Liga NOS 2018/19: Sporting vs Porto

We havent done a lot of analysis on Portuguese games in the past. This will change in the future given the tactical interest the league provides. Portugal is a great exporter of talented footballers as we all know, but they export quality coaches too. The weekend saw two of the biggest clubs, Sporting and Porto, clash in Lisbon. This tactical analysis looks at the highly interesting tactical trends of the game.

Teams

Sporting, under their Dutch coach Marcel Keizer, set up in a classic 4-3-3 as the graphic shows. Sergio Conceicao lined his Porto up in a 4-4-2 when defending, but they had some very interesting movements in possession as well detail below. Both teams were stacked with quality players such as Portuguese international Bruno Fernandes, former Manchester United winger Nani, Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas and the Mexican midfielders Hector Herrera and Jesus Corona.

Tactical analysis of the goalless draw

Now lets get into three tactical trends of the game. Ill look at Portos attacking rotations, Sportings positional play and Sportings defensive setup. Lets start with the visitors.

Portos attacking rotations

As mentioned, and as highlighted below, Porto defended in a regular 4-4-2. They kept their midfield quartet narrow while the full-backs had wider starting positions. This meant the full-back would sprint into pressure in the wide areas with the ball-near midfielder in a covering position.

When they had the ball, however, Porto changed and moved their wide players centrally. One central midfielder, Danilo, dropped to become a defensive midfielder while the other, Herrera, moved higher into a more attacking role.

This established the midfield diamond Ive highlighted below with Danilo at its base, Corona to the right, Yacine Brahimi to the left and Herrera at the top. The two full-backs, Maxi Pereira (white) and Alex Telles, provided width from very high starting positions.