How Ralf Rangnick Tactics Guided Austria To Top Of Euro 2024 Group D – Tactical Analysis

The Group of Death title is traditionally given to the most brutal group in the tournaments group stage, in which multiple top teams are battling out to determine who will advance to the next round.

In EURO 2024, Group D was given that ambitious title.

With two of the tournament favourites in the Netherlands, the World Cup runner-up in 2022 France, and two decent teams in Poland and Austria, the group seemed to be the by far strongest in the competition.

Still, most people believed that the Netherlands and France were going to battle for the top two places.

But in actuality, Ralf Rangnicks team came up top of the group with six points, and their only loss came to France because of an own goal.

All while missing their superstar and captain, David Alaba.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine how a small country like Austria achieved such a remarkable feat.

Austria Euro 2024 Line Ups

During the three games in the group stage, Rangnick tactics utilised a large number of player personnel.

He was one of the few coaches who actively utilised his squad depth and rotated players quite frequently.

One thing stayed the same during all three games, though: Austria operated out of a 4-2-3-1 formation.

While goalkeeper Patrick Pentz played all three games, Rangnick used different players in almost every other position on the field.

He rotated his centre-backs and gave Maximilian Wöber, Gernot Trauner, Phillipp Lienhart and Kevin Danso all meaningful playing time.

Only Marcel Sabitzer was constantly playing in his offence.

Rangnick used Marko Arnautovic and Michael Gregoritsch up front, while he used Konrad Laimer, Patrick Wimmer, Christoph Baumgartner, and Romano Schmid as complements to Sabitzer.

These rotations made Austria pretty unpredictable for their opponents, helping them switch up their styles and adapt to their opponents.

The games against France and Poland differed significantly from the game against the Netherlands, and Rangnick once again demonstrated that he is a football mastermind with his lineups.

Is Austria better Than Germany?

Red Bull Salzburg took over Austrian football in a hurry.

During these last years, they completely took the reins in terms of youth football in the country, and other teams like SK Sturm Graz or LASK have been heavily influenced by the Red Bull way of playing, which means a lot of the younger players in the Austria squad learned to play the game that way.

And guess who the coach Red Bull picked to develop their philosophy was: Ralf Rangnick.

It’s a match made in heaven.

But there is another country whose football scene was heavily influenced by Ralf Rangnick: Germany.

Funnily enough, both of those countries are now playing in a pretty similar fashion and having a lot of success during the Euros.

The most glaring similarity between the both teams is their offensive midfielders in their 4-2-3-1 formation.

Neither team is using traditional wingers but rather is playing with three attacking midfielders as number 10s.

This means both teams have a narrow shape and ultimately dominate the half-spaces.

With control in these areas, it is tough to get a grasp on the attackers for the opposing defence, resulting in hard decisions to make for the backline.

In Austrias case, their narrow shape gives them two huge advantages.

The first advantage is that they control the centre of the pitch, which opens up many opportunities for combinations.

The game against Poland differed significantly from the other two because Austria was favoured to win.

They knew they had to play well with the ball and showed way more ball security than counterpressing-focused teams usually do.

In this example, Austria control the centre of the pitch, creating open space for a pass straight to their striker Arnautović.

Now, he has multiple teammates around him to start a combination in the final third.

Also, both full-backs have acres