Denmark Analysis

There is a common thought that Denmark is a one man team, solely relying on the quality of Christian Eriksen, but they proved to have more qualities in the preparation period. They missed previous World Cup, but they are now confident that they’ll at least manage to get out of the group.

 

OOne of big qualities of this team is balance, being creative and dangerous in attack but also able to keep opponent’s away from the box. There weren’t much changes made to the startingXI, and subs can be expected in center midfield, as Shone could feature instead of Kvist who has problems to cope with opponents who keep high tempo of the match.

  1. There are players in the team that can hurt opponents in set-piece situations (Bjelland, Kjaer, Jorgensen, Poulsen, Delaney, Cornelius), especially with Eriksen as the set-piece taker. They like to use short combinations in corner-kick situations, and these attacks can be even more dangerous than direct cross into the box, due to Sisto’s ability to dribble his way into the box.
      They like to keep the ball on the ground and play through opponent’s lines, but they don’t mind using long balls with high success. Poulsen and Cornelius play on the right wing, even though they are natural strikers. Both of them have one particular quality – aerial play. They are most frequently targeted players up front, and excellent in providing lay offs. Counter-attacks could go along set-pieces as a big strength of this team. Link up play between Eriksen and Poulsen in transition proved to be a real threat for opponents’ defenses.

  2. One of main issues in their defense that was frequently used by opponents is the positioning of right winger. He often moves out of position to apply pressure on the ball carrier, blocking the passing lane into wide areas. This was easily outplayed using third man combinations to get behind him.

In later stages of the match wingers don’t track back to provide defensive support, which makes them vulnerable throughout phases of defensive organization.