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As this is Midtjylland’s first time qualifying for the group stage in the Champions league, I thought I’d analyse their opponents in the lead up to their fixtures throughout the competition. They have been drawn in the ‘group of death’ as they face Liverpool, Atalanta and Ajax. This opposition report will focus on their first fixture against Atalanta on Wednesday 21st October.
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Overview
A brief overview of Atalanta. They are a very creative free flowing side, who make use of positional rotations to progress the ball into space. They master this by overloading the wide areas, mainly because there are often less players here so they’re able to commit more players in these areas. As the centre of the pitch numerically has a higher number of players occupying this space. Additionally, it will leave more room in the middle of the pitch where we know it has a higher probability of scoring/creating chances. In the defensive transition, they can be caught out due to their high press but this also gives them high reward if they win it in the opponents half. Below is my visual for some key points supported with data.
Key findings include:
High press/line
Diamond buildup
Gómez linkup play centrally
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In possession
Build up (diamond formation)
A key aspect to Atalanta’s build-up/positional play is their location of the players on either side of the pitch. Mainly formed with the centre-back (base of the diamond), centre-midfielder (inside of the diamond), wing-back (width of the diamond), the striker (top of the diamond) and the free man in the middle to connect the two diamonds on either side of the pitch. However, there is fluidity for them to interchange in the diamond through organised rotations. This shaped is highlighted in their average positioning versus Torino (shown below).
The shape with their diamond allows for quick combinations with at least three passing options, so if one is blocked off another is likely to be free.
The use of Gómez in the middle has two benefits as he can create a 5v4 if he joins the diamond and it lets him to make use of the space creation centrally due to opponents being dragged out of position. Using the voronoi diagram and the @lastrowview model we can see the strength of having their strikers involved in the diamond as it has drawn out an opponent and allowed Gómez to attack Zone 14.
The ball gets played into the top of the diamond (Zapata) and this draws their centre-back out of position and allows Gómez to attack the space infront of him via a layoff from Zapata.
This creates an uncontested shot from the golden zone with high probability of scoring and it results in a goal (full clip below).
Fluidity
The strikers movement is key to the diamond and the rotations. Their first movement will be away from goal to pull the opponent out of position and this opens space for teammates to rotate into. The video below demonstrates this as Zapata comes deep to receive the ball and this allows the wing-back to attack the space where the opponent has vacated due to Zapata's movement away from goal. Plus it highlights the benefits of having a high amount of passing options as the pass from Zapata goes inside, allowing the next pass to do the damage.
It allows many passing options and endless interchanges between the diamond to break down the opposition. Even when teams are playing a mid or low block it allows Gómez to progress the ball side to side between the diamonds to create gaps and get through. Below we can see Gómez being the heart beat in the middle as he moves the ball between the diamonds until there is an opening.
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Out of possession
Man-marking
Atalanta perform a very high man to man marking orientated system, this can be very draining to maintain across a full 90 minutes and we can see the wing-backs fall back deep over the course of the game. However, it allows a pressing trap to be triggered if the opposition play it into either full-back. They allow this by pretending the pass is available but they immediately press once the pass is played. PSG came across Atalanta's most notable man marking system in recent games but they actually avoided this pass into the full-backs and didn’t fall into the pressing trap and found ways to combat it. Below the graph shows the man marking press deployed by Atalanta when they played PSG.
In the series of photo's below it is evident the wing-backs were holding off to force the pass then press once it is being played they press. This is an area to avoid due it being their pressing trap.
Leaving the pass open, making it look available to play.
Ball comes back to the centre-back, who still has the pass open. Ready for the Atalanta player to press.
Once the pass is played the press is triggered and it forces PSG backwards.
They even force them into the other pressing trap on the other flank.
One smart way to beat the trap was opening their bodies up to act like they were about to pass it to the full-backs but actually progress it forward into a threatening position, this is shown below in the video.
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Prevention
Through the press
If Midtjylland want to play through Atalanta it will require technically proficient midfielders who can outplay Atalanta in 1v1 situations or able to perform quick one-twos in tight areas with high pressure. This is a lot hard to retain possession but will have big rewards if you break through the lines. Below is an example of Midtjylland progressing the ball proficiently through the thirds. Atalanta will apply a lot more pressure than shown below but Midtjylland's progression of the ball is the correct intent.
The PSG game is a good indication to show their tendencies in the Champions League. When Mbappé got subbed on his pace in behind changed Atalanta’s approach as it would be dangerous to leave Mbappé in a 1v1 scenario. Even though Neymar is deemed as one of (if not the best) 1v1 player, Atalanta forced him to receive the ball with his back to goal the majority of the time (dribbles by Neymar shown below). He still got past them but this slowed him down and allowed them to recover people behind the ball. Whereas Mbappé's speed is harder to control especially with such a high line.
Adding pace resulted in Atalanta dropping their wing-backs deeper to stop Mbappé finding the space in behind. It then resulted for the rest of the team to drop, plus adding in the intense man-marking caused fatigue. Nevertheless, this causes them big problems as they were tired and wanted to still have a high line at times. The photo shows Neymar dropping deep (near the ref) which creates the space for Mbappé to explode into.
Neymar drawing in the Atalanta defender.
Space created for Mbappé in behind, where Neymar vacated.
Long ball over the press
Napoli (blue zones) recently played Atalanta (red zones) in the Serie A. One key finding was a long ball over the top, over the Atalanta press. In this play the Napoli goalkeeper played the ball over Atalanta's press and they were able to find space in behind the attackers and midfield where the press is triggered.
It allowed them to get a 3v3 matchup in the box with a high amount of space on the unmarked player at the back post for a chance.
Without the zones, from the GK releasing the ball - showing the high man-marking press.
Player receiving the pass from the GK. Four Napoli players vs. five Atalanta players inside their own half.
The man-marking/high press isn't the first time we have seen Atalanta get caught out. Against PSG they were able to draw out Caldara due to him tightly marking Neymar. This allowed PSG to play between the lines and open up space in behind.
The ball gets played to the PSG full-back, the Atalanta press gets triggered.
A high man to man marking system is deployed to force pressure.
However, this leaves space in behind and Neymar attracts his marker to follow him deep.
This results in finding space in the Atalanta defence via a quick one-two pass.
Similarly, Midtjylland executed a play where they invite the press to open up space in behind and this could be applied against Atalanta to draw them in then open up the space behind their lines.
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Final thoughts
For a club that is only 21 years old, it has shown with the backing of data and analysis heavily invested into the club the big pay off as they make their debut in the Champions League, next week I will be covering their match against Liverpool. It is going to be a tough opener but there are weaknesses where Atalanta can be vulnerable and Midtjylland can target these areas, especially that high press.
Thank you for reading, let me know what you think on Twitter and if you would like any work for your club or work get in contact via Twitter @DylanBuesnel or by email dbuesnel1998@hotmail.co.uk