When Inter tried to make game against Fiorentina, at least one of the wing backs went forward. And Inter stoppers or goalkeeper tried to use wing backs with long balls. But it wasn’t a productive way for Inter to make game.
Let’s look at the tactic board. This was a regular making game situation for Inter against Fiorentina. As you can see, Inter’s right wing back number 2 is in forward. Using right wing back with a long ball is not the most productive way to use them right now. First of all, Fiorentina’s midfielders are closer to Fiorentina defense line more than Inter’s midfielders. So Fiorentina players can close to Fiorentina defense line quicker than Inter’s midfielders. So Fiorentina will have numerical advantage and intensity in the area.
But also, still Inter can make game in situations like this. For example, if Inter’s 2 centre forwards take position in the same vertical space, 1 centre forward will be free. And if we think that Inter’s right wing back is Dumfries, he has a big physical advantage against Fiorentina’s left back Biraghi. So after a long ball to Dumfries, when Dumfries passes the ball to this free centre forward, Inter will find a great transition attack chance.
You may ask how when Inter’s 2 centre forwards take position in the same vertical space, 1 centre forward will be free? It’s because when 2 centre forwards take position in the same vertical space, because one of them would be already matching with the stopper who takes position in the same vertical space, the other centre forward will be free. Because the stopper, which takes position in the other vertical space, doesn’t shift to the same vertical space with the other stopper. Because he stays in the defense line to protect defense line’s shape. You can think of this situation with Voronoi Diagram.
When Inter was trying to make game against Fiorentina’s high pressing, sometimes Inter’s centre stopper Acerbi went to midfield and Inter’s right and left stoppers took position on goalkeeper’s both right and left sides. But their positionings didn’t help Inter to make game.
It’s because when both stoppers took position in side by side with the goalkeeper, Fiorentina wingers didn’t need to press right and left stoppers. Because stoppers did not take position high enough. If they would take position high enough and take position diagonally according to the goalkeeper, this time Fiorentina wingers had to be careful about covering right and left stoppers too and they couldn’t focus on centre much enough. And because Inter’s centre stopper Acerbi would be taking position in midfield too, they would have a numerical advantage in centre midfield with 4 vs 3.
Sometimes, when Inter tried to make game against Fiorentina, wing backs took position in half-spaces or at least one of them took position in half-space and it helped Fiorentina to defend Inter easier.
It’s because Fiorentina had 4 defenders against Inter. And because of that, full backs were matching with Inter wing backs. But because Fiorentina had 4 defenders, if full backs would take position closer to Inter wing backs, this time stoppers would be alone against 2 centre forwards.
But when at least one of the wing backs didn’t take position in wing, Fiorentina’s 4 player defense line wasn’t a disadvantage for Fiorentina anymore. They were able to defend with 4 defenders too.
To explain it better, let’s look at the tactic board. As you can see, Dimarco is in left wing and Dumfries is in right half-space. So Dumfries takes position in the same vertical space with Fiorentina’s left back Biraghi. Which means because Biraghi doesn’t need to go to wing, he can also support his stoppers too and take position more centrally.