Locked at Three: Essential strategies for Group E’s decisive games – tactical analysis

The EURO 2024 tournament has, so far, been nothing short of a wonderful footballing spectacle. We’ve seen some excellent individual and team goals, a range of interesting and thought-provoking tactics, a lack of refereeing controversy, and the so-called ‘smaller’ nations putting in some incredible performances.

While we have seen Group A and (by the time this article goes live) Group B resolved with no real surprises as to who has qualified for the knockout stages, one group, in particular, is still wide open, with the final round of games yet to be played. The group in question, of course, is Group E – all four teams find themselves on three points after two games, making for a truly tense finale on Wednesday when Slovakia face Romania at the same as Ukraine vs Belgium. Goal difference could turn out to be a crucial factor in who claims a top-three spot – Ukraine currently fall short here with a -2 GD, while Romania and Belgium both currently have +1: Slovakia have 0.

In this tactical analysis, we will take a look at what key tactics we should see from all four teams in their remaining group games. The analysis will consider the tactics used by the teams up to this point in the competition, as well as any weaknesses they could exploit in their opposition.

Slovakia vs Romania

Prior to this tournament, Slovakia liked to play out from the back with a makeshift back three. This back three was made up of their two centre-backs and an accompanying central midfielder, and this shape allowed the full-backs to push on into higher and wider positions to contribute to midfield phases. We can expect to see more of that against Romania, particularly given Romanian’s tactical showings in the opening two Group E games.

Another thing to expect from Slovakia is an injection of pace and/or directness in their build-up play once they reach the midfield area or the final third, as well as having the courage to take risks on the ball – we’ve also seen them utilise a numerical presence and passing combinations in wide midfield areas to progress into dangerous positions, as seen in the image above.

The technical skill and quick forward passing from Juraj Kucka in midfield, followed by a snappy, first-time pass out to Peter Pekarík, allowed the RB to take the ball forward into the final third quickly. Kucka’s continued run after his initial pass provided good support to the fast-moving attack, and his positioning and off-the-ball movement meant that the Ukraine left back had to follow Kucka rather than coming out to close the ball down. This gave Pekarík the time to pick out a cross into the box. We should expect to see this kind of approach against Romania,  in terms of a patient start to the possession, but the ability to turn the pace up in the blink of an eye.