Conference League Performance Insights: Raków's low block and how Fiorentina broke it
Friday, March 13, 2026
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UEFA Technical Observer David Adams analyses how persistence paid off for Fiorentina against one of the UEFA Conference League's best defensive units, Raków.
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The pluses and minuses of a low-block defence emerged as a major theme after it took a 93rd-minute penalty for Fiorentina to defeat Raków in a compelling UEFA Conference League round of 16 first leg in Italy.
An Albert Gudmundsson spot kick finally ended the resistance of Łukasz Tomczyk’s men, and with it their nine-game unbeaten run in this season’s competition, yet Raków’s defending was exemplary for much of the contest and caught the eye of UEFA Technical Observer David Adams.
Organised and centrally compact in their low block, Raków inspired Adams and the UEFA game insights unit to focus this analysis on the intricacies of such deep-lying defences as well as the best practices for teams wanting to break them down.
Successful formula
"They're very comfortable defending," the Technical Observer affirmed, and the following video highlights the expertise of a team with six clean sheets in their previous nine UEFA competition matches. “They haven't conceded many goals. They know they're very hard to beat. In the first half when they lost the ball high, the speed of their recovery runs back into the low block showed that this system has been well-drilled."
Adams also praised the way the visitors defended the wide areas, noting: "The Raków wing-back would press Fiorentina's widest attacker, usually the winger, with the centre-backs then sliding wide or repositioning to cover the inside channel." Perhaps understandably, the side who conceded only two goals in finishing second in the league phase looked reluctant to commit numbers forward – if one wing-back joined the attack, the other stayed back – yet the strategy succeeded for 45 minutes and beyond.
If Fiorentina were frustrated, it merely emphasised the importance of 1v1 specialists. "It's hard when you're playing against a 5-4-1, because you need players that can beat a man to open up space," explained Adams. "In the first half Fiorentina just played around the 5-4-1."
So how did Paolo Vanoli’s Viola manage to unpick the lock?
Fiorentina find solutions
The second video shows how the hosts made the breakthrough by varying their tactics and playing through the middle. Tellingly, it was after Raków had failed to deal with a deeper cross from a more central position that Cher Ndour found the top corner following a team-mate's knock-on.
"Raków got so used to defending the wide areas that maybe the different option of playing down the middle caused some confusion," Adams suggested. "That can happen when the back five drop so low into the box – with any second ball around the edge of the box, you're almost giving up a free shot."
Ndour's technically adept strike evoked the adage that teams are more vulnerable to conceding after scoring themselves. It came two minutes after Jonatan Braut Brunes' opener for Raków, which was another goal resulting from a direct approach – in this case, a long free-kick.
Persistence pays off
The added-time winner perfectly illustrated a key feature of Fiorentina's attacking strategy, as their use of the wide areas dragged out Raków's central defenders, distracting the wing-back and resulting in the penalty award. "The second goal probably is a bit more tactical," said Adams. "They dragged the centre-back out, the wing-back got narrow, then the ball was worked back around to Fiorentina's winger and the wing-back couldn't jump because he'd been filling in the centre-back slot."
As a finer detail in the build-up, Adams pointed to the relational play between Fiorentina's full-backs and wingers. "Especially in the first half, Fiorentina's inverted full-backs attacked the final third and would run forward in the half-space, leaving the wingers to occupy the wide channels. In the second half there was more rotation. If you want to break down a deep back five, you need to create space in wide areas."
Similar synchronicity, between Dodô and Jack Harrison, helped catch Raków's Michael Ameyaw in a defensive no-man's land, forcing the decisive handball.
"If you want to keep that persistence and an attacking threat, it's good to have multiple options off the bench."
Coaching reflection: The value of effective substitutions
For David Adams, the late drama also rewarded coach Vanoli's positive second-half changes with the introduction of five substitutes. That number included right winger Harrison, full-back Dodô, and match-winner Gudmundsson.
"Fiorentina brought on players that can operate in the half-spaces, which creates problems for a back five, because the side centre-backs have to jump to their pockets. The use of substitutions is definitely a factor when you are trying to break down a low block – if you want to keep that persistence and an attacking threat, it's good to have multiple options off the bench. You’re bringing on fresh legs against players that are fatigued. Fitness and fatigue played a part here."
Chief football officer at the Football Association of Wales, David Adams oversees the senior men's and women's national teams. Formerly a sports science lecturer, he was head of coaching at Swansea City and assistant head coach at Middlesbrough before assuming his current position.
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