Catenaccio - “door-bolt” - refers to a defensive style of play synonymous with Italian football; famed for defensive structure, organisation, and solidity, and birthed defensive icons such as Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, and Fabio Cannavaro.
Catenaccio
Catenaccio is a defence-oriented football ideology originating from Switzerland and, today, synonymous with the fabled history of Italian football.
Highly organised & disciplined
Strict man-to-man marking
Compact low-block
Direct in-possession
Player Instructions
Goalkeeper (Defend): None
Wide Centre Back (Support): None
Central Defender (Cover): None
Wide Centre Back (Support): None
Wingback (Support): None
Defensive Midfielder (Support): Hold Position
Wingback (Support): None
Central Midfielder (Support): None
Central Midfielder (Attack): Roam from Position, Move into Channels
Attacking Midfielder (Attack): Roam from Position, Move into Channels
Deep-lying Forward (Attack): Roam from Position
Defensive Balance
Earlier posts have highlighted the importance of balancing Team Mentality and Player Duty to establish a balanced Individual Mentality framework across the team.
Playing a Catenaccio style showcases balancing a Defensive team mentality with Support and Attack duties, giving mostly Cautious individual mentalities with a Very Defensive sweeper at the base of the defense.
This is essentially the inverse of earlier posts using Positive or Attacking team mentalities, balanced by Support and Defend player duties, retaining the same principle of avoiding extremes across too much of the team.
Readers not yet familiar with the concept of Mentality can read more below.
Defensive Solidity
Catenaccio is a defence-oriented system, ceding possession in favour of defensive stability.
Despite being one of the top-ranked teams at Euro 2024, Italy recorded only 46% possession, ranking 16th for possession amongst sides like Sweden, Poland, Scotland, and Serbia.
Italy dominated defensive metrics for clean sheets, tackles, blocks, and winning possession.
Defensive stability and efficient finishing edged Italy through the Euro 2024 knockout rounds.
Germany achieved 67% possession in the final, but only generated 8 shots and 0.47 expected goals, losing 1-0 to the defensively solid Italians.
Not the most beautiful football, but defensively solid and extremely difficult to beat.
Thank you
Thank you - as always - for reading and supporting my writing; I hope you enjoy and find something useful to take into your own games.
Catenaccio is a reminder that football extends beyond pressing and possession, showing beauty in defensive structure.
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