Michel's (Girona) La Liga Destroying Tactics

RDF Tactics · February 9

Michel has created a BEAST tactic at Girona, destroying teams in La Liga. Michel Girona tactics, against all odds, Michel's Girona are sitting 2nd in La Liga; even better, they are playing the best football in Spain's top tier.

But how is this possible? Today we take a look at the tactics and reveal some secrets

Girona are the prime example of why a starting formation just does not matter, much in football. Their shapes during the 90mins are highly fluid and flexible. Take their 3-2-5 building shape for example. Typically playing out from the back with a back 3 as their LB inverts, this shape suddenly becomes a 3-1-6 in attack with 3 attacking midfielders roaming in front of the opposition defence. Incredibly useful against low-blocks. It is achieved by creating depth with the striker staying as high as possible and width with the wingers stretching the pitch, thus creating space for the ball progression and positional movement. In the half-spaces, there is a high level of roaming and positional rotation, making the structure fluid and difficult to deal with. The LB, typically Miguel Gutiérrez is responsible for adding that extra attacking midfielder and does a lot of roaming as Girona often look to create an overload on the right side of the pitch. This leaves Savio, the LW, high and wide on the left and LB Miguel Gutiérrez or LCB Daley Blind to roam and find space as the opposition's defence has been shifted to one side. But this is also where we see more fluidity and relationism - players understanding others and where they are meant to be.

Creating numerical advantages in the midfield is something Girona are strong at, as they look to retain possession being a patient team, find passing combinations and rotate positions to bamboozle the marking team.

Another area Girona are strong in, is in the wider areas. Looking at the player's profiles, Savio is excellent in 1v1 situations (possibly one reason they look to overload the right and allow Savio space for 1v1s) and the Ukrainian Viktor Tsygankov role is more of an inside forward and combining in tight areas. But, they are both good crossers off the ball (so too is Yan Couto) who aim for the target man in the box, Artem Dovbyk, and this is done typically by creating wide overloads and underlaps mostly involving a number 8, full-back and winger but by now, we understand this can be fluid.

Girona's underlaps often cause trouble and confusion - let's say one of the 8's underlaps, then his marker in midfield has to decide whether to track or not to track. If he does, he leaves space in front of the defence. If he doesn't track, then the '8' can make an unmarked run which then a central defender has to decide whether he tracks or not - if he tracks, he leaves his central defending position.

So, Girona are patient with their build-up, sometimes overdoing it. But it's always with the purpose of moving the defending team and creating advantages, attacking the empty spaces. Often using the 3rd man. There is an emphasis on creating a +1 in midfield which is often done with Miguel Gutiérrez's roaming movements

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