Netherlands played with 4-2-3-1 line up.
Italy played with 4-3-3 line up.
When Netherlands wanted to make game, Wijnaldum closed to the midfield and tried to help his teammates. Depay ran to the right wing to use free space and Van De Beek closed to the centre forward. Depay played in the false 9 role. So, the shape became like a 2-4-4.
It didn’t work because Italy defended and pressed very well. Immobile didn’t let Van Dijk and Veltman make game easily. Insigne marked De Roon, Locatelli marked Wijnaldum, Barella marked De Jong, Jorginho marked Van De Beek. So, in the midfield they became 4 vs 4 and Netherlands couldn’t make game.
Spinazzola marked Hateboer. Normally Insigne matched Hateboer and Spinazzola matched Wijnaldum. Wingers match full backs. But when Wijnaldum closed to the midfield, if Spinazzola followed him, Hateboer could be free. So, Spinazzola stayed in the left wing and marked Hateboer.
Normally, when Insigne remained in the forward line, in the midfield, Netherlands had a numerical advantage in the midfield with 4 vs 3. Barella marked De Jong, Jorginho marked Van De Beek and Locatelli had to mark Wijnaldum and De Roon in the same time. But this time, little details come into play.
Italy could cover midfield and it wasn’t only great marking. Sometimes De Roon closed to defense line to take the ball. In this case, if De Roon’s position wasn’t close to midfield, Insigne closed to Wijnaldum. So, they could cover Wijnaldum with 2 players.
If Netherlands wanted to make game deeply, Immobile closed to Van Dijk, Locatelli closed to the forward line and Insigne closed to Veltman and Hateboer. In this case, Wijnaldum was in between Chiellini and Locatelli. So, he had much space. But he couldn’t take the ball and use free space because nobody could pass him. Any player who could pass him was under mark.
In this position, Netherlands is trying to make game. There are 4 players around Wijnaldum. When Veltman is passing to De Roon, Locatelli is pressing him. Then Immobile is pressing Van Dijk. Also because Locatelli is pressing forward, Wijnaldum is free. But Van Dijk can’t pass him because he is under pressure. Then he is passing to Promes. Again Wijnaldum is completely free. But Promes can’t pass him because D’Ambrosio is pressing him aggressively and there are 4 players around him. Netherlands could pass to Wijnaldum 2 times and if they could, Wijnaldum could be so effective. But Italy’s players pressed aggressively and they couldn’t find time to pass Wijnaldum.
Italy left Veltman to make game. Because they knew Van Dijk was dangerous about making game, not Veltman. So, they could cover Van Dijk and because Insigne let Veltman free, they had an extra player to cover midfield. Insigne could close to the midfield more comfortably.
In this position, Hateboer has the ball. Spinazzola is covering him, so he is passing to Veltman. Immobile didn’t press him. He is controlling Van Dijk and covering De Jong. Locatelli is free and he is waiting to help cover spaces. Insigne is covering De Roon, Spinazzola is covering Hateboer. So Veltman is going back and checking if Van Dijk is free. But Immobile is closing to Van Dijk in the right time and Veltman has to pass Cillessen.
And if the ball was in the right wing, Immobile closed to De Roon and midfield. Now Van Dijk wasn’t dangerous for the team because he was so far away from the ball, so Immobile covered players who could be more dangerous.
Sometimes, when one player closed to the forward line for pressing (like Locatelli), he or another player communicated to cover his behind or beside. So, they also had great communication.
In this position, Locatelli is pressing in the forward. So, he couldn’t see Wijnaldum’s position. He is communicating with Insigne and Insigne is closing to Wijnaldum. So De Jong couldn’t pass him and Italy could defend very well.
If Wijnaldum could find a great chance to use free space between Chiellini and Locatelli, this time Chiellini could mark him very well. So, Wijnaldum couldn’t use free space because of Chiellini and he couldn’t pass Depay or Van De Beek.
Actually, Netherlands’ players could take the ball in between Italy’s midfield and defense line. Van De Beek and Depay changed positions amongst themselves, Wijnaldum had great movement but the problem was not their positioning, the problem was that the passers were under the mark. If De Roon, De Jong or Van Dijk could be free, they could make game because Wijnaldum, Depay and Van De Beek already had enough space and great movement. But to use space and movement, they needed to take the ball and someone had to pass him. Italy covered all the passers greatly and they couldn’t take the ball comfortably.
To talk about Zaniolo’s role, he covered Ake but not like his teammates. He took position a few meters from Ake. Ake is not an attacking player, so he took position a few meters from Ake and close to midfield. If Ake wanted to support the attack, Zaniolo could cover him before Ake couldn’t be dangerous. So at the same time, because he closed to the midfield, if Promes closed to the midfield to take the ball, Zaniolo could cover him. And of course D’Ambrosio covered Promes closely.
