Who Is Eusebio Di Francesco?
Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, Italy, in August 1870.
She would move to Florence and then Rome, where she would begin her early education.
Montessori would go on to develop a method of education named ‘The Montessori Method’ — an influential approach that would emphasise children’s ability to self-educate via their natural curiosity and independent thinking.
Just over an hour outside Rome today, Eusebio Di Francesco leads Frosinone Calcio.
With an average age of 24.1, they’re the youngest squad in Italy’s top-flight for the 2023/24 campaign.
They sit 12th in the table at the time of writing, having enjoyed a positive start to their top-tier return after earning Serie A status for the first time since 2018/19 under current boss of Ligue 1’s Olympique Lyon, Fabio Grosso, last season.
Certain football coaches have earned a reputation for their ability to develop young players over the years.
Sir Alex Ferguson, ahead of the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final, shed some light on his enthusiasm for working with younger players, stating: “When you’re young, you’re fearless, so I hope my young ones play like that.”
Di Francesco himself notably played under Zdeněk Zeman for AS Roma during his playing career, a period in which the legendary Czech-Italian coach led one Francesco Totti to new heights, setting him on the path to becoming an undisputed Serie A legend.
The 1997/98 season was the first in which Totti managed to hit double-figures for goals in Italy’s top flight, a feat he would go on to achieve a further 12 times in the seasons that followed in his illustrious career.
Zeman utilised Totti primarily from the left as opposed to the more central areas he had occupied previously, empowering him to receive in space, take defenders on 1v1, cut inside onto his stronger right foot and ultimately contribute more for his team — he would never look back from there.
Di Francesco has emphasised many times that he doesn’t view himself as a ‘disciple’ of Zeman, so to speak, but there are evidently some ways in which the 54-year-old coach has been influenced by his former manager.
This Eusebio Di Francesco tactical analysis piece will look to highlight how Di Francesco is empowering his young squad, currently ranked as the team with the lowest market value in Italy’s top-flight, to grow and prosper this term.
Our Eusebio Di Francesco analysis will focus on Frosinone’s tactics in possession, emphasising how the coach is putting his young players in the best possible position to gain invaluable experience and display the best of themselves in this side.
Frosinone Calcio Build Up
Frosinone haven’t subscribed to any particular ‘shape’ in or out of possession this term, frequently deploying a 4-1-4-1 in addition to a 4-2-3-1 or even the 3-4-3.
Regardless of shape, however, we can say with certainty that Canarini often aim to position the back four and at least one midfielder deep in order to attract opposition players high in their press, freeing up space behind them that Frosinone’s attackers can later exploit.
It’s common to see this shape, with the centre-backs splitting to position themselves on either side of the goalkeeper and the full-backs dropping deep in a slightly wider area as a midfielder drops into the central position just behind the opposition’s forwards, from Canarini in the build-up this term.
We tend to see a lot of short passing from these deeper players, particularly in central areas, as they look to manipulate the opposition’s press to find a free man and create a good opportunity for progression.
In figure 1, we see the goalkeeper sending the ball between the opposition’s forwards to the dropping midfielder.
This attracts the opposition’s press very high and very narrow, allowing the receiver to quickly send the ball out to the right centre-back, Ilario Monterisi (190cm/6’3”).
From here, Monterisi has time and space to get his head up and get the team moving forward.
Monterisi is one of the young players who has thrived under Di Francesco’s leadership in 2023/24.
Last season, the 21-year-old got just 612 Serie B minutes under Grosso.
He’s already played more than that at this stage of the 2023/24 campaign — at a higher level to boot.
Out of possession, Monterisi has proven himself quite reliable in defensive duels and aerial duels, as the above pizza chart shows, with some quite respectable percentile rankings on display when compared with players in his possession from leagues of similar quality to Serie A, such as the EPL, Bundesliga, LaLiga and Ligue 1.
In possession, the 190cm centre-back is heavily involved for his side, being required to receive and play plenty of passes, particularly under pressure.
Frosinone’s build-up entails taking on some risk, such as the pass from the ‘keeper through the pressing forwards to the dropping midfielder shown in figure 1.
This is a natural result of their intention to attract the opposition’s press high and usually central as they seek to open up space in behind that can be targeted.
Putting the deep players like Monterisi into these situations gives them the opportunity — and, indeed, responsibility — of operating in a high-risk scenario with a lot of pressure; this is something Zeman also professed with his Roma team back in the late 90s as being fundamental for the development of young players — placing them in high-pressure situations and allowing them to learn by experience, positioning them to deal with such situations better in the future.
Frosinone Calcio Ball Progression
Moving on into the progression phase, Monterisi also plays a key role here, being a vital progressive passer for Canarini this term from his right centre-back position, as displayed in figure 4.
A lot of these passes start very deep — another result of Frosinone’s tactics in the build-up, as previously discussed.
Another young player who’s been vital in both the build-up and ball progression phases for Frosinone this term is Enzo Barrenechea (186cm/6’1”), who has typically been deployed as a holding midfielder for Canarini.
The 22-year-old Argentinian joined Frosinone on loan from Juventus for the 2023/24 campaign this past summer, having played just 166 minutes for Juve’s first team so far in his young career, primarily playing for Juventus Next Gen in Italy’s third tier last season.
Now given his chance in the top-flight by Di Francesco, the young midfielder has repaid his new manager’s faith and trust — two key qualities for any boss to show in any young protégé — by delivering some excellent performances from the deep midfield position, an area that’s typically played with greater quality by those with years of experience developing their football IQ.
Out of possession, Barrenechea has been one of Italy’s most effective holding midfielders in terms of tackles and interceptions this term.
The 22-year-old has displayed an exquisite ability to read the game and break up play from the base of Frosinone’s midfield.
On the ball, again, Barrenechea has been utilised heavily as a player who must not only receive under pressure but also work hard and smart to free himself up, create space to receive and show excellent spatial awareness to keep the team progressing via valuable central areas.
In addition to displaying intelligence with regard to which pass is the right one to play, when to be brave and take a risk moving forward and when to keep circulating possession in order to find the right path upfield.
Enzo Barrenechea Heat Map
Figure 6 shows Barrenechea’s heatmap from the 2023/24 campaign, highlighting the deep positions he frequently finds himself operating; it’s common to see the 22-year-old being the one who drops from midfield in the build-up into the space just behind the opposition’s pressing forwards, as we saw 23-year-old Marco Brescianini doing back in figure 1.
Here, in figure 7, we see an example of Barrenechea dropping deep and offering himself as a short passing option for the centre-backs as his team looks to build out from the back.
This time, he drops quite deep as the opposition deploy a relatively passive press.
However, his movement into the deeper area just beyond the opposition’s pressing forwards drags them slightly higher, creating space behind for another midfielder to drop into and receive from the centre-back on the ball.
Then, Barrenechea can move forward, making himself available for the receiver to link up with, giving the Argentinian the chance to receive while facing forward and play a line-breaking pass for a teammate positioned just beyond the opposition’s midfield line.
This is a typical example of how off-the-ball movement in central areas plays a vital role for Frosinone in the ball progression phase.
In another example, we see how Barrenechea intelligently escapes the opposition forward’s cover shadow to receive in midfield, giving himself the chance to turn and ping the ball out to the right-wing, continuing his team’s movement into the final third while disrupting the opposition’s settled defensive shape.
This is a crucial quality of the holding midfielder in a possession-based system, given their central role — both figuratively and literally — within their team’s system.
Barrenechea has shown excellent quality in this role from this standpoint in 2023/24.
Further upfield in the ball progression phase, we see a lot of movement all over the pitch.
Typically, we see Frosinone’s full-backs push forward, usually out wide but potentially via an underlap if the wingers opt to keep the width.
If the wingers come inside, expect to see lots of movement and positional rotations between themselves, the strikers, and the advanced midfielders.
In contrast, the centre-backs and holding midfielder remain deep.
Via their movement and rotations, Frosinone’s players aim to disturb the opposition players’ positioning and defensive organisation, creating space for either a free man to get on the ball or for a player to target via a run that could help them link up with the ball carrier.
Frosinone Calcio Chance Creation
This leads us to the third and final section of our analysis, the chance creation phase.
This is where those players who’ve found space via their movement can work their magic on the ball to try and score for Canarini.
A key player in this phase of play for Di Francesco’s side in 2023/24 has been 20-year-old Matías Soulé (182cm/5’11”) — one of the most exciting attacking prospects in all of Italy’s top-flight this term.
Like Barrenechea, the Argentina U20 international joined Canarini on loan from Turin-based giants Juventus for the 2023/24 campaign, having had minimal top-flight experience before — he has accumulated 536 minutes over 21 appearances for Juventus thus far.
Still, given his stellar performances for Frosinone, you can expect the attacker to remain a Serie A staple from here on.
Soulé has played 830 minutes (80% of his team’s available minutes) in the 2023/24 campaign, standing out as a goalscorer and chance creator.
The 20-year-old sits in the 88th percentile for xG contribution per 90, the 70th percentile for actual goal contributions, the 96th percentile for dribbles per 90, and the 95th percentile for dangerous passes per 90, just to name a few of his standout areas this term.
Here in figure 10, we’ve displayed his ‘winger actions’ from the 2023/24 campaign, including his heatmap, which shows the positions he’s primarily occupied, his dribbles (colour-coded by successful/unsuccessful dribbles) and crosses.
Indeed, the 20-year-old is a high-volume dribbler who can get between defenders while moving at high speed, carrying the ball with an impressive level of power.
Soulé is excellent at holding off defenders with his size and strength — commendable for his age, given the level he’s playing at and the physicality within the league — making him appear far more mature, both physically and mentally than his age would suggest.
Furthermore, Soulé has great agility in his locker, with a solid capability to turn on a dime and wrong-foot a defender, opening up a pathway for himself to drive through with the ball or create some space for a defence-splitting pass.
Figure 11 contains a lot of what’s so great about Soulé, making it an excellent example of his quality within Di Francesco’s side.
Initially, he attempts a defence-splitting through pass in behind for the striker to chase down, but that pass is intercepted.
As the opposition try to clear the ball, however, Soulé gets himself in position to regain possession in a dangerous position with his defensive work rate and energy coming in clutch for his side here while his teammates also counterpress to force the opposition into a rushed decision that allows Canarini a chance to get into the box.
After Soulé wins the ball back, he bursts off into the box, leaving the defender in his wake and progressing into a nice goalscoring position.
From here, the attacker demonstrates impressive composure, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way as he blasts the ball into the net via the tight angle at the near post.
Frosinone have excellent risk-takers in the final third; they rely on this, as any team does, to be the catalyst for turning possession into chances.
They’ve had few issues with doing that this term, and Soulé has arguably been Di Francesco’s star pupil in this regard, displaying many of the qualities — particularly in terms of his role — that Totti did within Zeman’s Roma side, though from the right rather than the left like the Italian legend.
However, finding space to receive and take defenders on with his impressive physical and technical qualities, cutting inside onto his stronger foot and contributing significantly in front of goal as a star player for his side are all ways in which Soulé under Di Francesco has emulated Totti under Zeman — though, of course, that comes with the massive disclaimer of ‘so far’ and ‘small sample size’!
Additionally, counterpressing has been one of the key pillars of Di Francesco’s tactical blueprint with Canarini this term; his team currently have the fourth-lowest PPDA (10.32) in Italy’s top-flight for the 2023/24 campaign.
This is made possible, of course, via the manager and coaching staff’s work on the training ground but also the players’ application and commitment on the pitch — something Di Francesco’s young team has displayed an excellent attitude towards.
Figure 12 demonstrates how Soulé has stood out for his ability to pull off subtle displays of off-the-ball movement in central areas to make himself an attractive passing option as his team tries to progress into a viable goalscoring position.
All of Frosinone’s attackers will display movement like this, but Soulé has undoubtedly thrived within this system as he’s been given the freedom to interpret the space around him, move as he feels is correct, get on the ball and create from the valuable positions entrusted to him by his team.
He loses his marker via some intelligent movement here, gets on the ball and pulls off a stunning lobbed through ball over the top for an attacker to meet and fire a shot at goal from a precious position.
Soulé loves starting wide but moving into these central positions, similar to Totti in 1997/98, from where he can create like a ‘10’.
Few players have created more than Soulé from these positions this term, demonstrating how Di Francesco has found a way to extract the absolute best out of this young playmaker within his system this term.
Conclusion
Maria Montessori once said: “The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist’”.
Okay, Di Francesco’s side aren’t exactly ‘children’, but they are the closest thing in Serie A this term!
Much of his squad, including the three players we’ve picked out as examples within this analysis, are young and relatively inexperienced.
However, they’ve been empowered and trusted by their coach to deliver for his team in high-pressure situations time and time again this term.
The roles we’ve analysed required consistent good decision-making, which Di Francesco and his team will have undoubtedly worked on continuously on the training ground over the weeks.
However, at the end of the day, it’s up to the players to show what they’ve learned and put it into practice on match day.
Despite their inexperience, Frosinone tactics are holding their own and exceeding expectations in Serie A this term — something all involved with the club, especially the manager, coaching staff and the young players themselves — deserve immense credit for.
Trust, exposure to high-pressure situations, risk-taking scenarios and the freedom to try and fail have all led to a fruitful environment within this team to date; if they continue as they’ve started, this season will go down as a highly successful one for Canarini.
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