Marcelo Gallardo at River Plate 2019/20 – tactical analysis

The sixth of June marked six years since Marcelo Gallardo became the coach of River Plate. Over this time with the club, he brought to the collection 11 trophies, including two Copa Libertadores titles and three Recopa Sudamericana. However, in his long spell with River Plate, the only major trophy that he didnt manage to win is Superliga title. It was especially tough at the end of this season, where Los millonarios lost out on the long-awaited title by just one point in the last game to their great rivals Boca Juniors.

With the growing talks over Gallardos future and the attracted interest from such European clubs as Barcelona and some English Premier League teams, the 2019 season can be the last season of Gallardos long tenure with River Plate. The forced break from football around the globe halted the upcoming Superliga season for an undefined period, and this gives a chance to take a look why River Plate is the best team in the league with observing Gallardos tactics in this tactical analysis.

Movement in the build-up phase

Marcelo Gallardo is known for his love of using 4-1-3-2 formation, and he did not change his principles last season as well. This scheme offers many opportunities for the Argentinian to fulfil his principles in possession.

I think the main reason that Gallardo deploys this formation is the full-back — wide midfielder rotations. Overall, the roles of players in the River Plate system are flexible, and it especially applies to the aforementioned positions. The likes of Casco and Montiel can comfortably tuck in and take midfield positions, while the wide midfielders in De La Cruz and Fernández will go wide. Alternatively, the midfielders can stay put while full-backs push up wide. This dynamic is illustrated in the graphic below, where the two centre-backs, usually Martinez and Pinola, push up to the halfway line, Enzo Pérez in the holding midfield role stays with them and helps distribute the ball, and most importantly the full-backs can stay near the touchline and then wide midfielders operate in half-space.

These positional rotations, along with some other ones which I will cover later in the analysis, make it hard for the opposition to track all these movements and react accordingly. Its practically impossible to switch properly in these situations so that there are no wide-open passing lanes, and if the defenders are man-marking River Plate players then the following dragging out of position opens up huge spaces for attackers to exploit. River Plate recorded the highest xG tally in the competition with 45,5 expected goals, compared to the second-placed Boca Juniors with 33,59, so this fluidity in attack becomes the key component of creating chances for the Gallardos side.

In the shot below you can see an in-game example of this rotation, with Casco operating in the half-space, while De La Cruz stays wide. The ability of the latter to take on opponents with his dribbling makes his coach think about the ways of isolating him in 1v1 situations, and occasionally putting him out wide is the best variant.