佛罗伦萨的防守是如何遏制亚特兰大的？How Fiorentina’s defense stifled Atalanta

虽然蓝黑女神没有在她的最佳状态，但紫百合的战术显然让球迷困惑。

While la Dea weren’t at her strongest, the Viola’s scheme clearly left the visitors bamboozled.

By The Tito  @Viola_Nation

The Tito著 @Andreas_Birdy译

Fiorentina were very impressive in their win over Atalanta on Sunday, earning their third victory over la Dea this season in a controlled 1-0. Because Nicolás González ran the defenders ragged, Riccardo Sottil created some gorgeous moments, and Krzysztof Piątek came away with the goal, a lot of the talk after this one has been about the Viola attack. But for me, it was the defense that was most impressive.

佛罗伦萨在周日高歌猛进战胜了亚特兰大，这场稳健的1-0是他们这个赛季第三次战胜蓝黑女神。尼古拉斯·冈萨雷斯（Nicolás González）突爆防守人，里卡多·索蒂尔（Riccardo Sottil）多次华丽表演、克日什托夫·皮扬特克（Krzysztof Piątek）连场破门……赛后讨论大多聚集在紫百合犀利的进攻线上。但是更令人欣喜的是佛罗伦萨的防守。

Part of that is a bit of luck. Fiorentina certainly created the better chances; aside from Bartłomiej Drągowski’s brilliant 1-v-1 stop on Teun Koopmeiners in the first half and the goal ruled out in the second half, Atalanta created nothing against the Viola rearguard. They managed 7 shots and only the Koopmeiners one was on target. The rest were either blocked or pretty well off target, as reflected in a meager 0.6 xG for the visitors.

这其中有一些运气的成分。佛罗伦萨显然创造出了更好的进攻机会；除开上半场巴尔托梅伊•德龙戈夫斯基（Bartłomiej Drągowski）对特恩·库普梅纳斯（Teun Koopmeiners）漂亮的一对一拦截以及下半场比赛亚特兰大被吹掉的进球，亚特兰大没有对紫百合的后防线造成任何威胁。7脚射门中只有库普梅纳斯的那脚打中门框范围内，其他的要么被封堵，要么偏的离谱，最终为观众奉献出了一场仅仅只有0.6个的预期进球（xG, expected goal，球队或球员的预期进球数，该数据是根据射门的质量和数量得出的）的比赛。

Let’s put those numbers in context. Atalanta average 14.8 shots per game and put 4.4 of them on target en route to 1.72 goals and 1.66 xG per game. While their lack of forwards was pretty obvious at times, as there was little incision from the tridente, you have to give the Fiorentina defenders an immense amount of credit for the hard work, focus, and intelligence they displayed over 90 minutes.

让我们把这些数据放到整个赛季的表现中来看，亚特兰大场均能贡献14.8脚射门，其中4.4脚射正能转化成1.72个进球与1.66个预期进球。虽然他们现在显然很缺前锋，但是就凭比赛中亚特兰大前场三叉戟少有切入的机会这一点，你就必须大大称赞一番佛罗伦萨后卫们在90分钟内所展现的努力、专注与智慧。

Because I’m a big old nerd, though, I think it was more than just outstanding individual performances. While Nikola Milenković, Igor, Álvaro Odriozola, and Cristiano Biraghi were all very good and won most of their individual battles, a lot of that success started with manager Vincenzo Italiano, who put them in the right place to succeed. And a big part of how he did that was by tweaking his usual defensive approach.

可能因为我是一个古板的大书呆子，我认为这种成功不仅仅是出色的个人表现。虽然尼古拉·米伦科维奇（Nikola Milenković）、伊戈尔（Igor）、阿尔瓦罗·奥德里奥索拉（Álvaro Odriozola）、克里斯蒂亚诺·比拉吉（Cristiano Biraghi）都非常棒并且赢得了大多数个人对抗，但是这许许多多良好表现来源于主教练文森佐·伊塔利亚诺（Vincenzo Italiano）优秀的排兵布阵。

Last week, I wrote about Fiorentina’s very high defensive line and how it often leaves the central defenders isolated. The solution I proposed was ordering one of the fullbacks to sit deeper while the other pushed on, leaving an extra body to slow down counterattacks. You cannot imagine my astonishment, then, when that’s exactly what Fiorentina did: For the first hour or so, Odriozola constantly bombed on, while Cristiano Biraghi sat much deeper.

上周，我写了佛罗伦萨非常高位的防守线是如何让中卫们孤立无援的。我提出的解决方案是让一侧的边后卫落位较深，让另一侧边后卫能够向前推进。这样可以多留下一人来延误对方的反击。很难想象我看到佛罗伦萨真的像这样踢的时候有多惊喜：在比赛前60分钟左右的时间里，奥德里奥索拉持续前插，而比拉吉的位置就靠后很多。

This wasn’t just a one time thing. It was constant.

这不仅仅是一次轮转的情况，而是持续性的战术。

So. Here’s Fiorentina constantly dropping into a back three when they win the ball or build from deep. While Odriozola certainly had a defensive job and dropped in as a fullback at times, he was usually a line or two higher up than his colleagues, leaving Igor in the middle of a back three. So what was the thinking here?

所以，佛罗伦萨在赢得球权或者后场组织时总是变为三中卫。虽然奥德里奥索拉有时会因为防守任务回到后卫位置上来，但是他频繁地出现在其他后卫身前的中场线甚至锋线上，形成一个伊戈尔居中的三中卫体系。伊塔利亚诺排出这种阵型的意图是什么？

There are probably a bunch of reasons Italiano opted for this approach. The first is that it messed up Atalanta’s pressing. When Fiorentina play with 4 across the back, they usually spread the centerbacks out very wide and push the fullbacks higher up. Atalanta press with a narrow front 3, which prevented Fiorentina from finding simple passes to feet from defense to midfield in the previous meeting.

这可能有非常多的原因。首先，这样可以瓦解亚特兰大的高压逼抢。双方的前几次交锋中，佛罗伦萨后防四人一字排开时，中后卫往往比较分散，边后卫会提得靠上一些。亚特兰大以一个前场三人组的压迫围抢让佛罗伦萨很难找到从防线传到中场的好机会。

This time around, though, Fiorentina changed it. By playing with three at the back, they forced Atalanta to spread out the front three. Gasperini opted for the former, which left his tridente spread out and gave the Viola defenders much easier lanes to work the ball forward to their midfielders, allowing them to bypass the press quite easily. When he tried to adjust and push the attackers back to their usual narrow configuration, the Fiorentina defenders could simply work it down the line to Odriozola, Nico, or Sottil.

因此，这场比赛佛罗伦萨改变了站位。后场的三中卫落位让亚特兰大前场三人必须拉开进行逼抢。加斯佩里尼（Gasperini）维持之前的战术，前场三人的拉开给了佛罗伦萨后防线更大的出球空间，能够通过简单传递将球输送到中场，轻易地化解了高位压迫。当他尝试让锋线球员维持之前的紧凑站位时，佛罗伦萨的后卫们可以直接把球传到奥德里奥索拉、冈皇或者索蒂尔脚下。

The second thing I really noted about this approach is that it put a lot of trust in Riccardo Sottil. With Biraghi not doing fulfilling his usual overlapping role, Ricky was basically isolated against Rafael Tolói. Given how often Fiorentina tried to get the ball to him, it felt like Italiano was telling his young winger, “I trust you to make something happen, even up against an Italy international.” And it worked: Sottil responded by creating the best chance of the first half for Nico González and nearly scored a banger himself.

这个战术另一点值得注意的是，它给了里卡多·索蒂尔相当大的信任。当比拉吉没有像往常一样进行前插时，三太子基本上需要一个人对抗拉斐尔·托洛伊（Rafael Tolói）。全队更是多次尝试传球给他，这就像是伊塔利亚诺在告诉这位年轻的边锋：“我相信你可以创造出机会，即使对位的是意大利国脚。”显然这种信任是值得的：索蒂尔给冈萨雷斯创造了上半场比赛最好的机会，自己的一记爆射也差之毫厘。

And, while we’re talking about Nico, let’s talk about what happened on the right side. Since Nico is pretty left-footed, he’ll always turn inside onto his stronger foot, dragging his defender with him. That leaves a lot of space for Odriozola to bomb into, and if there’s one thing Álvaro will always do, it’s bomb into space. He caught the Atalanta defense out several times by simply sprinting in behind to latch onto a ball over the top.

说到冈皇，咱们再来看看右路是怎么打的。冈皇相当依赖他的左脚，因此他经常内切，带走了防守人，给奥德里奥索拉留下了巨大的前插空间。这也是奥利奥喜欢的。他的后排快速前插抓住了亚特兰大后防的几次机会并且成功接到了过顶长传。

The other fun wrinkle about pushing Odriozola so high is that it allowed Nico to drop deep and carry the ball forward from the rightback zone, which he did 4 or 5 times. While it may seem smarter to have your most dangerous attacker stay as close to the opposing goal as possible, getting Nico these kinds of easy touches helps keep him in a rhythm. It also gives him the chance to win fouls, put defenders on cards, and break the pressing structure to generate quick breaks.

把奥德里奥索拉推到前场的另一个有趣的细节是，这样解放了冈皇。冈皇全场有4、5次回撤到中场接球沿右路推进。虽然把全队最具进攻威胁的球员放到最接近球门的位置好像更合理，但是这种简单的触球可以让冈皇保持在自己的进攻节奏上。另外，这也给了他很多造犯规、让防守人吃牌的机会，这进一步瓦解了亚特兰大的压迫逼抢战术。

Let’s stop looking at the knock-on effects, though, and get back to the defense here. While Odriozola defended admirably here—one sequence where he stayed in front of Davide Zappacosta as the veteran jinked this way and that before authoritatively blocking the wingback’s shot stands out—he’s not a great defender. Putting him up against a demon dribbler like Jeremie Boga felt like it was asking for trouble; after all, it was Boga who created the most chances from his inside left position in the previous meeting between these two.

说完了这种站位对进攻的附加影响，我们再回到防守上来。奥德里奥索拉的防守十分令人赞叹——当达维德·扎帕科斯塔（Davide Zappacosta）不断晃动时，他一直保持在这位老将边后卫的身前，并最终完美地封堵了对方的射门。考虑到他并不是一个非常好的防守人，这样的防守表现实属不易。毕竟让奥德里奥索拉对位杰雷米·博加（Jeremie Boga）这种怪物简直就是在送——前两场博加与奥利奥的对位的亚特兰大左路就是创造了最多机会的地方。

Instead of a defensively-suspect, floppy-haired fullback, then, why not neutralize the opponent’s best attacker with 196 cm of a geologic formation that can run? That was clearly the plan all along; go back up to those photos and note how Milenković is always matched up against Boga in case Fiorentina lose the ball and Atalanta can break in behind. He ate the Dutchman’s lunch, too: Boga didn’t have a shot, lost the ball 6 times, and was pretty ineffectual.

比起一个防守堪忧的卷毛边后卫，一面一米九六又能跑的墙显然能更好地限制对面的进攻人。这显然也在伊塔利亚诺的计划内。从比赛截图中我们不难看出，米伦科维奇总是在和博加对位，以防佛罗伦萨丢球后亚特兰大从后场发起反击。他也很好地完成了这个任务：博加全场没有射门，6次丢失球权，并且基本上隐身了。

While the idea of a back three may conjure memories of BeppeBall levels of passivity, this one was very different. One of the other benefits of having three defenders at the back is that one of them can chase an opposing forward deep, safe in the assurance that there’s adequate cover. For example, this was the moment I realized something crazy was going on with the Viola defense.

虽然三中卫的踢法很容易让人联想到朱塞佩·亚奇尼治下佛罗伦萨的被动场面，但是这次完全不一样。三中卫的另一个好处是其中一个中卫可以跟防对方的的前锋到很深的位置，确保能有充分的防守掩护。比如，这是我意识到佛罗伦萨防守有多丧心病狂的时间点。

This wasn’t a one-off deal, either. He did it again not long after, and several times throughout the game.

这同样不是一个偶然性的情况。不久之后他又这么干了一次，相似的场景在整场比赛中多次出现。

By letting Odriozola just run back and forth with Zappacosta while neutralizing Boga himself, Milenković ensured a massive advantage for his team: Odriozola is faster than Zappacosta and will always win that challenge of speed and endurance, while Boga was obviously put off his game entirely by this treatment.

奥德里奥索拉折返跑防扎帕科斯塔，米伦科维奇限制博加，这样的对位优势巨大：奥德里奥索拉比扎帕科斯塔快，并且总是能赢得这种速度与耐力的对抗，博加显然被这种待遇完全打乱了比赛节奏。

Once Milenković was subbed off, Italiano reverted to a more traditional back four with Odriozola dropping into the defense again, so the heat maps aren’t quite as revelatory as you might think. However, this kind of tinkering is the sort of move that wins games, and it worked perfectly here. Atalanta were never able to figure out how to get past this unexpected defense and Fiorentina walked away with the win.

米伦科维奇被换下之后，伊塔利亚诺回归了传统的四后卫阵型，奥德里奥索拉回到了防线上的位置，因此热区图没有想象中的有参考价值。但是，小阵型的调整完美地发挥了作用。亚特兰大没有办法破解这种意料之外的防守，佛罗伦萨得以带走一场胜利。

Since there are a lot of other Serie A teams that play with a front two, this could be really good way to solidify the back line against them. Milenković will generally dominate his side of the field, leaving Igor and Biraghi less space to track. Biraghi’s actually a pretty good passer when he’s not pressured, so he provides a nice out ball, and Igor’s incisiveness is well-documented; in the middle of the three, he’ll usually have more time to pick his passes and break the lines. Even if the offense wasn’t quite dazzling in this one, let’s all tip our hats to Italiano, who out-generaled Gian Piero Gasperini in this one and deserves all the credit for recognizing a weakness and turning it into a strength.

意甲有许多球队打双前锋的阵型，这可能是一种非常好的稳固后防的战术。米伦科维奇总是能够统治他所在的一侧，伊戈尔与比拉吉就不用太大范围地跑动。在没有压迫情况下，比拉吉是一个非常好的传球手，他总能找到很好的出球路线，而伊戈尔的精明是有目共睹的；作为三中卫中的居中中卫，他有更多的时间来选择传球路线并且打穿对方的逼抢。即使这场比赛的进攻并不耀眼，但时我们必须向伊塔利亚诺脱帽致敬，他在这场比赛中战胜了吉安·皮埃罗·加斯佩里尼（Gian Piero Gasperini）。他意识到了球队的问题并且将其转换为一种优势，这值得我们所有人的赞扬。