Development Squad – Update Four Is Live

Hello everyone! Today I bring you another small analysis of a game that many of you may have missed. I'm talking about Torino - Huddersfield. Once again feel free to ask any questions you may have and to give an opinion on the game and on the team itself.

First of all, it is worth noting that this is Torino’s penultimate friendly match, with the latter being two days away on Sunday. With that being said, coach Siniša Mihajlović may have made some rotation when choosing the team. Torino's form in the pre-season has been fantastic with 4 wins in 4 games with 1 goal conceded and 15 goals scored.

For this last pre-season game, the North American coach David Wagner launched a team in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Lossl in goal, the defense was made up by Smith (captain), Zanka, Schindler and Lowe. The midfielders were Kachunga, Billing, Mooy and van Pa Parra. The attackers were Ince and Mounie.

The initial construction phase of Huddersfield is somewhat peculiar. When the centre-backs are with the ball next to their area, Billing always drops down the field between the two of them. As soon as this happens, Zanka or Schindler immediately look for him, so that he decides where to place the ball in the attacking area. At the same time, wingers Kachunga and van La Parra are move closer to the central zone of the field, near Ince, with the wings being entirely given to the full-backs Smith and Lowe. Despite this, it is noteworthy that Huddersfield presents several problems at this stage of construction. Billing often looked for a long pass that never reached its destination, or even when it was Mooy who received the ball of Billing in this backward zone of the field, this one did exactly the same and always looked for a long ball without finding any teammate.
When the construction phase is already nearer the centre circle, Billing remains with Mooy at the midfield.

As for the full-backs, there are two distinct things between the two: Lowe always stays on the left and whenever he has the opportunity he crosses to the opposing area; Smith is often looking for the central zone of the pitch, even for making runs to the opposite area several times.

Finally, it should be noted that the Huddersfield defensive pressure only happens practically in its midfield, always giving time and space to the opposing defenses to build from behind without any opposition.

1st Half Highlights:
8th minute – Smith does a great 1-2 with Kachunga and Smith suffers a foul inside de area. The ref let it play;
15th minute – Ince with a great shot for a good stop by the opposite GK;
23rd minute – Torino scores after a big confusion in the Huddersfield’s area on the first shot of the game by the Italians;
35th minute - Great pass from Mooy to van La Parra who gets the ball inside the opponent's area and makes a low cross into the second post where Kachunga comes to score.

Substitutions at half time: van La Parra -> Palmer; Billing -> Williams; Zanka -> Hefele. Ince went to right-mid, Kachunga to left mid and Palmer to No. 10.

2nd Half Highlights:
47th minute – Mooy shoots wide from a free-kick;
53rd minute – Torino scores from a corner. Smith let his man escape inside the area.
56th minute – Lowe crosses from the left side into Kachunga’s head that puts the ball wide;
57th minute – Lowe crosses (he really loves to cross) this time to Mounie that scores from a great header;
64th minute – Bunch of substitutions where the highlight was Lowe at left-mid with Malone at left-back;
90th minute – Great shot by Palmer. The GK stopped though.

Conclusions: David Wagner's team will suffer a lot against teams that have a very high pressure style of play; the initial construction phase needs more work; Lowe made several crosses on the left side and he is who takes the corners on both sides; Mooy takes all free-kicks; Palmer's inclusion at halftime brought a new soul to Huddersfield who managed to push higher up the pitch; Mounie was completely out of the game in the first half (he will have a major difficulty against strong centre-backs); Smith and Kachunga combine very well on the right side.