Vincenzo Vivarini Tactics At Us Catanzaro 2023/2024 – How Their Decoy Runs Are Disrupting Defences – Set-Piece Analysis

US Catanzaro are one of the most interesting teams making an effort to utilise set-pieces in Italian football this season.

The movements they make inside the penalty area are exciting to experience, with a large variety of routines used that make the Aquile del Sud an enormous threat in their return to the Serie B for the first time since 2006.

They showed their strength last season with a dominant campaign in Serie C, where they had a better goal difference than the likes of PSG and Manchester City.

Following a strong start to this season, they are only 6 points off an automatic promotion spot to Serie A.

Following an extensive analysis of Catanzaros 92 corner kicks this season so far, some interesting statistics lay out the foundations for this article.

Of the 75 corner kicks crossed into the penalty area:

• 48% lead to aerial duels
• 25% cleared by the first defender
• 13% claimed by the goalkeeper
• 13% exit the penalty area, having missed every player from both teams

The data shows that most of these corners have been cleared before they even manage to reach the target player/area, meaning that much of their exciting work is irrelevant.

When the ball does reach the intended destination, Catanzaro make the first contact 56% of the time, due to the excellent work theyve been doing among the attacking unit.

This data also doesnt include one of their most successful routines, which consists of a direct pass towards the edge of the box for a player arriving to strike the ball, almost as if they are receiving a cutback.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine the tactics behind US Catanzaros offensive set-pieces under Vincenzo Vivarini, with an in-depth analysis of the key details behind their use of decoy runs.

This set-piece analysis will also examine the problems with some of their set-piece routines and explore solutions that can be utilised to increase output in the future and potentially help them secure the few valuable points needed to enter promotion spots.

Arriving in Space Originally Occupied

A key theme of Catanzaros attacking corners is to arrive in space.

However, while some teams aim to attack the space already available inside the penalty area, Catanzaro occupy the space they intend to attack, before making decoy runs away from that space.

This method is most effective against man-markers, where it is possible to dictate where each man-marker moves by having an attacker drag their marker with them anywhere they like.

Those same decoy runs are less effective against zonal defenders, whose decisions are less likely to be affected by the movement of an attacker than by the movement of the ball.

During this routine, the attacking unit selects the area it wants to attack and sets up its positions within that area, as shown in the example below.

The intended target hangs slightly away from the target area, which he can run into to attack the ball with pace.

As seen in the image below, the area occupied by the attacking unit is vacated and turns into the area with the most space inside the penalty area.

The attacking players who make runs forward are then focused on forcing their markers as far away from the target area as possible by continuing their runs and preventing their markers from closing down the ball.