Watch: Domergue analyses defensive set-ups at EURO 2020

UEFA EURO 2020 thrilled fans worldwide with some of the best international football has to offer – it was dramatic and entertaining – but also fascinating from a technical point of view.

UEFA's team of technical observers analysed all aspects of the tournament: the matches, the teams, the players and the coaching trends that emerged or were reinforced during the summer’s festival of football.

In the latest of our series of videos with these technical observers, UEFA's head of elite youth player development for former European Championship winner Jean-François Domergue gives an expert analysis of how teams set up defensively at EURO 2020.

"Playing with three forwards means teams take up positions sufficiently far up the pitch to press high," said Domergue. He shows the top four pressing teams at the tournament were Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany, using clips of the Azzurri’s game with Wales to demonstrate that, no matter which personnel were playing, their high press strategy was kept intact.

Domergue played at full-back for the France team which won the 1984 edition, and he used the current Les Bleus outfit as an example of how a low defensive block can also lead to counterattack opportunities. He explains that all set-ups – low block, middle block and high block – can be "good strategies" but the "main difference is in the players' understanding of how to apply the strategy".

He examines the teams who transitioned into counter-pressure quickly after losing possession. The teams that did it well allowed them to win the ball back in their opponents' half – with Austria, Spain, Poland and Italy leading way in terms of immediate counter-pressing.