Protecting the Zones: How Netherlands’ zonal system and Germany’s disciplined backline cancelled out each other

The 2021 UEFA U-21 Euros featured a clash between old foes Germany and the Netherlands. Both the teams have some exciting youngsters in their rank and are definite favourites to lift the trophy in May. Germany came into this clash after a resounding 3-0 victory against Hungary while the Netherlands struggled in their last outing and settled for a draw against Romania.

The tactical analysis features the tactics deployed by both the teams and how they cancelled out each other to settle for a draw. Let’s begin the analysis and see which of these sides could be considered favourites in the eyes the bookies  see here a list with trusted sites where you can find the very best odds.

Lineups

Germany made one change to the lineup that beat Hungary in their last game. Full-back Ismail Jakobs was drafted into the lineup for David Raum as they pretty much looked to retain the same chemistry that started their tournament with a bang. The Netherlands, meanwhile made 3 changes to their lineup and they also went with different tactics and setup for this game that will be discussed later.

Netherlands’ change of shape

The Netherlands went out with a 4-2-2-2 with possession. Despite the formation change, the principles were still the same as when they used a 4-3-3. The two centre-backs were used as the starting men in their build-up phase. While Germany left just one striker to press the two centre-backs about which we will discuss in the next section. To proceed to the middle-third, Netherlands couldn’t directly have access to their central midfielders. Both of them were tightly marked by the German players.