After their draw against Roma in the first week, Genoa got the victory in the second week. Genoa beat Fiorentina by 2-1 and they now have four points in the Serie A table, while Fiorentina have two losses in two matches.
Genoa’s coach, Aurelio Andreazzoli, used some interesting ideas and tactics in the first matches and managed to trap the away side and take his first win in the league. From the other side, Vincenzo Montella didn’t manage to help his team with his tactics, nor with his substitutions in the second half, and he is now under pressure because of his two losses.
This tactical analysis will explain how the home side took the victory, pressing high in the first half and playing safe in the second half. Also, there is an analysis of Fiorentina’s defensive tactics and the mistakes made in the offensive tactics that didn’t help the team create dangerous situations in the opposite box.
Line-ups
Aurelio Andreazzoli chose 3-5-2 tactics for the home side. If we want to be more accurate, it was a 3-4-1-2 tactic as Lerager was playing as an attacking midfielder and close to the two strikers. When Genoa was defending, the tactics had to change to 5-3-2. Lerager had the role to come back and help in the marking.
From the other side, Vincenzo Montella used classic 4-3-3 tactics. Badelj was the defensive midfielder and Castrovili-Pulgar were used as box-to-box midfielders. Kevin-Prince Boateng was used as the striker of the team.
The defensive tactics of Fiorentina and the high press of Genoa
Vincenzo Montella gave the instruction to his defenders to each one play close to the other. The average length of the defensive line was 30 meters and we can notice that the distance between every one of the four players in the defence was about 7.5 meters. Also, the right and the left-back were playing close to the centre-backs and Genoa had a lot of space from the wings to attack. With that instruction, Montella wanted to avoid the opponent’s attacks from the midfield and tried to drive the game to the wings.
At the same time, Genoa’s players were pressing high in the final third of the pitch. They forced their opponents to make many mistakes or long balls, taking back the possession. When the home side was pressing, one of the two strikers had to press the defender with the ball while the other and the attacking midfielder were close to him, making a triangle. Behind of them, there was a wall of four midfielders between the middle and the final third of the pitch. At the same time, one of the two defensive midfielders had the role to come back some metres, in case the press failed.
Genoa’s build-up
Aurelio Andreazzoli’s side tried to create attacks from the bottom. The goalkeeper, Radu, was participating in the team’s build-up, and the two defensive midfielders were coming back to take the ball and move it forward or help with the possession. Radovanovic and Schöne had the important role to get the first pass and move the ball. They mainly accomplished this successfully in the first half when the team was attacking for most of the time.
Most of the times, Radovanovic was the player who took the first pass from the goalkeeper or his defenders. In that case, Schöne had the role to move close to him and gave him the opportunity to pass the ball and help the movement.
Safe game from Genoa – Big distances from Fiorentina’s players
The early goal from Zapata in the 11th minute gave the lead to the home side. Genoa took advantage of their lead and while the time was passing, they were playing more safely in the match. Mainly in the second half, Genoa attacked with just four players, or on some occasions with five- that’s why they didn’t want to create spaces for the opponents. Also, they didn’t want to give the opportunity to the away side to create dangerous situations in their box.
The biggest problem of Fiorentina in the match was the distances between the midfielders and the defenders. When there are big distances to the lines, there is a problem with the movement of the ball and also a problem when you defend. It was obvious in the second half while Fiorentina was down by two goals and that they had to attack.
Conclusion
Genoa managed to get the win against Fiorentina by 2-1 in the second week of Serie A. The tactics of Aurelio Andreazzoli proved to be crucial for the progress of the match. The home side pressed high in the final third of the pitch and forced their opponents to make mistakes and long balls, taking back the possession. The early goal from Zapata gave the advantage to Genoa’s players to manage the game. And in the second half, they played more safely to keep the score.
From the other side, Vincenzo Montella is under pressure as a result of the consecutive losses in the league and also from the performance of his team. The main problem of Fiorentina was the big distances between the lines. That didn’t allow the players of the team to control the rhythm and move the ball in the pitch or create dangerous situations.
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