What we've seen & what we've learned from Tedesco's Bologna pre-season
New Bologna head coach Domenico Tedesco has a formidable reputation, but lacks a defined tactical signature. In different teams, he has implemented different approaches. I liked the take from Zerocinquantuno columnist Nicola Tagliavini: whereas he usually titles his pieces "I Saw," after the news of Tedesco's appointment he wrote "I Don't See Yet."
In short, like us, Tagliavini decided to wait a bit before drawing conclusions.
If you ask AI about Tedesco's tactics, the word "chameleon" will appear roughly 183,000 times in the response — a characteristic given to those specialists who tend to adapt to the opponent.
During preseason, nothing "chameleonic" was visible. Tedesco played a certain way in both the first and last friendly matches.
We'll take the match against Brighton — the final summer friendly — as our reference.
Build-up
The first major difference from Italiano: the new coach prioritizes the center of the pitch over the flanks.
Ideally, Bologna maintains the initial 4-3-3 formation, where the three midfielders position themselves with the point downward: a 1-2 setup.
The buildup starts from the goalkeeper, who looks to play a short pass to one of the center-backs. From there, the center-back — ignoring the full-backs — looks for a central option. Situations where Bologna's attacks initially, in their infancy, go through the flanks are practically ruled out.
Two scenarios unfold here: the first — if the holding midfielder is initially in open space.
The second — if the opponent presses aggressively; in that case, one of the midfielders comes to help the holding midfielder, most often Bernardeschi.
When the first scenario is successfully executed, it's the midfielder who delivers the ball out to the flank. The screenshots below show a successful execution of the first scenario.
Without the ball
The wingers narrow, dropping from wide positions closer to the center of the pitch. Bernardeschi positions himself underneath the striker, initially not participating in defensive maneuvers.
Bologna's position is one of waiting. The pressing, which will be discussed in the next paragraph, will certainly be activated, but at this stage the Bologna players cannot actively use it, as the physical loads — which, according to all witnesses, were significant during this preseason — take their toll.
Overall, it can be stated with certainty that there is a shift away from man-to-man pressing toward zonal defense. The team blocks zones and funnels large numbers of players to where the ball is. The screenshot below shows how compactly Bologna defends: overloading the zone with players to prevent the opponent from having even a second to make decisions.
Attempts to control such situations in preseason often led to unpleasant scenarios. Bologna, guided by a reluctance to recklessly dive into tackles on their own half, often had to drop very deep.
To protect their penalty area, the team keeps a large number of players there. It looks completely unglamorous; this aspect needs fine-tuning.
Pressing
Bologna played opponents who are, for the most part, one step ahead because they start their seasons earlier than the Italians. It's hard to say whether this particular selection of sparring partners was the right choice. We can count patterns, but we cannot say with certainty how quickly Bologna will adapt to the new demands and absorb the tactical instructions of the new staff.
In any case, the pressing has changed significantly, now manifesting only when the opponent is in their own half. In this instance, Cambiaghi pressed Brighton's center-back, the English side lost the ball, and Bologna — via a pass from Bernardeschi, who had picked up the ball — launched an excellent counterattack and created a massive chance.
The flip side of aggressive pressing in the opponent's half, as usual, is the danger of losing positional shape. For the new Bologna, which strives for compactness and rationality, this is akin to death. The example below shows how El Azzouzi got overly committed to the tackle, and how Hellan, who was covering for him, failed to intercept the pass. Brighton exploited the advantage and launched an attack with a quick ball to the striker (off-camera).
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The aforementioned Nicola Tagliavini, who was present at the training camp in Valles, notes Tedesco's manic attention to detail. By the time the team came out for training, all the training zones were demarcated, all the equipment was laid out, everything was ready.
The players were divided into two conditional groups: defense + attack. The holding midfielders — Moro, Badori, and El Azzouzi — trained with the defenders. This was done so that the players would gel as quickly as possible and fulfill the Mister's requirements during the build-up.
The flip side is a certain isolation of the attacking group, which was visible in the friendly matches. Over time, obviously, as fitness levels improve, there will be a merger, and the puzzle will come together.
For now, it can be stated that Bologna is entering the season with new ideas, but it will take time for them to be successfully implemented. This is a normal process for a team with a new coach, so let's arm ourselves with patience.