Match Analysis: Portugal 2-1 Czechia |Martinez Change Makes The Difference|

Tactical analysis of the #EURO2024 clash between #Portugal and #Czechia as Martinez’s chane helps his side to a crucial 1-0 win!

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Portugal to Czech Republic W another game where the big side hasn’t really done enough to convince but ultimately just about done enough to secure a valuable three points so let’s get straight into it and talk about what we saw from a tactical point of view in this game because we saw Portugal side dominating the ball but facing an aggressive and a really resilient Czech Republic defense so let’s have a look at how it played out tactically starting off at the back where Czech Republic were reasonably aggressive they weren’t looking to get 11 Men Behind the board and sit super deep they were looking to apply pressure reasonably high up the pitch without ever really fully committing to a fullblown press now Portugal had a quite a good solution to this and it was using Doo Costa in the back four so Mendes the left Center back would move to left back Diaz would move to the right Pepe to the left and Costa could come into this little space here just to give Portugal that extra man to help play out from the back it wasn’t a massive part of this game but it was just something they done which I thought was quite useful and it certainly aided them in these areas but realistically this game was more about a a little bit higher up the pitch Portugal in their back three shape and the Czech Republic looking to get most of their players behind the ball now again I don’t want that to come across as critical of the Czech Republic because yes they got players behind the ball but they didn’t park the bus they were very aggressive with their approach despite often sitting quite deep the challenge for Portugal was basically can you break it down and they used quite an interesting system to try and do that and it started off I think because of some interesting Personnel choices including for example canello as left wing back you see when canello plays Wing back he’s not going to exactly fly around the outside and provide overlaps he was inverting into a Midfield position in here which is rare for a wing back to do we often see fullbacks do it but for a wing back to do is something a little bit different which was nice to see this meant though that Portugal needed width on the left hand side so Rafael would then pull wider out here and then on the right hand side we had a very different Dynamic Bernardo Silva is coming inside into these spaces and Dio do is pushing forward down the right hand side to provide the width then in the middle we’ve got Bruno Fernandez often playing as a deeper midfielder although not always and Virginia given the license to push a little bit further forward although to be honest there was a lot of rotations in these areas the likes of canello vtina bro Fernandez Bernardo Silva were constantly rotating we could see several different players at different times playing in the double pivot on that double pivot it didn’t last too long because Portugal soon wanted to push men forward and try and suffocate this Czech Republic side so what we saw it become was more of a 313 1 shape or at times a 316 as all of these players push further forward but what Portugal are essentially trying to do is overload the middle of the pitch with canello Fernandez vtin and Bernardo Silva up against three midfielders Portugal had the chance to create overloads but this is where the Czech Republic deserve credit because what we’ve seen some teams do at this tournament is be really passive in these situations so when there has been this overload in Midfield in certain games we have seen it almost just allowed to happen but not in this game because as some someone like Bernardo Silva would look to drift a little bit deeper the Czech Republic were willing to kind of let a center back follow them and be aggressive in these areas of the pitch same on the other side as well if canello received the ball too high up the pitch and the Czech Republic sense danger they were willing to let one of their center backs go out towards the ball to be aggressive in these areas and to apply pressure which again is why Czech Republic deserve credit yes they were very defensive with their approach but this wasn’t just park the bus football they were aggressive with their defensive ideas unlike what we have seen from most teams at this tournament so I thought that was really effective from the Czech Republic and they defended really well with Czech here defending so well for large parts of the game the question was ultimately can Portugal break them down can they move the ball quick enough and create good enough chances and this is actually where Portugal struggled quite a lot particularly in the middle of the pitch they struggle to find spaces a struggle to find players in pockets of space on a regular basis again because of a good solid defensive shape from the opposition but this meant that more of Portugal’s kind of luck and Fortune and success if you like came outside of the CH Republic shape so when canel would actually drop a little bit deeper on the left hand side when Bernardo Silva would drop deeper on the right hand side and this allowed Portugal to move the ball forward a bit more effectively again outside of this check shape check of really kind of uh crowded the middle of the pitch so Portugal found space outside of that shape but the problem was this led to a slight lack of balance because we can see first of all Portugal haven’t exactly now got numbers in the middle of the pitch with Fernandez and BHO a little bit isolated but also the Dynamics just didn’t quite feel right to me Bernardo Silva and Diego Dow down the right hand side when you’re looking to break down a low block isn’t particularly effective because Bernardo Silva is quite safe when he plays out wide he rarely looks to take him man on he always wants to come back inside be safe retain the ball on his left foot and Dio do may have had a brilliant season but he’s not a player Who Wants To Be A 1 V one threat all day long he will carry the ball occasionally and he will be successful on occasion as well but he’s not really a player up against a deep defense who you r on to regularly go one versus one and as a result Portugal really lacked threat down the right hand side this meant that they were extremely reliant on the combinations on the left and again the balance wasn’t quite right for me Nuna Mendes playing Left Center back felt like the wrong decision because he was given his license to get forward into these positions here but then once on the ball he isn’t the sort of player who is incredibly you know skilled when it comes to penetrating the ball through the opposition he’s not someone who’s going to pick a pass into the feet of Ronaldo or slide canello into a channel and I felt that he he made some poor decisions on the ball in terms of the rest of the left- hand side canello had a decent game without ever really grabbing it by the neck but I thought he done he done a good job in his role he kept the ball well for his side the threat was realistically RF out who is of course a brilliant one versus one player looking to take on his man this was the big threat that I felt for Portugal down the left hand side Rafael looking to take his man on again though when you are relying on One V one threat from a Winger it’s very 50/50 some sometimes they’re going to beat their man and you look like you can be really dangerous going forward on another occasion you are just going to get tackled every time and suddenly you lose all your threat so Portugal struggled here a little bit as well there wasn’t really enough threat out wide the threat realistically the main threat came from this man here Bruno Fernandez who for me was the best player on the pitch and put in arguably the best performance of the tournament so far I thought he was absolutely brilliant yes playing a slightly different role to what he normally does you know where he’s dropping deeper but his forward passing it’s just phenomenal right it’s just phenomenal we’ve all seen it before he is just so good with his creativity on the ball his ability to find a pass out of literally nowhere the one he slides through to Ronaldo at one point granted Ronaldo was offside but the ball he slides through was just phenomenal but the problem was he felt like the only one to me that was ever really going to create something for Portugal he felt like the only one who had that bit of magic in him to do that Rafel maybe on the left hand side but outside of that Portugal lacked that creative threat and Ely for large parts of the game they were reduced to getting the ball into this sort of space here again kind of just outside the Czech Republic structure they were reduced to getting the ball in these areas and almost relying on crosses almost single-handedly relying on crosses into the box of Cristiano Ronaldo and it left Portugal looking a little bit flat for large parts of the game in possession of course late on in the game things changed with substitutes but for large Parts Portugal struggled and I actually felt that the Czech Republic could have got them a bit more because their defensive structure was good but they also could have had more than a threat going forward so before we continue into the video a quick shout out to today’s video sponsor Jersey fifa.com the home of all of the greatest football kits whether that be the new latest releases or the old classic ones like this jersey FIFA has something for everyone and now you can check it out yourself using the link in the description down below and also make sure to use code Jersey FIFA for 10% off when you order now when it came to the Czech Republic trying to play forward and provide some attacking threat it was fairly obvious quite early on what they were trying to do when the goalkeeper had the ball they would split into this shape kind of a 22 42 shape sometimes the fullbacks would be a little bit deeper as well but basically the aim is let’s get the ball incredibly long uh try and win the physical battle up front and get on the second ball and I really feel that they could have made more of this if they were a little bit braver with the positioning of certain players so the first ball would go long and the front two done a decent job of winning their battles granted Pepe Di and Mendes also done a good job defensively but there are always going to be situations in a game like this where you can win the first ball it’s about can you get on the second ball this is where the Czech Republic just always weren’t really brave enough because there were spaces in Midfield you see Portugal at times were manto man on the last line they were manto man on the last line but at the back Portugal always had a spare man now if you do the maths that means that a spare man for C Republic is going to be in Midfield that is where the overload is going to be if the attack is a manto man up here the defense has a plus one there’s got to be a spare man in Midfield and Czech Republic did have that they just were a bit too hesitant a bit too passive with what they want to do on the ball if they could have pushed another player further forward for the second ball I really feel as though they could have had some success particularly against Bruno Fernandez and vtina as good as they both are and they both worked incredibly hard they’re not second ball Specialists you know after that first ball off of Patrick schik if such could have been given that license to get forward I feel that they could have really really hurt Portugal particularly when Portugal started to adapt their shape as well because what Portugal would do at times is drop the wing backs a little bit deeper to try and help out the center backs in the physical battles this now also opened up the room for the Czech Republic Wing backs again Czech Republic could have been a little bit braver here they could have used these players and there were spells in the game for spell in the second half as well where they could have been a bit more adventurous a bit more attacking we saw with the goal that they could really hurt this Portugal team I feel that they could have done it a little bit more they of course got their 1-nil lead but from that point again they went back to that approach of let’s get Men Behind the ball and ultimately that is what cost them they went back to this approach of let’s get everyone back here they’re still going to be aggressive in their shape but for me they just retreated a little bit too much if they could have kind of kept up or even gone one step further with the the attack and the long balls and the direct approach I think they really could have done something to Portugal hit and they could have grabbed a second goal which would have been huge but around this time in the game Czech Republic have just gone one n up Roberto martinz did make a good change I think overall tactically he provided a decent structure without it being great but I think he he made a good change here what he done this was before he changed Personnel was he he just dropped the extra midfielder a little bit deeper so obviously as we said previously it was a bit of a 316 at times uh as canella would move forward it was a bit of a 316 like this and it was a bit too attacking and when you go one nil down it’s easy to continue of that shape throw loads of men forward but what he actually started to do was drop the extra player a little bit deeper and this just made it a little bit easier for Portugal to kind of cycle the ball in the last 20 minutes but also when they lost the ball they had the players in these Central areas to quickly win it back and I felt that that just gave Portugal the platform later on in the game to build up some momentum kind of build the threat around the check Republic goal they got Subs on like Netto who instantly is going to be nice and direct he he’s going to get the ball he’s going to take players on and that’s ultimately what made the difference for Portugal so overall I would say it was another a pretty decent game perhaps not the most entertaining but Portugal in terms of their structure were interesting with canello inverting whilst the right wing back would actually fly particularly high they were interesting with their shape it lacked a little bit of balance at times and the rols weren’t quite right but I would still expect them to click over the next couple of games and ultimately they still had enough quality players on the pitch to hurt the Czech Republic and then as for czechia yeah they done pretty well as well tactically I thought they got it spot on they were you know deep but aggressive out of possession which I think was the key for this particular game and for for the rest of the tournament as well I just think they should have been a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more proactive with the positioning of their Midfield on the second ball and they might have hurt Portugal a little bit more so as it ends Portugal did they deserve to win yeah in my opinion they did they did have the better chances they did look more threatening that kind of star quality did show at certain times particularly with Bruno Fernandez but it’s going to be interesting to see how they do in the next games very interested to see what they do I still think they’ll be fine now top the group and go far in this competition in my opinion but yeah there’s certainly room for improvement let me know though what you think in the comments down below who was the best player for Portugal but also what was the issue for Portugal why did they why did they get stuck a little bit as they move towards the final third let me know what you think in the comments but apart from that we are finished for today so thank you guys for watching I hope you enjoyed it and as always I’ll see you in the next one