Faced with the high-level pressure from Senegal at the opening, England's offensive organization showed a stubborn trend towards going to the left. In the face of a tight blockade in Senegal, the three Lions of the relied on smooth transmission to realize the impact goal. After leading England, they can "comfortably" switch, and in the end they scored 2 more goals and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
【Saka shows the quality of retracement, but why is England stubbornly going to the left? 】
Senegal has excellent athletic ability. In this duel, their high-level pressure is very strong. England was under pressure from the backcourt and received the ball through Saka's retracement on the right, showing a good breakthrough trend. Although Saka is not very physically good, in the past two seasons, he has developed a very good position and ability to catch the ball under pressure on the right side. Therefore, Senegal's pressure in the five minutes before the start of the game was broken by Saka's retreat on this side.
Figure 1+2: Saka's retreat after the opening game helped England break through the opponent's pressure
This tournament, the left side is not England's previous offensive strong side . In the three group matches, only had a big victory over Iran in the first game, and the offensive ratio on the left exceeded 40%. In this game, this proportion reached 48%.
When Saka shows a good retracement trend, why should England insist on going to the left? Moreover, under the pressure of Senegal, England's left backcourt shot was once intercepted and caused danger in the penalty area. The reason for this situation is that , on the one hand, is to suppress Senegal's right-back Sabali, and on the other hand, it is related to the midfielder's personnel. Let the Henderson start with excellent running ability, you can use running support and contact Walker and Saka, or you can alternate with Bellingham while converting the offense. After all, under the current retracement situation of Kane , there are 8 players who need to assume some of the forward responsibilities. More importantly, Henderson does not have Bellingham's confrontation promotion now, so it is almost inevitable that England's offense will be left-leaning.
[Senegal's compression sharpness declined, England made the desired left impact]
In the offensive organization on the left, England did not play a good penetration cooperation for a while. But the effect can be achieved in the future, not only is the better elemental matching on the left side of England. For example, Fordon is good at rib tandem, Luke-Shawk and Bellingham can cooperate with impact, etc. Also, due to the high pressure of Senegal in , the pressure dropped by .
Figure 3: The hot spots of both sides
The direct problem brought by Senegal's oppression is that their physical fitness has declined rapidly. After the physical strength of African teams declines, their oppression, confrontation and assisting defense will decline. The main consideration of
is the foul and the strength of the snatch.
Figure 4: In the first 20 minutes, and 21-45 minutes, Senegal's foul
In the first 20 minutes, Senegal sent 4 fouls, mainly concentrated in the mid-front field area, aiming at England's left side. But after 21 minutes, they did not foul in this area. Similarly, in terms of shoveling data, they completed 6 shoveling data in the first 20 minutes, and they did not have shoveling data for the rest of the first half.
Therefore, England can complete better impact propulsion when the left side is the strong side of the offensive. Bellingham and Henderson can support the deployment of the offensive end.
Figure 5: Panoramic display of England's first goal
[Go up and convert to fight, England can realize its advantages after leading the score]
Under the situation of falling behind in the score, Senegal strengthened its offense. At this time, England can play their inherent advantage: conversion offense.
From the perspective of midfield personnel structure, it is very wise for South Gate to make Bellingham the main player in this competition. Because, Bellingham has shown very good skills, confrontational ability, and has certain ball-holding advancement.
Figure 6: England's conversion goal, Bellingham's confrontation value is huge
In addition, in response to Senegal's wing impact, England not only increased the drawdown of the wing attackers, but also allowed the midfielders to carry out targeted siege and oppression (England's three starting midfielders, which was very good), but also increased the upper steal of the defense line. This is very conducive to England's interception in the backcourt and continuing to play the conversion they want.
Figure 7+8: Luke Xiao raised the score twice, England can play a conversion and impact
In these two attacks, the English midfielder's running and confrontation were excellent, and it can also form the premise of a long-end forward. In order to promote the attack on the wing, Senegal can only send more medium and long distance transmissions. At this time, the English defense line can be destroyed by robbing. Then, play a conversion offense that England is very good at.
However, after the South Gate's consecutive substitutions, the failure to seize the opponent's premise and counterattack "harvest" like Iran, has a lot to do with the deployment of Senegal coach Cise . He replaced the midfielder players to fight, and when Rashford almost assisted Kane, he replaced Jacobs with Barrow Toure to increase his defensive physical fitness on the backcourt side, achieving good results.
[Conclusion] After defeating Senegal by
3 goals, England successfully advanced to the quarterfinals. Their opponent will be defending champion France led by Mbappe . What kind of sparks can be created by both teams with strong points and excellent deputy teams in this Cup, and excellent offensive ability. The tactical game between Deschamps and South Gate should be the biggest winner of this game.
