After three impressive seasons, Sampdoria lost their highly-regarded coach Marco Giampaolo to Milan this summer. They also lost the hugely talented centre-back Joachim Andersen to Lyon. However, the mood in the club is still optimistic following the appointment of Eusebio Di Francesco. The former Roma and Sassuolo coach brings an exciting style of play with him to the Marassi and this tactical analysis will provide a preview of the tactics “DJ” will look to implement.
I will begin this scout report by looking at Di Francesco’s tactical template at Sassuolo and Roma to get a sense of what he wants from his team. Afterwards, I will look at how the players in Sampdoria’s squad suit these tactics.
Positional rotations when building from the back
Last year, I wrote about Di Francesco’s tactics in detail. Di Francesco wants his team to dominate the game by progressing the ball quickly. His style of play is often called calcio verticali, vertical football, and forces players to play forward if there is an opportunity to do so. What stands out about his preferred method of build-up play to progress the ball is his belief in positional rotations. These rotations look to destabilise the opponent’s defensive shape and create gaps for the creative attackers to exploit.
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