For the first time in the country's history, Georgia have qualified for the Euros.
They finished fourth in their qualifying group behind Spain, Scotland and Norway, but because of UEFA's new rules allowing teams that performed well in the Nations League, Georgia were given a shot qualify via the playoffs. They beat Luxembourg and then Greece on penalties to make it to their first ever major international tournament.
Tactical Analysis
Rarely will you see Georgia build out of the back and when they do they are always dropping a lot of guys deep to try and aid in the build up. Most of the time, you will see them send the ball long from goal kicks, trying to win second balls or create transition opportunities.
One of the reasons why I think they switched to a 5-3-2 is because their main man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was playing left mid in the 4-4-2 and getting isolated. So, moving him to being in a two man striker combination helped them to simply get their best player into goal scoring situations.
When they had success breaking in transition, they continually were trying to switch the play to find the free man to create a 1 v 1 scenario and hopefully create a decent chance.
The main purpose of everything they do though is to get the ball to Kvaratskhelia and Mikautadze. Mikautadze was incredible for Metz this season in Ligue 1, scoring 13 goals over the second half of the season and giving Georgia another option when Kvaratskhelia gets double teamed.
In the couple of qualifiers, Georgia were in a 4-4-2 out of possession, but after getting beat 7-1 by Spain where the five man last line overload was causing problems with them trying to defend all of the crosses coming into their box, they switched to a 5-3-2 for the remainder of the qualifiers.
There really isn’t much talent on this squad along their back line or in the midfield in terms of ball stopping, which is a problem because of how passive they play. Georgia had the highest PPDA of anyone in the Euro field during qualifying at 19.3, so against the three teams in this group they are likely going to struggle defending.
data via WyScout
Final Verdict
Georgia are a bottom three team in this Euro field. They had the worst expected goal differential of anyone in the Euro field, but they aren't the least talented team because of Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze and their outstanding goalkeeper Mamardashvili.
The problem is they are going to face three teams that are not only a clear step above them from both a talent and tactical perspective, but the second they fall behind and have to come out of their defensive block, they are in big trouble.
Georgia are a significant favorite to finish at the bottom of this group, which I think is correctly priced. The way to approach them, in my opinion, is to fade them on an individual match to match basis.
Final Verdict: Pass
