Pressing On The Heart Of The Opponent's Defense Becomes The Secret Of Germany's Success, England Can't

Jonathan Tah, helping Germany play the game in pressing opponents (photo: dock.uefa.com)

JAKARTA - The Euro 2024 match has shown a significant difference in approaches between teams such as Germany, Spain, England and Croatia. Germany and Spain performed brilliantly with a quick attack and dominance of possession, while Britain and Croatia looked struggling to create the same breakthrough.

Spain was able to overcome Croatia and made Italy look commonplace with their intense attacks. Likewise with Germany, which rolled Scotland and dominated Hungary. This is not surprising that the hosts excel in some key attack metrics.

On the other hand, England, which managed to get four points from two matches in the group stage, still received criticism of their game which was considered too negative. Comparisons with Germany and Spain show not only contrasted results but also different approaches, especially in terms of attack intensity.

The main critique of Britain is that they are too easy to back down, by pulling more players back than pressing opponents and trying to grab the ball in a more dangerous area. The data shows that England far fewer when it comes to tackled the area of attack than Spain and Germany.

Not only in an attempt to reclaim the ball, England also looked less excited when they touched the penalty box with just 25 touches in two games. On the other hand, Germany took the lead with 67 touches in the penalty box, followed by Portugal and Belgium.

England coach Gareth Southgate highlighted his team's physical condition as the reason why they did not pressure opponents to take the ball further in the opponent's defense area. However, statistics also show that England lacks the courage to control the ball compared to other teams.

Debates around the balance of attack and defense responsibilities, or where the role is most effective on the pitch, continue to grow. The attacking approach in the game has not always been a guarantee of success at Euro 2024, where Croatia, which has the best third ball possession but is only able to gain one point from two matches.

Croatia took the lead in goal expectations according to Opta, ahead of Spain, and also in the number of passes that made it into the penalty area, but struggled to turn the dominance into a goal. In terms of goals per shot (excluding an own goal), Germany took the lead again with 0.16 goals from their successful efforts, while Croatia was at second bottom with 0.03 goals.