Italy – Albania: Holders Find Fluency To Drown Early Trauma (2-1)

Being the holders of the competition is not an easy ride, especially when you concede so early in your first game. But after Italy found their feet, the Spallettisms soon followed which Albania had no response to.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

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At the Signal Iduna Park, Andrea Pirlo’s passing brilliance took control against Germany in a World Cup semi-final. Eighteen years later, Italy returned to the home of Borussia Dortmund, under tournament conditions, hoping that another player would ignite the stage again.

In a Euros ‘Group of Death’ it’s the one game where Luciano Spalletti’s team are guaranteed to hold the ball for long periods. How the team would look was still hard to picture, under qualifying, Italy appeared in classic Spalletti style – four at the back with very diverse fullbacks. In pre-tournament friendlies, a back three has been occurring more and connections looked clean against Bosnia, in particular, ex-Sassuolo teammates Davide Frattesi and Gianluca Scamacca struck some effective attacking patterns.

How would this fare against Albania? As the second-lowest ranked team, it may seem easy to write off Sylvinho’s side, but deep blocks and transitions can harm any team that is coordinated well enough. After all, this is a team that has a strong Serie A core: Atalanta’s Europa League-winning captain, Berat Djimsiti, is perhaps the standout in an experienced squad. 

Italy needed to go full throttle and Spalletti made some curious decisions in his line-up. Both Alessandro Bastoni and Riccardo Calafiori were selected in a back four, with Jorginho and Nicolò Barella a more common double pivot placed ahead. Lorenzo Pellegrini was added to the attack, spearheaded by Scamacca.

Albania were arranged in their usual 4-3-3 formation, five of the starting eleven at Serie A clubs, including the midfield trio. Ylber Ramadani covered Kristjan Asllani and the more offensive Nedim Bajrami in that center-midfield. Spearheading the attack was Armando Broja.

The most chaotic of starts

After a powerful rendition of Il Canto degli Italiani, there would be no question about the motivations of the Italians, but events could not have started in a more chaotic fashion. A deep long ball created a throw-in for the opposition, standard openings from a kick-off situation. Federico Dimarco aimed his throw-in towards Bastoni in his box, but Bajrami was most alert to the scenario.

This put Bajrami through, angled towards the goal against Bastoni and his powerful shot into the top corner was too much for Gianluigi Donnarumma to get anywhere near. Twenty-two seconds in, Albania opened the scoring from the most random situations, the quickest goal in Euros history.

Straight from Napoli’s set-piece playbook

Now the incentive was on Italy to find routes through in a much quicker fashion. In possession, Spalletti established a 3-2-4-1 formation, not uncommon from his experiments, but the midfield was noticeably more in a box-like state due to its early rigid form. Barella was the only exception, drifting outwards when Dimarco moved inwards, but the onus from Italy attacks came from switches as opposed to fluid movements that carved through.

Italy almost cooked up an instant response through a long ball towards Federico Chiesa, who was selected as holding the width on the right wing, much to everyone’s surprise. A low ball was flicked on by Scamacca and Pellegrini was in space just to the right of the penalty spot, but his attempt curved wide of the post.

3^rd minute: Problems for Italy in the early buildup. As the ball circulated back towards the left, Calafiori dribbled past Bajrami. However, Albania had massively compacted the central area and Calafiori was left with few options as Pellegrini tucked himself further inside the block and the ball was gobbled up by Asllani.

Dribbles were already being made by Riccardo Calafiori, perhaps he could be that long-haired Italian controller in Gelsenkirchen, but Albania had already established themselves in a very deep state. Jasir Asani dropped into the defensive third and Bajrami was closest to Broja to make a 5-3-2 formation, but when one of the Italian double pivot adjusted their position, he followed suit and Albania where positioned even deeper. Taulant Seferi also had his situations when he was positioned in the last line and Albania where assembled in a 6-3-1/6-2-2 arrangement. Although Italy had not fully found their fluidity, their set-up at least pinned their opponents deep where they could target different areas.

Dimarco won a corner nine minutes into the match, and a short corner between him and Pellegrini put the Roma midfielder in a new angle to deliver the ball into the box. Making his run at the back post was Bastoni and the center-back sent his header back across goal and into the net. An equalizer and a quick response from Spalletti’s men.

Switches continued to be an important asset for Italy. Barella started to appear on the opposite side and this created the Inter-esque movements between him and Dimarco whose cutback across goal was hacked away from Djimsiti before Scamacca could strike. Nevertheless, Italy circulated from the throw-in that followed and even though the move had broken down, Scamacca’s effort was blocked, Elseid Hysaj hacked the ball away and Barella unleashed an excellent first-time attempt towards the near post, from outside the box. Not the ideal Italian performance so far, but the goals were absolutely necessary.

Fluidity found in dominance

After the goals had gone in and Albania maintained their deep presence, we started to see some more of the fluid actions we were promised from Spalletti’s team. Adjustments from the tens established the different positional attacks: on the left side, Pellegrini started to move inwards more frequently, which saw Barella or Calafiori move ahead in the buildup. Dimarco could also take up different positions but this was more occurrent against the last line or when he was actively taking part of the rotation with Barella when he pushed towards the outer channel.

27^th minute: Different positional arrangements nearly exploited Albania’s deep block. Pellegrini’s position inside of the block was now a positive as Ramadani was dragged further into the Albania arrangement. Access was then open on the outside of Asllani, as Di Lorenzo moved back, after making a run towards the box, and he rotated with Frattesi. This pocket was only available for a short moment and Di Lorenzo opted to make the pass to Chiesa instead.

When Pellegrini stepped inward and more towards the ball, it could drag Ramadani away from his post and with Bajrami already positioned near Broja, and Asani in the defensive line, it created the lane for Calafiori to push up and join the attacking third with few problems. An unpredictable left side that constantly left the Albanians guessing.

Italy also caused issues on the right side too. As Frattesi dropped towards the ball, Jorginho switched his position onto the right and a two-versus-one could be created on Asllani, whilst Barella also moved onto the same side to add to the overload and distribute the ball next to Bastoni. Di Lorenzo made one-twos with the Arsenal midfielder and Italy could create similar levels of fluidity with Pellegrini joining from the far side and Scamacca angling himself up from a central spot to make a wall pass option. With Chiesa on the outside, Italy had an excellent dribbler that could slide around Mario Mitaj. Spalletti’s line-up decisions became clear at this point: Di Lorenzo and Calafiori were entrusted with joining the attacking rotation, depending on the situation, whilst Bastoni would keep Broja occupied.

The Italians had a great opportunity to add a third from the counterpress, Mitaj’s pass intercepted by Jorginho. This was the perfect platform for Scamacca to link with Frattesi once more and for the Inter midfielder to slip behind the opposition defensive line, which he accomplished but his shot came off the post.

38^th minute: Italy exploit Albania’s midfield in a classic pattern under Spalletti. Pellegrini drops to receive the ball and under a different positional arrangement, Jorginho is left in space behind Broja. Jorginho can receive on the half-turn and Scamacca has dropped in a position to link the attack. Pellegrini is back in a position to keep the attack flowing but the recovery of Djimsiti stopped the direct pass being made through to Frattesi.

Chances for Spalletti’s team started to grow now that they got Scamacca slightly more involved, created by Pellegrini dropping deep and Frattesi remaining high which stopped Djimsiti from following his Atalanta teammate once he dropped. From a dinked ball towards the box, Di Lorenzo found Pellegrini who flicked the ball onto Scamacca with Djimsiti having to alter his body position as the ball bounced through. From the right of the goal, the angle was too tight to beat Thomas Strakosha.

Another Pellegrini header nearly found a third, this time for the midfielder himself as he got on the end of Chiesa’s left-footed cross. The ball cleared Scamacca and Arlind Ajeti but Hysaj was not alert to Pellegrini meeting the cross at pace, but his attempt bounced off his shoulder and wide off the post.

Chances fade in cruise control

Albania did have a few phases where they were able to circulate the ball. Both Asllani and Ramadani dropped between the two center-backs depending on the scenario and Italy was not too keen on establishing a high block in case Broja would find himself bearing down on goal and in space. Although this meant that they surrendered territory, Italy allowed Albania to pass the ball into problems, against their 4-4-1-1 arrangement, and let their counterpress do the talking or let a long ball trickle towards Donnarumma.

Once again, the possession was with Spalletti’s team and Albania had to be more adventurous out of possession. Both Seferi and Asani were positioned more with the midfield as opposed to dropping into the defensive line, but this did not stunt Italy and their fluid approach. In the center, Broja was less strict on blocking off access to Jorginho and the staggering between Broja and Bajrami was not optimal between phases.

Italy had the platform to progress through the lines, and although their shot productivity was dry, their control of proceedings was still restricting their opponents. Sylvinho swapped his wingers for Arber Hoxha on the left and Qazim Laci on the right but Albania’s attempts at pressing Italy were still lacklustre and they would often fall back into their deeper block as a result.

Spalletti took off some key components to their attack but kept the key component to their flexible possession plan, Di Lorenzo and Calafiori who kept creating access behind the wingers, whilst Barella appeared around the first line of buildup to add to the passing fluency. However, there was time for one late scare, eventually a long ball is going to connect and Albania had the right dynamic, Italy not so deep, Asllani in possession and substitute Rey Manaj, a two-footed striker at Sivasspor, making a run behind Calafiori. Manaj chested the ball into space but his shot drifted wide and out of play at the end of the game.

Takeaways

Italy got the first job done. Some variables are a slight concern, perhaps Scamacca and Frattesi were not involved as much within the buildup unit as hoped, or the fluid actions had to come after very quick responses to early trauma, but it was a good display from Spalletti and his players.

Spalletti is willing to throw tactical curveballs to gain advantages and his arrangement with Chiesa on the right, but most importantly, Di Lorenzo and Calafiori as attacking center-backs on the rotation, was key to assuming control. He may be more cautious for the next game against Spain or Croatia, but Italy has taken a huge step to qualifying for the knockouts already.

In the midst, can Albania make an effect on the ‘Group of Death’? Their approaches will be the same against Spain and Croatia, teams that have the midfield technicians that can play through the defensive block. They may have started their Euros campaign in the greatest of fashions, but Sylvinho needs to find a balance in keeping defensive support through his wingers and for them to be in a position where they could join the attacking transition.

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