He’s still a hippie manager in some way, as 42 years old is very young in the coaching world.
I’m a lot less interested about his achievements so far, but instead very interested in his philosophy; His build up, to be exact.
His build up philosophy actually invites the opposition to press and wants to take when passing as much possible.
We will get into all this later, but to help you understand this let’s divide it into 3 parts
1. Philosophy
2. Different formations in build up
3. Different concepts in built up
Let’s get into it!
Philosophy
As i mentioned earlier, De zerbi wants the opposition to press. He wants this as it stretches the space between the oppositions lines and allows them to catch the opponent on the wrong foot should they outplay them.
This is obviously a risky strategy, as a succesful press will lose them the ball in the most dangerous part on the pitch.
The way Shaktar always have passing options in their own box when getting pressed is by overloading their own third. 6–8 players (including the goalkeeper) will always be in Shaktars box.
The high pressing teams will always press with less players than that, so Shaktar will usually outplay them. Some teams might not immediately press however, but have a certain pressing trigger that they are waiting for. To trigger this, the players might step on the ball with their studs and stand still. Its really one of the most unusual things i have seen on a football pitch.
Lastly, De Zerbi also wants the speed of the attack to go through the roof once they have bypassed the first line. Once the ball bypasses 5–6 opponents de Zerbi’s players are instructed to run at the defence.
Formations in build up
When building up from goal kicks, Shaktar line up in a 2–4–3–1. There are 2 main reasons why this formation is extremely effective.
Reason 1:
The 2–4 buildup formation gives them passing options wide and inside. Unless someone presses with a 4–2–4, there will always be a free man in build up.
Reason 2:
If they do overload the 2–4 build up formation, then we have full numerical superiority in midfield as the 3–1 up front pins back the back 4 to a point where they cant intervene. Let me demonstrate:
Concepts in build up
De Zerbi obviously uses lots of concepts from positional play in build up. However, he tweaked them a bit.
Concept 1: Wall passes
With wall passes I’m referring to a way of stretching the lines by using the third man. It’s for when the passer knows who he wants to pass to, but wants to drag the attention away from him before making the pass. These are called wall passes because the second man in this situation acts as a wall, simply bouncing the ball back.
That’s why it’s so dangerous. You don’t know whether the reciever is gonna turn around and run or if he’s gonna lay it off. The other team can never really be sure.
Here is an example:
Concept 2: rotations
One thing very common in de Serbia teams are rotations. This is when 2 players interchange positions and shift around rapidly to lose their marker. While this confusion happens and leads to an imbalance, the passer can look for an options. The most common rotation I see is when the full back from a 2–4–3–1 moves into a rcm/lcm position in a 2–3–5.
Here is one example:
Conclusion:
De Zerbi is a special manager with great concepts and revolutionary ideas. Most of all, he plays some of the most enjoyable football I have ever seen.
You press? His teams will have a free man in build up every up.
You stay low? His men have the technical qualities and concepts to outplay you.
Top managers like pep have already started experimenting with his concepts, and he’ll be at the top of the game sooner or later.
Thanks for reading.
