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Oleksiy Matskevich attended the Ukraine – Switzerland match in the first round of the Nations League.
The Ukraine team debuted in the elite division of the Nations League with a home win over the Swiss. Football.ua presents an analysis of yesterday’s game.
1. Shevchenko did not abandon his game model, placing the 4-3-3, which became 4-1-4-1 in defense. Bogdan Mikhailichenko made his defensive debut on the left, Oleksandr Tymchik on the right. The revelation was the departure of Yevhen Konoplyanka, who often appears on Shakhtar from the bench. Another thing is that the Ukraine team in this training camp does not have a direct substitute for Evgeniy in the position of attacking left midfielder.
2. Switzerland had personnel problems on the eve of the match. Incidentally, Vladimir Petkovich did not forget to remind Swiss journalists at the post-match press conference. Like, we haven’t seen each other in 10 months, and then the main players won’t play. Djerdan Shaqiri, Remo Freuler, Dennis Zakaria, Fabian Sher – they all missed the game against Ukraine. As a result, the 3-4-3 classic for Switzerland, which, according to Shevchenko, was very uncomfortable for the Ukrainian team. We will talk about this later. For now, pay attention to the diagram below.
3. The Ukrainian team defended its position more than it attacked. Switzerland had an advantage both in terms of ball control (57% to 43%) and in terms of number of passes (543 versus 449), by the way, the accuracy in passing was equal (86% to 86%). The fact that the “blue-yellows” defended more positionally is shown on the average player position map of Whoscored.
However, Andriy Shevchenko’s attacks beat Jan Sommer more frequently and effectively in goal: 14 shots (2 on goal) against 9 (1 on goal). The xG metric speaks of the score superiority of Ukrainians: 1.61 versus 0.77. Apparently, Vargas’ kick to the post in the 55th minute “weighs” a lot. In addition to hitting the goal, it’s hard to remember Pyatov’s scoring chances.
4. The preparation of the Ukraine team for yesterday’s game is a separate issue. Before the release of Roman Yaremchuk at the beginning of the second half, Shevchenko’s team mostly (!) Played through a short pass from his goal.
“Almost immediately after the rally from the gate, the Swiss were under pressure, – explained Taras Stepanenko at a press conference. – We, especially in the first half, had enough marriage. I will not say that some fights on our part were an issue. of mutual understanding. ” Now the coaching staff insists that, since we entered the top group of the Nations League, we not only played through long passes, but also came out of defense with a short pass, without being afraid to do so ”.
Switzerland used personal orientations and regularly covered Shevchenko’s charges near his penalty area.
Another thing is that Vladimir Petkovich’s team failed to get something out of the innings near the rival penalty area.
Note that it was Alexander who played the role of “number six”, that is, he often dropped a bit more and helped to get out of the pressure. Malinovsky’s role is a bridge connecting midfield and defense with the attacking trio.
5. It is true that the Ukraine team managed to go from the first phase of the attack to the second several times, overcoming the high pressure of the opponent and cutting several players with a vertical pass. Taras Stepanenko spoke about this after the match.
An exemplary episode occurred in the 23rd minute. Ukraine attracted Switzerland to high pressure, from which Shevchenko’s team emerged with an excellent vertical middle pass.
Malinovsky was located between the lines, being only in the 30-meter zone. Mbabu, since three of our attacking footballers play against the defenders, he had to go lower and play with Konoplyanka.
We have a great way out of pressure and a dangerous attack with a quick transition from one phase to the second. It all ended with Linnet hitting the near corner, not exactly.
6. The second point, which should be discussed in more detail, is the defensive actions of the Ukrainian team. Switzerland played 3-4-3 in the attack phase. With this game system Switzerland had a numerical advantage on the flanks.
“If we go into high pressure, our full-backs should be positioned higher, and their zones should have been secured by central midfielders,” Andriy Shevchenko replied to our question about the peculiarities of defensive formations with such a game system.
See below how it was implemented.
Let’s analyze another interesting point that Shevchenko made at the press conference, but perhaps someone did not understand what the coach meant. It sounded like this: “But if we go further in the middle of a long pass, the winger never hits the fifth Swiss player. We forbid a couple of our center-backs to go 2v2 against the Swiss forwards.” …
What are we talking about? In positional defense, the wingers of the Ukrainian team played closely on purpose, helping the central defenders, leaving the Swiss full back on the flank. – this is the coaching staff scenario. Thus, 4 of our defenders stayed in front of the three attackers in Switzerland.
The wing area, at the time of the long pass, must be covered by the central midfielders, as the example of the movements of Zinchenko and Mikhailichenko shows.
“When Switzerland came out of our pressure, we had to go back very fast. But if we got a fast inning, we had free space between the lines. So the game was very fast, with losses for both teams. Switzerland is a very uncomfortable opponent for U.S”. I am satisfied with the game of my team, the special work we have done on defense, “said Shevchenko.
7. Summing up. Switzerland had a territorial advantage in the first and second thirds of the field from their goal. However, he did not know how to get the ball into the opponent’s penalty area, except for crosses on the wings (30 in the game). By the way, as we said before, Switzerland only had one moment, which came after a pass down the flank, the remaining 29 assists, into the void. Our team won 81% of the best martial arts.
The situation is similar with the high pressure in Switzerland. Petkovic’s team, when taking the ball out of our penalty area, was unable to shoot it. Hence, only one shot on goal, which ended in a goal.
Ukraine preferred Quick transitions from the first phase of the attack to the second… But there are problems with accumulation. If, with Spain, the ‘blue-yellows’ continue playing equally unsuccessfully close to their goal, it could all end in disaster. However, let’s see if the coaching staff takes a risk.
InStat and Whoscored statistics
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