After a season in which Sint-Truiden finished ninth in the Belgian Pro League regular season after many predicted them to go down, head coach Thorsten Fink was poached away from the club by KRC Genk this summer.
His replacement has since been confirmed as Christian Lattanzio, with the 52-year-old Italian joining the club after a stint in MLS as the head coach of Charlotte FC.
The Italian also has experience working in the City Football Group, with stops as a coach in Manchester City’s academy and an assistant to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira at NYCFC and OGC Nice.
Lattanzio joins the club in what some may describe as turmoil, with an exodus of talented young players, including the likes of Zion Suzuki, Aboubakary Koita, Matte Smets, Eric-Junior Bocat, and Jarne Steuckers, all key players from last season who departed the club in this summer transfer window.
However, this article will be in the form of a Christian Lattanzio tactical analysis, looking more at the tactics of Lattanzio and what Sint-Truiden fans can expect in the 2024/25 season, one that looks like it may be tough for the Belgian side.
Christian Lattanzio Preferred formation
When it comes to a preferred formation from the 52-year-old Italian, during his time in MLS with Charlotte, Lattanzio tended to prefer setting his side up in some variation of a 4-4-2 setup, with this sometimes looking like a flat 4-4-2, a 4-4-1-1 or sometimes more of a 4-1-4-1.
However, during a recent 4-0 friendly defeat to Ajax, Lattanzio opted to deploy a 3-5-2 formation, the system used frequently during Fink’s time in charge last season.
It will be interesting to see how Lattanzio looks to set the side up once the season gets underway, but it seems like he may have a few options going into the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Christian Lattanzio Attacking principles
One of the first things to look at when analysing Lattanzio’s time in Charlotte is how the club looked to play in possession.
During the 2023 MLS season with Charlotte, the Italian’s only full season in charge, the MLS side averaged 52.4% possession over the course of the season, with Charlotte looking to dominate the ball against most opposition.
The data viz graphic above shows the pass map of Charlotte from the 2023 MLS season.
We can corroborate this tendency to dominate possession with this graphic, as we can see the number of short passes across the back line that Charlotte looked to play, starting with the goalkeeper.
Another thing to point out is that Charlotte looked to build the majority of their possession phases out into the wide channels, with a heavy emphasis from Lattanzio’s side on looking to overload and attack the left side.
The image above shows an example of the build-up shape that Christian Lattanzio looked to deploy during his time with Charlotte.
As we can see, the Italian manager opted for a 4-1 shape, with one of the two central midfielders looking to drop close to the backline to help facilitate ball progression for the goalkeeper, with this player looking to act like a safety valve at times during the initial build-up phase.
We can see that in this specific match against the New York Red Bulls, the home side does well to prevent the ball from being played into the #6 with their pressing shape.
However, Lattanzio did not shy away in this match from building out from the back, with Charlotte still sticking to this strategy, even in a rather heavy defeat.
This says a lot about how Lattanzio wants his side to play, especially with his education at Manchester City.
Now, let us take a look at Lattanzio’s attacking tactics in the advanced areas of the pitch.
When looking at the data viz graphic above, we can see how the majority of Charlotte’s progressive passes into the penalty area from the 2023 MLS season came from the wide areas, showing the Italian’s tendency to look to attack from these channels.
When progressing the ball into the penalty area from the final third, chance creation from the half-spaces and wide areas are essential for Christian Lattanzio.
The image above shows an excellent example of how Charlotte attacked in the final third under Christian Lattanzio.
In this phase of play, from a match against Inter Miami, the ball is in possession of the Charlotte midfielder in the centre of the pitch.
As we can see, the Charlotte attack begins to look more like a front three, with the ball being rotated out to the winger in the wide channel.
What we do not see in this image is how, preceding this ball into the wide channel, the ball was on the near side, with the winger electing to stay wide as opposed to tucking inside, allowing him the space to receive once the play was switched to this far side.
After receiving possession, the initial cross is blocked by the Inter Miami defender, who does well in recovering.
Still, the ball falls back to the winger, eventually ending up in the back of the net for Charlotte.
From an attacking perspective, Sint-Truiden fans can expect plenty of attacking impetus from Christian Lattanzio, with the Italian manager likely looking to implement a possession-based system with the Belgian side.
We may also see a departure from the back three that worked to great success for Thorsten Fink last season, with Lattanzio favouring a back four during his time in MLS, though he did use a back three in Sint-Truiden’s last pre-season match.
Christian Lattanzio Defensive principles
Next, we will look at some defensive principles from Christian Lattanzio and what Sint-Truiden fans can expect from a defensive perspective during this upcoming campaign.
During his only previous full season in charge, Charlotte were not the greatest side defensively during that 2023 MLS season.
Lattanzio’s side averaged 1.56 conceded goals per match, with their opponents averaging slightly less, at 1.4 conceded goals per match.
The data viz graphic above shows the defensive territory of Charlotte from the 2023 MLS season.
We can see from the graphic how most defensive actions from Charlotte under Lattanzio occurred in the central areas, with the defensive shape tending to look like a flat 4-4-2.
The Italian manager will look for his side to keep a relatively balanced defensive shape, with the defensive line looking to advance up the pitch and hold, at times, a relatively high line.
The figure above shows a good example of the typical defensive shape Charlotte set up when they were out of possession under Christian Lattanzio.
We can see the pretty defined flat 4-4-2 shape, with the midfield and forward lines staying relatively close together and compact.
It was not uncommon to see Lattanzio’s Charlotte side look to defend 4v4 at the back, with the first two lines of pressure looking to press opposition sides when they looked to build out from the back.
If we refer back to the graphic shown above in this section, we can recall that most of Charlotte’s defensive actions under Lattanzio occurred in the central areas.
Most times, Lattanzio looked for his side to force the ball into central areas, where they would then collapse on and suffocate opposition midfielders when they gathered possession, looking to win possession back and counterattack.
Looking for his sides to press
When continuing to analyse Christian Lattanzio’s out-of-possession principles, one of the first things you will notice is how he wants his side to press the ball, especially in advanced areas of the pitch.
When looking at deeper underlying metrics from the 2023 MLS season, Charlotte had the third lowest PPDA in MLS, with their 9.7 PPDA ranking behind only St.
Louis City and the New York Red Bulls.
The data viz graphic above shows Charlotte’s high regains during Christian Lattanzio’s lone full season in charge.
As we can see, most of these pressing moments from Charlotte occurred just on the edge of the opposition’s defensive third.
Lattanzio wanted his side to mainly press based on pressing cues rather than have a high-octane, no-holds-barred style of pressing opposition defences as they look to build out from the back.
The figure above shows an example of this pressing from Lattanzio’s side and shows how he tends to rely on pressing cues for when his first lines of pressure should be looking to press.
In this phase of play above against the Chicago Fire, the ball is in possession of the Fire full-back when he decides to turn and face his own goal while in possession.
This activates the press of the Charlotte front six, with the wide midfielder looking to engage and put pressure on the full-back.
Simultaneously, the Charlotte forward puts pressure on the opposition centre-back, preventing the full-back from playing the ball back to his defensive partner.
As a result, the full-back dribbles out of play under the pressure from the wide midfielder, allowing Charlotte to win a throw-in from a very advanced area of the pitch, just inside the opposition’s final third.
The figure above again is able to show the press from Charlotte and how they are able to force Inter Miami into a turnover.
In this phase of play above, Miami are looking to build from the back using their centre-backs, with the ball played from the goalkeeper to the centre-back in this wide area.
The Charlotte forward puts the defender under immediate pressure, with the rest of the Charlotte advanced players noticing this pressing cue and looking to close down potential passing options or the space around those players, as in the case of the second Charlotte attacker.
As a result, the Inter Miami centre-back is forced to play the ball long, with his attempted pass going out of play for a throw-in for Lattanzio’s side near midfield.
This is something that Sint-Truiden fans should look to expect from their side’s new head coach: a pressing system that is intense but one that relies more on certain pressing cues than looking to just press at all times when the ball is in possession of the opposition goalkeeper and defenders.
Conclusion
As this tactical analysis has illustrated, Christian Lattanzio represents an interesting hire for a Sint-Truiden team that many consider to be in transition.
After a very good season under Thorsten Fink, there has been plenty of turnover within the playing squad this summer, with many key players departing in this transfer window.
It will be interesting to see how the team plays this season, and they have an experienced head coach leading the way for the 2024/25 campaign.
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