This is the first act of the 2024 European Cup, helping Albania against Italy (the fastest goal in the history of the competition), and it is also a tactic often used by the top two teams in the Premier League, Manchester City and Arsenal.
It came back with a vengeance when it kicked off with an old-fashioned hoof to the park.
In today’s football, aimless punting seems to be a relic of a bygone era, mostly a cycle battle between one team pressing high and the other trying to find space to attack, but this more basic approach It became popular again.
Nedim Bajrami celebrates after scoring in just 23 seconds (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
Kai Havertz started the game on Friday, overlooking Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan Gundogan’s creative support line-up, instead passed the ball back to left-back Maximilian Mittelstadt and charged into the Scotland penalty area.
The Stuttgart defender made a timely long pass for Havertz to fight for in the air. It took two frantic clearances to save the ball from danger after it burst into the Scotland penalty area, but Germany now had Toni Kroos controlling possession in the first half and Scotland were pinned down.
It set the tone from the first kick, as did Albania’s diagonal from the right against Italy the next day. The ball floated out but Sylvinho’s side surged forward to trap Italy in their own corner. After a difficult choice, Federico Dimarco tried to pass the ball to Alessandro Bastoni in his own penalty area, but the ball was saved by Nedim Ba Nedim Bajrami blocked and he scored just 23 seconds into the game.
After the first round of the game in Germany, 14 of the 24 teams shot wide channels into the opponent’s penalty area or diagonally at the beginning of the half, as shown in the picture below.
Some took different routes there: England cleared the entire center of the pitch, with Jordan Pickford pushing forward on Harry Kane; During the kick-off against the Netherlands, Poland had five players lined up at the far end but used it as bait, with Piotr Zielinski running on to the ball and firing it to the other side, The ball then moved forward; Austria tried a complex tactic, combining short passes in the center circle before trying to pass the ball over the top of France.
Possession-purists Italy deployed five players in the middle to give the impression they were attacking directly, with Alessandro Bastoni killing the ball in front of Riccardo Calafiore Stopping dead in front of Ricardo Calafiore, it looked like he was being kicked off, but it was just a disguise, forcing Albania to back off and concede the opportunity.
It makes the game feel more natural, something Arsenal did without David Raya on several occasions last season, with the Spaniard putting the studs on the ball and both players returning later Provide them with data to build a defense system.
This trend has returned to the game after a long layoff as teams look to implement their passing style from the first whistle.
Aaron Briggs, a former Manchester City analyst before serving as assistant coach at Monaco and Wolfsburg, is currently working as a consultant with UEFA, tracking tactical trends for Euro 2024. His recurring theme.
“Kick-off is a strange time in football because it’s the only time, like in rugby, both teams are on both sides of the ball,” he said.
“You see top teams completely violating all their principles at the wrong moment.
“You usually get back to the goalkeeper under pressure and go long, which is more advantageous than going straight from the center circle because you can get deeper into their half.
“When you play diagonally, you can challenge 50-50 and knock the opponent down, or pass the ball out and you try to press the first ball and keep it in. It’s like rugby and turf kicking. , but in the past few years it has become common again.
“In coaching sessions we found that when teams play short balls they end up getting pressured and playing long balls, so that’s probably how it spreads.”
Marseille did something novel in the 2017-18 season (when they reached the Europa League final), they kicked the ball directly into the far corner with no striker to compete for the ball.
This is like the 50-22 rule in rugby league, which means that if the attacking team kicks the ball from their own half and the ball bounces inside the 22-yard line before going out of bounds, the kicking team will be awarded the lineout and Not an opponent.
There is no such reward in football, but it still marks a change from the previous decade, perhaps influenced by the dominance of Spain and Tiquitaka, when the ball would be played back to the midfielders and then passed to the full-backs, That’s when the game begins.
Do this now, explains a player-turned-coach, and even a team that typically plays in the low post will look to run at you when your opponent’s energy and aggression is at its highest, and they will become capable. Cohesion and synchronization as teams in possession are compressed into their own half.
That’s why he and many other coaches see it as a pointless adventure but a fight for territory.
Beyond the hits and hopes, there are some examples of creativity. Sampdoria went through a phase where all 10 outfielders lined up on the midfield line and split into different positions, while RB Leipzig employed a similar tactic in lower-tier German football a decade ago.
Two years ago, Kylian Mbappe scored within eight seconds of PSG’s match against Lille, a brilliant routine that saw two runners catching the defense off guard.
What a great start! 😱
It only took 8 seconds for Kylian Mbappe to open the scoring against Lille 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/ziibIszhWL
— Football on TNT Sports Network (@footballontnt) August 21, 2022
Defenders are accustomed to gaps in the game and teams looking to establish possession give them the opportunity to catch them off guard. Dominic Solanke’s performance for Bournemouth against Fulham two years ago was an example of this.
A kick-off is essentially another set-piece moment in the game, like a free kick or a throw-in, but it’s a unique scenario that no one seems to know how to handle.
But now it appears even elite teams have decided it’s best not to play in unfamiliar surroundings and recognize the benefits of playing long-term.
