Chapter 474 - 80 — One Point From Germany II

Saturday evening, several players gathered around the television in the dining area after dinner rather than any formal meeting, following the live score from Bari.

Italy were already ahead of Malta by the second half, the game never seriously in question.

Bonaventura opened it, Berardi added two either side of the break, Frattesi finished it off late — Italy winning 4-0, moving to ten points level with Ukraine, still three behind England going into Wembley.

Nobody in the room acted surprised Italy had won comfortably.

What held their attention was how Italy moved once the ball reached the wide areas.

Demien watched the midfield react the instant possession shifted right, Barella and Frattesi both adjusting their positioning before the ball had even traveled.

"Frattesi keeps starting deep and finishing his runs inside the box," Rice said, half to himself. "That’s not a coincidence, that’s a pattern."

"Barella’s all over the second ball," Bellingham said. "Every loose one near the middle, he’s already moving toward it before it lands."

"Cristante barely joins any of it," Phillips said, watching the defensive midfielder hold his position while the other two surged forward. "He stays underneath the attack instead of chasing it."

An England assistant coach passed behind them with a laptop under one arm. "We’ll have the clips ready for tomorrow morning," he said, and kept walking, no lecture attached to it.

The television cut to a studio panel discussing Italy’s buildup, a graphic noting that Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo had been formally notified of a betting investigation at Coverciano on the 12th, both released back to their clubs after the federation judged them unfit to be involved in the upcoming matches.

"Dominated a fair bit of their week, by the sound of it," one player said quietly.

Nobody added anything crueler than that.

Demien’s attention had already gone back to Barella’s positioning, because Tuesday wouldn’t care about any of it.

Sunday, October 15th, the first full Italy session began inside the analysis room, the projector already showing Italy’s expected shape.

ITALY (EXPECTED 4-3-3)

Donnarumma.

Di Lorenzo — Udogie.

Acerbi — Scalvini.

Cristante.

Barella — Frattesi.

Berardi — Scamacca — [wide attacker, unconfirmed].

"We don’t know the exact eleven yet, forty-eight hours out," Southgate said. "But this is close enough to prepare against."

He started the clips with Italy’s midfield rather than their front line.

Cristante received under pressure and moved it quickly into Barella.

Barella turned right.

Di Lorenzo overlapped immediately outside him.

Frattesi kept running past both of them into the penalty area rather than waiting.

"They don’t need a winger to give them width," Southgate said. "Di Lorenzo and Udogie both push on aggressively from fullback. That means our wide players can’t switch off just because the ball’s gone central."

He moved to a second clip, Scamacca dropping toward midfield, letting Barella and Frattesi run beyond him into the space he’d vacated.

Then a third clip, Scamacca staying pinned between the center-backs, waiting on a fullback delivery instead.

Demien watched both versions twice.

His job couldn’t be chasing every midfield runner forward — Rice and the center-backs needed clean handoffs whenever Italy rotated like that.

"If Barella drops and Frattesi attacks past Rice, whose runner is that?" Demien asked.

Southgate tapped the board rather than answering in words first. "Rice owns the central striker lane," he said. "You track whoever enters your right-side zone until a defender’s in position to take over. Don’t guess — hand him off clean."

The next clip showed Italy’s press — Barella and Frattesi stepping onto England’s two deepest midfielders, Scamacca angling his run to cut off the easiest return to the center-back, Cristante holding behind rather than joining the first wave.

"That leaves a pocket if we can reach Jude," Southgate said. "But it’s there and gone fast."

Southgate moved the intended stronger unit onto the tactical pitch.

Pickford.

Walker.

Stones.

Maguire.

Trippier.

Rice.

Demien.

Foden.

Bellingham.

Rashford.

Kane.

"First tactical unit," Southgate said, not looking up from his sheet. "Not Tuesday’s team. Kalvin, you’re rotating in."

Phillips nodded from the sideline, already stretching.

「EURO QUALIFIER PREPARATION MISSION ACTIVATED」 「MISSION: Control Italy’s Midfield Rotation」 「Identify 3 Italian Pressing Triggers」 「Complete 6 Pressure-Release Actions」 「Stop 4 Third-Man Midfield Runs」 「Create 3 Entries into Bellingham or Kane」 「Reward: +25 TP」 「Bonus Objective: Maintain the Right Defensive Channel」 「Bonus Reward: +10 MP」

Stones played it into Demien to start the first repetition.

The simulated Barella jumped from the front immediately.

The simulated Frattesi closed the return lane toward Rice.

Demien saw Bellingham open behind them both and tried to force the pass before the lane had fully opened.

Cristante’s simulated marker stepped across and cut it out.

The reserve Italy side broke forward instantly, transitioning toward England’s right before Demien could reset, and by the time he’d sprinted back the simulated Udogie was already attacking the space behind Walker.

Walker delayed him just long enough for Demien to recover inside and smother the cutback.

Southgate blew his whistle.

"Not about taking risks generally," he said. "Italy want the second pass, not the first one. If Barella presses you, Cristante’s sitting there waiting for you to force the obvious ball behind him. Don’t give him that."

Restart.

Demien received from Stones again.

The simulated Barella closed.

This time he opened his body on the first touch, sent it back to Stones, and moved outside the pressing midfielder rather than forcing anything through to Bellingham.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」 「TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED」 「First-Touch Set — RARE」

Stones moved it on to Walker.

Demien received Walker’s return beyond the first Italian presser.

Cristante started closing.

Demien released into Bellingham before the lane shut.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Andrea Pirlo — Deep-Lying Playmaker」 「MISSION PROGRESS」 「Pressure-Release Actions: 1/6」 「Entries Into Bellingham/Kane: 1/3」

Bellingham turned and drove at the simulated line.

Kane peeled off the center-back, received, and shot.

The goalkeeper got down and saved it.

Another repetition, Italy’s pressure shifting.

The simulated Barella refused to follow him deep this time.

Demien carried the ball forward instead.

Frattesi shifted across to cover.

Demien shaped toward Bellingham, then switched it toward Foden on the right.

Foden took it against the simulated Udogie, but the defender got across and blocked the inside route.

"They’ve got answers too," Southgate said, mostly to himself, watching it back.

Defensive rotation work came next, the simulated Di Lorenzo overlapping on England’s left.

Rashford tracked him at first.

Barella received centrally and switched the ball wide.

At the same time, Frattesi broke beyond Demien toward the box.

Demien started toward the ball, caught himself, and followed Frattesi instead.

The cross came from the opposite side.

Demien reached Frattesi before the runner could get a clean first-time strike and used his body to block the attempt.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「N’Golo Kanté — Everywhere at Once」 「MISSION PROGRESS」 「Third-Man Midfield Runs Stopped: 1/4」

No teleport to it, just recognition and recovery speed — Demien had seen the run early enough for his acceleration to matter.

Phillips rotated in for several repetitions, Demien watching from the sideline with Rice still on the pitch.

Phillips didn’t fail at anything.

He simply stayed closer to Rice than Demien had, didn’t carry through the first press as often, and was already positioned near Italy’s simulated third-man run before it fully developed.

England progressed more slowly on one possession with him in.

But the shape held tighter once the ball was lost.

Demien watched without irritation, because the difference wasn’t about who had better numbers — Phillips gave the structure security that didn’t depend on recovery speed at all.

When Demien came back on, Southgate changed the requirement.

"Rice steps to Barella when Italy receive centrally now," he said. "Demien, you’re the temporary holder behind him."

First attempt — Demien stayed too tight to Rice and let the simulated Frattesi receive behind both of them.

Southgate stopped it immediately. "Too close. You collapse into him, you’re not covering anything."

Second attempt — Demien dropped diagonally instead.

The pass toward Frattesi came.

Demien read it and stepped across before the midfielder could turn.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Ball Winner」

He won it clean and sent it straight into Kane.

Kane laid it off to Bellingham.

Bellingham carried through the exact space Italy’s midfield had just vacated.

「MISSION PROGRESS」 「Third-Man Midfield Runs Stopped: 2/4」 「Entries Into Bellingham/Kane: 2/3」