Italy Women faced Switzerland Women lately in a fixture of the UEFA Women’s Nations League, and the game ended with a deserved 3-0 win for Le Azzurre in a match played in Italy at Parma’s Ennio Tardini, knowing that Italy succeeded in winning the away fixture as well.
As a result, Italy are actually holding the second spot with 10 points, five points away from Spain who are at the top of the standings, three points ahead of Sweden and seven points ahead of Switzerland. This is already a good achievement for Italy, who have rarely, not to say never, reached similar results in big continental or international women competitions.
But under the management of Andrea Soncin, things are actually seeming to improve gradually and the team is looking more confident and more difficult to beat than before, which is a very good sign and a source of motivation for the players.
As things stand, it is true that Italy did not qualify for the Nations League Finals. Still, they also escaped from the relegation playoffs by finishing second in a very complicated group, leaving Sweden to play these playoffs. At the same time, Switzerland will definitely be relegated to League B automatically.
For Switzerland, the team’s results and performances were disappointing both from an attacking and a defensive perspective despite the recent change of head coach. This was the second official game for Interim coach Reto Gertschen, and it is, therefore, still a bit early to judge his tactical choices.
Nevertheless, identifying the negatives and proposing possible solutions to improve the situation in terms of tactics represents one of the objectives of this tactical analysis. Moreover, the analysis will also focus on Soncin’s tactical impact on Italy while exploring how the team is finally looking better.
Line-ups
Soncin opted for the 4-4-2 formation for this match in order to have more defensive security with two defensive lines while also remaining dangerous in attack with two strikers and midfielders, plus wingers were asked to join the final third whenever possible.
The team was composed of Milan’s Laura Giuliani as a goalkeeper, Roma’s Lucia Di Guglielmo as a right-back, Juventus’ Cecilia Salvai and Roma’s Elena Linari as centre-backs, and Lisa Boattin as a left-back. The midfield was made up of Arianna Caruso and Manuela Giugliano, while the two wingers were Sofia Cantore and Giada Greggi. Upfront, the attacking duo was formed of Inter Milan’s Michela Cambiaghi and Roma’s Valentina Giacinti.
On the other hand, Gertschen used the 4-3-1-2 formation with RB Leipzig’s Elvira Herzog as a goalkeeper, Arsenal’s Noelle Maritz as a right-back, PSG‘s Viola Calligaris and Zürich’s Julia Stierli as centre-backs and Roma’s Eseosa Aigbogun as a left-back. The midfield was composed of Géraldine Reuteler, Lia Wälti and Coumba Sow. At the same time, Ramona Bachmann was the advanced playmaker behind the two strikers: Aston Villa’s Alisha Lehmann and Atlético Madrid‘s Ana-Maria Crnogorčević.
Italy’s impressive performance and teamwork
Italy succeeded in performing in a convincing and impactful way in this match as they scored three goals, shot eleven times with five shots on target, and had more possession than Switzerland with 54.62% for Italy against 45.38% for Switzerland despite the fact that the latter won more duels than the Azzurre.
This means that Italy knew how to use their key moments well and exploit most of the chances they had in order to be as dangerous as possible for Switzerland’s defence, exploiting the latter’s lack of confidence in both phases in their favour.
Tactically speaking, Italy were able to exploit Switzerland’s lack of defensive awareness and their slow reactions to Italy’s quick penetrations from the wings.
This helped the team create numerous chances from both wings with the help of midfielders, who served to provide passing options and then provide through passes into space for both wingers.
Moreover, Switzerland often left some space at their back as they defended with a little bit high defensive bloc that helped use that space thanks to key through passes and quick movements without the ball into space.
The following example from the action that created the first goal highlights the space left by Switzerland’s defence and shows how Caruso was critical in making this attack happen by positioning herself well to receive a pass from Cantore before providing her a pass into space in a dangerous area.
It should be noted that Cantore was then able to advance with the ball towards the box and cross the ball towards the players who were waiting.
Among these players, we find Giugliano, who advanced to provide an extra option in attack and who received the cross and finished the action in a perfect way with a powerful yet very accurate and beautiful volley. Giugliano’s advancement towards the box helped Cantore find a more suitable passing option compared to the two strikers who were tightly marked by Switzerland’s defenders.
Working on the attitude of these players and providing them the best possible working atmosphere and the confidence needed helped them use more 100% of their abilities and show their real value.
Players like Caruso and Giugliano are quality midfielders who can become much better if they keep playing with the same mentality as they already all what is needed to be considered among the best in Europe very soon.
Therefore, exploiting the attacking abilities of midfielders like Caruso and Giugliano, whether in playmaking or goalscoring, can be considered a very intelligent and effective decision from Soncin, who was quickly rewarded for trusting these players’ attacking traits.
In addition, working on alternative set-piece taking methods was beneficial for Italy so far as it also helped them score their second goal of the match in an indirect way.
Also, both Salvai and Cambiaghi were vital to scoring this goal as Salvai’s joining during corner-kicks was crucial to finishing this action. But most of all, the credit should go to Boattin, who insisted on crossing the ball when it was on its way out of the pitch while using her right foot to cross the ball accurately.
The fact that Italy’s three goals were scored by two midfielders and a defender suggests that this team is relying heavily on teamwork and no longer on individual objectives. If they keep working with the same mentality, Italy can reach much bigger results and achievements soon.
Switzerland’s weaknesses and possible improvements
First of all, it is true that Switzerland are qualified automatically for Euro 2025 since they will be the tournament hosts. But this should not demotivate them from playing with determination to win each game. On the contrary, Switzerland must prepare very well for this tournament to be at their best during Euro 2025 and exploit playing at home to aim at reaching the most advanced stage.
In this match, Switzerland shot six times with only two shots on target, a very poor average for a team like Switzerland. Moreover, they committed numerous defensive errors and were not focused on individual marking, whether in open play or during set-pieces.
We saw above how Caruso and Cantore were easily able to exploit the space behind the defensive line. At the same time, Aigbogun, Stierli, and Sow were unable to stop that attack or mark their opponents properly.
In terms of set-pieces, Switzerland failed to mark properly as well and risked conceding another goal if Linari finished the action with more accuracy as she was completely free inside the box when the free-kick was executed. Stierli was not even looking at Linari when the free-kick was about to be executed. Therefore, she was not aware that Linari was running at her back, which created a goalscoring situation due to poor marking.
Almost the same issue occurred during Italy’s corner kick, which was the source of the second goal. Switzerland’s individual marking needs a lot of work, and the defensive line as a unit needs to become more compact in the upcoming games to avoid conceding serious and numerous goalscoring opportunities per match.
From an attacking perspective, it should be noted that Switzerland are not exploiting the full potential of their attacking players so far and are actually underperforming if we consider the level of each of their attacking players. With an attack including Bachmann, Lehmann and Crnogorčević, it is very worrying to perform with almost no danger at all on Italy’s goal except for a few missed occasions.
These players have all that is needed to create goalscoring situations and score goals against Italy. However, the build-up to these actions was often slow and even on the few occasions during which strikers had the opportunity to score, their finishing was poor.
This problem of playmaking should be solved as soon as possible by intensifying quick passes and movements without the ball rather than keeping the ball for too long and losing the key passing opportunities.
The following action highlights one of Switzerland’s key misses in terms of passes. This action could have been much more dangerous if Maritz provided a through pass towards the player asking for it, as she could have been alone in a one-on-one situation with the opposing goalkeeper. Instead, Maritz preferred to keep the ball at her feet and instead go for another option, providing time for Italy’s defence to regroup and contain the attack.
In addition, Switzerland was not lucky enough in the second half as they did not create much and could not even exploit the key chances they had due to poor finishing. This was possibly the most dangerous chance of the match for Switzerland yet they failed in scoring it due to Alayah Pilgrim’s poor finish despite receiving a key pass from Crnogorčević.
It is true that Pilgrim was disturbed and confused by Salvai’s sliding tackle attempt to intercept the pass. Yet, she still could have finished the action well, given her excellent positioning when shooting. In other words, shooting on target was not really that difficult in that situation.
Conclusion
Italy is finally on the right path and will have to work harder to reach even greater results soon, whether in the upcoming Euro or international competitions. Reinforcing the teamwork efforts and working on improving the few defensive mistakes that the team sometimes commits will help the Azzurre become more powerful, especially against tough teams with dangerous attacking players.
On the other hand, a lot of work is still needed for Switzerland to become a more powerful team prior to Euro 2025. If the interim head coach will remain, he should work much more on improving the team’s defensive organisation both on a collective and individual level.
Plus, finding a more impactful attacking composition would suit the team better and make them more clinical upfront. What is even more urgent to do is avoid slow build-up and going rather for quick passes in midfield and attack, in addition to a lot more movements without the ball.
