It’s been goals galore in recent days at the Euros. Records have been made, rampant or embarrassing, depending on what side of the lens you view it from. The contenders are trying to one-up each other by absolutely dismantling their opposition with the opponent playing a helping hand in the process too.
We have had the French batter Italy 5-1 with PSG’s Grace Geyoro scoring a first half hattrick from midfield. It was a game where the front 5 of Katoto, Diani, Cascarino, Geyoro and Toletti, transcended into another stratosphere in terms of their fluidity and dynamism in attack.
England went, “hold my tea”, after viewing that 5-star French performance. They scored 6 in the first half the very next day, 8 in total, against Norway. They set the record for the biggest margin of victory at any Euros tournament, men’s or women’s. Mead, who is on her personal revenge tour, scored a hattrick, becoming the top goalscorer in the competition. They amassed an xG of 6.9 in the game, recording 20 shots with 15 of them being on target and the worst part is, it could have been more.
While the individual performances and team set-ups that enabled these performances are interesting, I am gonna focus on two slightly different things that caught my eye. Lets begin!
England’s pressing on throw-ins
Norway were abysmal, no two ways about it. They allowed England to have their way, the defensive setup was terrible, the spacing between the defenders was bad and individual defensive performances were bad as well. I guess it’s not a surprise when 3/4 of your defensive line consists of players who aren’t exactly defenders and you play an actual CB at RB. Some massive big brain energy from Martin Sjögren but anyway.
It was really this easy for England to slice open Norwegian defence. The run from midfield by Stanway was a constant cause of bother, as she regularly made those runs in the space between the fullback and centerback. The runs from the far side winger at far post were well timed as well.
Sometimes all it took was a very simple one-two to completely undo the defence.
England were absolutely scintillating as well, taking nothing away from them. Their pressing was as intense as it has ever been, they strangled Norway in their own third and managed to create turnovers that resulted in goals. Their pressing on throw-ins especially resulted in so many opportunities. Throw-ins turned out to be nightmares for Norway.
Lets look at some examples.
In this sequence, England brilliantly mark out all immediate short passing options by maintaining small distances with the opponent and using their cover shadow to block passing lane. No immediate passing option forces Norway to go long and England win the ball back.
England’s first goal came from the penalty spot but the move leading up to that penalty call started from…you guessed it a Norway throw-in. Here Caroline Graham Hansen (the receiver from throw-in) is under pressure from Bronze and takes a bad touch as a result. Stanway quickly flicks the loose ball into space and the move begins.
The move stems from Fran Kirby’s awareness off-the-ball. She moves into space and in turn drags Ingrid to open up the passing lane for Hemp to receive before presenting herself as an option to receive the pass from her. What followed was a soft penalty call and a goal for England. Kirby’s intelligence always shines in these situations, even if she is not touching the ball, she is influencing the opposition with her very clever movements.
England’s 3rd goal you ask? Once again from a Norway throw-in. The Lionesses have very close player-to-player access on throw-ins and the only viable option is to play the back pass. This is seen as the trigger to press, Rachel Daly sprints to close down the receiver quickly and force a decision and with all immediate options marked, the pass goes to Thorisdottir in the center.
Mead is attentive to this and quickly closes down the space to deny opportunity to turn while Ellen White doubles down the pressure on Thorisdottir, causing her to lose out on possession that immediately results in a 1v1 situation with the goalkeeper and a goal. 3-0 to England.
There were multiple other instances where Norway were suffocated in their own third, not just from restarts like a throw-in but during their buildup phase as well. While this will be remembered for England’s goalscoring exploits, this was arguably England’s best pressing performance by a long mile and Wiegman will be happy about that.
As for Norway, things look bleak and another potential group stage elimination is looming.
Northern Ireland’s Goalkicks
Restarts can be fascinating. It’s an opportunity to do something differently and start on the strong foot. Based on what you do, the results will vary. Not just in football but life as well!
I am always fascinated by restarts in football. Throw-ins, kick-offs, goalkicks are all opportunities to gain control and make the opposition play to your ideas. We saw how England’s pressing managed to turn Norway’s throw-ins to their advantage. Let’s shift our focus to another interesting tactical bit in the tournament so far - Northern Ireland’s goalkicks.
Northern Ireland are tournament debutants, the lowest ranked nation in the tournament. Their qualification in itself was historic and they have managed to create some more history at the tournament as well. The 37 year-old Julie Nelson etched herself into history books and the Northern Irish folklore by becoming their first ever goalscorer at the Euros and the oldest goalscorer in tournament history.
While Kenny Shiels’ side have lost both their games, one thing that stood out to me was their usage of CBs during buildup from open-play and especially their setup on goalkicks. We won’t be focusing on their open-play buildup here but I will just quickly show how they use their center-backs while building from the back.
What’s more interesting is what they do on their goalkicks. Normally, they preferred the long and direct route quite often..
But at times they have used a variation that has caught my eye..
Notice how the CBs are both inside the penalty box, just at the edge of the six yard-box. The CB plays the ball to the GK, who looks for the fullback out wide. It wasn’t successful on this occasion but it was interesting to see nonetheless.
Important context to add here is this has been only been possible due to the recent rule change regarding goalkicks. The change now suggests that the ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves and not when it leaves the penalty box. This has allowed teams to have their CBs inside the penalty area and try to bait the opponents into pressing them, thus opening up avenues higher up the field to either go direct or have their deepest midfielder show up for the ball to help build from back.
This seemed to be the idea behind Northern Ireland’s goalkicks as well. They wanted to bait their opposition into pressing them, so that they can either distribute the ball to their fullbacks or play direct to the striker and look to win second balls by having players positioned optimally.
Look at this instance against Norway from their first game. The setup is the same, they pull Ada Hegerberg into the initial press and then hoof it long. The way Norway are set-up there is space to be exploited behind the first line of pressure (from the forwards) and they manage to position a player perfectly to pick up the second ball from the aerial. They managed to reach the opposition half from their goalkicks, they aren’t able to further capitalize on this due to lack of supporting passing options but you can see how this would work.
There were instances were slight tweaks could have helped Shiels’ side could have exploited this better. Better positioning, body orientation or quick releases of the ball towards far side, would have resulted in them reaching the final third of the pitch and the buildup from goalkick would have been termed a success. In the video below I have expanded on two such in-game scenarios where slight tweaks could have given better results.
The execution was lacking but the idea was novel.
Funny story, Austria mimicked this setup during their game against Northern Ireland and matched it with better execution.
Look at this sequence. The 2 CBs inside the penalty area at the edge of the six-yard box to bait opponent into press → the goalkeeper goes long → the team picks up second balls → quickly switched to the far side with fullbacks attacking → enter the final third and get the cross in.
Obviously one can’t look at it in isolation, there are obvious difference in player quality which play it’s part here but it’s interesting to see nonetheless. A small tactical wrinkle that can prove very effective when executed perfectly.
Candela says “baila conmigo”