RB Salzburg’s diagonal press paves direct path to victory over Wolfsberger

Having overcome Club Brugge in the Europa League round of 32, RB Salzburg are looking forward to a last-16 tie against Napoli this coming Thursday. However, their domestic campaign took focus over the weekend as Wolsfberger arrived at the Red Bull Arena hoping to cause an upset.

The visitors sat in fifth place heading into this game, 20 points off Salzburg in top spot. A comfortable 3-0 win for the home side saw that gap stretch to 23, with their respective league positions remaining unchanged. This analysis will look at how Marco Rose’s team came out on top.

Lineups

Rose went with his regular 4-diamond-2 formation for this game, with Moanes Dabour and Smail Prevljak playing as split strikers. Hannes Wolf supported from behind but had freedom to roam between the lines. Talented young Malian midfielder Diadie Samassekou screened in front of the centre backs, while Darko Todorovic and Andreas Ulmer arrived in the final third to provide width.

Wolsberger varied between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-1-3-2 with Sekou Koita supporting Kevin Freisenbichler in attack. Whenever they pressed from the front, however, they tended to focus on applying pressure in numbers where access to the ball existed. This often resulted in a disjointed shape and large spaces opening up for Salzburg to exploit provided they could break the press. Marcel Ritzmaier and Christopher Wernitznig occupied the wide berths, but frequently moved infield in an attempt to lessen Salzburg’s numerical advantages in central areas.

The Salzburg press

RB Salzburg played their usual high-intensity pressing game on Saturday, forcing Wolfsberger to play it long on most occasions. Whenever the ball was with the keeper, Salzburg’s most advanced three set up to eradicate all the short passing options. Dabour and Prevljak occupied the central defenders, while Wolf positioned himself between the away team’s holding midfielders.