U21 EURO analysis: Group stage tactical trends

The best ball-playing sides at the U21 EURO are excelling at keeping possession in the attacking third, while other teams have focused their attention on creating high-quality chances on the counterattack, not least co-hosts and Group A winners Georgia.

These are a couple of the trends noted by the UEFA analysis unit from the group stage of the final tournament which is currently taking place in Georgia and Romania.

To focus on the first of these trends, teams like Spain and England – the winners of Groups B and C respectively – get plenty of players into the final third and complement this with excellent balance behind the ball.

The analysis unit have selected several clips as examples, starting with this sequence in the video above from Spain's opening win over Romania. It highlights several Spanish players in positions to recover possession, with holding midfielder Antonio Blanco reading the space in front of his defenders as he gathers the loose ball and restarts the attack, Spain ending up with eight players in the attacking third.

The second example above comes from England's 2-0 victory over Israel and it shows first the defensive structure which helps Lee Carsley's side regain the ball – through Angel Gomes – and then sustain the attack. With players in the right position, they can nullify their opponents' attacking reference points and win the ball back.

As the sequence continues, the other notable point is how many players England have in the attacking third as when the action pauses, we see six white shirts there. The same is evident in the clip in the second video below which shows how England circulate the ball in opposition territory. In the lead-up to Emile Smith Rowe's goal, there are five England players circled near the edge of the Israel penalty box.

Atle Rosseland, UEFA's head analyst, said: "Teams like England and Spain have a lot of numbers in the final third and they're able to move the ball to several players. It's not just their possession in the final third which we've been impressed by but their balance behind the ball. Thanks to having players well-positioned behind the ball as they're attacking, if the opposition break, they're able to win it back quickly."

Additionally, by winning the ball back quickly – and high up the pitch – they are in positions to exploit space that may not otherwise exist against opponents who are well set up in mid or low blocks. And the data suggests teams are getting better at this. At the U21 EURO finals in 2021, the total number of high turnovers in the group stage was 79, of which 11 ended in a shot. In this tournament's group stage, there have been 91 turnovers, with 24 ending in a shot and the view of the analysis unit is that the best teams have become more aggressive in their shape and tactics as they respond to better organised defences.

Quality, not quantity

Another tactical point which has helped produce some intriguing contests so far is the way some of the less-fancied teams have prioritised quality over quantity when it comes to their attacking output.

These teams provide a counterpoint to possession-focused rivals. According to the analysis unit, they have defended well in mid and low blocks, and used this as a base to create high-quality chances. "They've identified they can't beat a Spain or Portugal or Germany by playing possession football but they will make it hard for them and use it as a foundation to exploit spaces behind," said the analysts who pointed out that there have been 38 chances created from direct play in this group stage, compared to 25 in 2021.

A high-profile example is Czechia's first goal in their 2-1 win over Germany in a match where the Germans had 70% of the ball, attempted 28 shots – and scored once. The clip of the goal shows how the Czechs break from a Germany corner with Václav Sejk racing up the field to convert at the far post after fine work by Vasil Kušej, the player who collects the clearance initially and then provides the assist.

No team better embody the 'quality, not quantity' approach than Georgia who have had the joint-lowest number of shots so far – 25 along with Israel – and yet scored five goals. Their precision seems to reflect an overall tendency towards better-quality chance creation as there have been more attempts on target (198) in 2023 compared to two years ago (178) and a higher number of Expected Goals (xG) – 71.2 compared to 63.6.

The UEFA analysis unit will produce a detailed technical report of the competition, to be published online later in the summer.