Both Italy and Argentina played with 4-2-3-1 line up. But when Argentina had the ball, left winger Lo Celso took position closer to centre. And offensive midfielder Messi took position a little bit more closer to right.
When Italy were pressing high against Argentina, they didn’t press so aggressively and closely to Argentina defenders. When Argentina’s one defense player took the ball, they gave a little bit time to think about what he had to do with the ball. If the ball went to a midfielder or forward player, Italy’s pressing became more aggressive.
If defending team can cover midfielders and forward players, it’s a great thing for defending team because when defending team covers midfielders and forward players, attacking team’s defenders are stuck in big spaces and when they try to pass the ball to forward with long balls (because they can’t make game with short passes), defending team’s players can take the second balls more comfortably. Because when defending team’s forward players don’t press to attacking team’s defenders so aggressively and closely, it also means that they are closer to midfield more. So when attacking team’s defenders try to pass the ball to forward with long balls, defending team’s forward players will be much closer to the space that ball can fall in.
But for Italy, the problem was, they couldn’t cover midfielders very well. When they were pressing high, offensive midfielder matched with Argentina’s one stopper. So with centre forward and offensive midfielder, Italy covered two stoppers directly. And Italy’s wingers could focus on to Argentina’s full backs more directly.
And because Italy’s 4 players matched with Argentina’s 4 defenders, defenders couldn’t pass the ball between each other comfortably. Because with little shifts, Italy’s players could cover defenders quickly. This time, defenders had to play more directly and quickly.
But when Argentina played directly, it worked for Argentina. Because when Italy’s 4 players matched with 4 Argentina defenders, Italy’s 2 defensive midfielders had to cover Argentina’s 2 defensive midfielder, offensive midfielder and opposite winger at the same time. Of course when Argentina’s defenders passed the ball to forward, Italy’s offensive midfielder closed to midfield and helped defensive midfielder but even if he closed to midfield, still Italy had a numerical disadvantage in midfield with 3 vs 4 against Argentina.
Also Italy’s midfielders didn’t get support from defense line either. When the ball started to go forward, Italy’s defenders started to go back too. So this time, the distance between Italy’s defense and midfield lines became more and this time, defenders couldn’t support pressing.