In Round 9 of the 2020-21 Serie A season, the league sensation of the moment Sassuolo had the first reality check that ended their eight-match unbeaten run. On Saturday afternoon, Roberto De Zerbi’s men were left toothless in a 3-0 loss against Inter thanks to the goals from Alexis Sanchez, Roberto Gagliardini and a Vlad Chiriches own goal.
Sassuolo have slipped to third place, with Inter climbing above them on goal difference. Both teams are five points behind Serie A leaders Milan who beat Fiorentina on Sunday afternoon.
This tactical analysis will break down the key playing patterns that had an impact on the final match outcome.
Starting Lineups and Formations
Both managers did not experiment with their tactical formations in this game, thus sticking to the principles they have been adopting thus far this season.
Sassuolo lined-up in a well-established 4-2-3-1 formation, with Andrea Consigli starting in goal who was protected by a back four consisting of Jeremy Toljan (right-back), Vlad Chiriches (right center-back), Gian Marco Ferrari (left center-back) and Rogerio (left-back). In midfield, De Zerbi opted for a double pivot of Manuel Locatelli and Maxime Lopez with Filip Djuricic filling in the “number 10” role.
Speaking of wide players, Jeremie Boga started on the left, while a team captain, and best rated Sassuolo player of the season so far, Domenico Berardi attacked down the right flank. Giacomo Raspadori was the main man up front in the absence of Sassuolo’s top scorer this season Francesco Caputo.
In contrast, Antonio Conte opted for a traditional 3-5-2 (5-3-2) tactical shape, with Samir Handanovic starting between the sticks and Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni as a back three. Matteo Darmian was Inter’s right-sided wing-back in this game, with Ivan Perisic given the same role on the opposite flank. Nicolo Barella, Arturo Vidal and Roberto Gagliardini formed a midfield trio, with Lautaro Martinez and Alexis Sanchez threatening the opposition’s goal. Inter’s leading scorer of the season Romelu Lukaku started the game on the bench.
Sassuolo’s Attacking Principle: Overload and Underload
Sassuolo are a possession-based side that looks to build their play through phases using a principle of overload and underload. The Neroverdi have the highest percentage of ball possession in the Serie A this season (58.3%), which was prevalent once again in yesterday’s match. The home team enjoyed 61% of possession and completed 643 passes (93% accuracy) that are a good indication of their advocated approach to build-up.
The whole method of overloading and underloading revolves around having more players on one side of the pitch with one or two being isolated on the opposite side. That is exactly the playing principle De Zerbi has installed to this Sassuolo side that allows his team to be comfortable in possession and dominate the play.
Nevertheless, yesterday’s game was a rare occasion this season when Sassuolo’s approach did not work at all. We can see one of such examples in the illustrations displayed below. In the first image, Sassuolo were building their play from the back on the right side with five players positioned in close proximity to one another, thus creating a 5 v 4 situation against the opposition. At the same time, Sassuolo’s left-back Rogerio was left isolated on the opposite flank, as Inter’s midfielders and forwards had to shift across to deny space and block the passing lanes.
In this instance, Sassuolo managed to switch the play from right to left rather quickly. This enabled Rogerio to carry the ball forward into the central area, as Inter’s midfield trio were too narrow to cover the full width of the pitch.
However, the following graphical illustration portrayed below perfectly sums up the struggles Sassuolo faced yesterday when trying to get the ball into the danger zones of the final third. Despite having acres of space in front of him, as shown in the image above, Rogerio could not get the ball up the pitch quickly enough, as Inter’s center-midfielders and defenders were able to narrow the angles on the Sassuolo players, thus trapping them and preventing further ball progression.
Furthermore, throughout the game, the home side showed tendencies of poor positional awareness, as can be seen in the same image below. In this case, both right-sided defenders had to step out to press, thus leaving a huge space in behind. However, none of the Sassuolo players managed to exploit the vacated space, forcing players on the ball to play it backwards.
The way Sassuolo conceded their first goal of the match stemmed from the exact principle of overload and underload. We can see how the home team created a 7 v 5 numerical advantage on the right side; however, Inter wisely blocked the main passing lanes that prevented Sassuolo from progressing the ball down that side, thus forcing the right-back to play the ball back to the right center-back who was looking for the option to switch the play to the underloaded side.
As we can see in the picture displayed below, Chiriches was looking to switch the play to the underloaded left side but took too much time on the ball and was intercepted by Martinez.
Sassuolo used the principle of overload and underload time and time again throughout the match, but in most instances, they were simply too slow when moving the ball to the underloaded side. On the other hand, Inter deserved massive credit for their defensive efforts, as Conte’s team managed to take advantage of Sassuolo’s slowness in possession by applying tight and aggressive defense once the ball was sent into the path of the receiving Sassuolo player.
Below we can see an example of Sassuolo’s slow switch of play, with Inter swiftly closing down both space and the ball receiver. Once again, positional flaws were present in parts of Sassuolo’s build-up play, as we can see in the image below.
Throughout the course of the match, Sassuolo showed a slight tendency to spend more time with the ball on the left side, which is noticeable from the two maps of the attacking plays and average player positions.
Sassuolo Unable to Penetrate Inter
A ponderous build-up play was not the only issue Sassuolo had to face throughout the game. A severe lack of penetration in the final third of the pitch was an even bigger problem that limited Sassuolo to very few chances. According to Sofascore game metrics, the Neroverdi did not create a single big goal-scoring opportunity and had only 3 shots on target from 11 attempts (27% shooting accuracy) during the whole match. More importantly, Sassuolo’s 11 shots were a result of 61% ball possession, whereas Inter had nearly as many shots as the home team (10) but only 39% of the ball.
Sassuolo were even more tedious and slow in the final third of the pitch than they were during the build-up phase. Lack of movement without the ball and lateral positioning of the players with no one making vertical runs into space were the main reasons why Sassuolo hardly created anything in this game. De Zerbi’s side completed 643 passes in total (341 more than Inter) but only 16 of them entered Inter’s penalty area (Inter made 8 passes into Sassuolo’s penalty box) and only 12 turned out to be key passes (Inter made 7 key passes). These passing statistics illustrate that Sassuolo severely lacked penetration in their game based on the number of passes completed.
One of such examples can be seen below. Three of Sassuolo’s attacking players were positioned laterally with no one trying to maneuver the opposition around and make a run into the highlighted space in behind.
Sassuolo switched the play to the opposite side, but the structural issues remained the same. In the example below, six Sassuolo players are behind the ball, with Raspadori being the only one positioned in the penalty box.
A very similar play can be observed in the illustration below where Sassuolo had a lack of players on the edge of Inter’s penalty box; thus, the home team was unable to test the Nerazzurri’s center-backs.
Sassuolo were lacking the cutting edge even when they did enter Inter’s penalty area. In most instances, the visitors were able to quickly rearrange into a low-block, thus congesting the box and making it extremely hard for Sassuolo to find the final pass.
Inter Solid Defensively and Swift in Transition
On Saturday, Conte served another tactical masterclass, with Inter coming out as solid winners. The visitors from Milan could not boast about creating many clear goal-scoring opportunities, but they could certainly boast about being clinical in front of goal. According to statistical data, Inter created 4 goal-scoring chances and managed to convert 3 of them. The Nerazzurri had 10 attempts at goal, with 4 shots hitting the target (40% accuracy).
Inter’s game plan was to keep a solid 5-3-2 defensive block, preventing the opposition from breaking through the central areas, and hitting them on the counterattack. Conte’s side played 64 long balls in this game out of all 301 passes completed, with a remarkable 66% accuracy. In comparison, Sassuolo made only 28 long passes throughout the whole game.
Below we can see one of the numerous examples of Inter’s swift transitional play after winning the ball back. In this instance, Gagliardini picked up the loose ball in his own half and sent a long pass in behind the Sassuolo’s defense for Sanchez to chase.
It was a prominent scene throughout the game, with another similar situation displayed in the image below. Inter’s tight marking in the central zones allowed the Nerazzurri to win the ball back immediately, thus launching a swift counterattacking move, with Sanchez on the receiving end yet again.
In addition to swift offensive transitions, Inter were also dangerous when attacking down the right side of Darmian. The 30-year-old right wing-back played a huge part in Inter’s win, heavily contributing to his team’s attacking play.
Darmian’s presence in the advanced areas of the pitch was especially prevalent in the second-half. The Italian right wing-back was often targeted by his teammates with long cross-field passes. Inter deployed such tactics when Sassuolo pressed higher up the pitch, meaning that their forward line had to push up, leaving Sassuolo’s left-back to deal with Darmian on his own.
From the attacking point of view, Darmian was Inter’s one of the most influential players on the pitch. The Italian had 56 touches, completed 25 passes (76% accuracy), 3 of them were crosses (100% accuracy) and 8 into the final third.
Overall, the average player positions’ graph displayed below perfectly sums up Inter’s approach against Sassuolo. Sanchez (no.7) and Martinez (no.10) were the only players who stayed in the opposition’s half for the majority of the game, with the rest of the team soaking up the pressure in their defensive half.
Shot Map of Both Teams
xG (expected goals): Sassuolo 0.70 – 1.45 Inter
Result: Sassuolo 0 – 3 Inter
Conclusion
To sum it up, Sassuolo had the majority of ball possession but struggled to penetrate Inter in their attacking third. Contrarily, it was a typical and yet masterful tactical performance by Conte, with Inter looking to hit their opponents on the counterattack after protecting their goal first.