The defence looks over exposed and unable to cope with a fast, attacking side. It looks like it will struggle, particularly against a side with good wingers. Going forward it doesn't seem to fare much better looking flat and lacking in options.
Formations are often viewed in a simplistic way by the man in the pub. No serious tactician looks at formations like this: 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-3-3... these are just numbers. If these numbers aren't important tactically, what is? Briefly and far from extensively:
1) How the team reacts to losing the ball.
2) How the team reacts to winning the ball.
3) How quickly the team can go from defense to attack.
4) How high the defensive line is kept.
5) Movement off the ball.
There are many more important submodalities but these are a very good start. Alex Ferguson has spoken about the biggest shift in tactics over the past decade being the importance of crunch moments. These are what happens when a team wins the ball. Teams in the Premier League tend to attack and defend as units. Pasquale Marino of Udinese said this weekend, "systems only count to a degree as the important thing is the approach you take".
You used to be able to tell a players position, as in rugby, by his size. Wingers were leggy and fast, centre backs were big and bulky, strikers athletic etc. Now players builds are becoming homogenised (although they are unlikely to ever become quite identical) as more is being asked of players in every position. Mourinho's strikers have extremely taxing defensive duties and Wenger's centrebacks can be found lurking on the edge of the box.
So. 3-5-2.
This is what we look like when the opponents are attacking. Our wide players aren't truly midfielders as the '5' in 3-5-2 would suggest. If they can be categorised it is as wingbacks. They provide protection from opposition wingers. Their status as forward looking players rather than traditional fullbacks pins opposition wingers back. Under 11 teams don't play with attacking fullbacks a la Maicon or Evra so we can be sure that our wingbacks will not only provide cover for our defence but also give their midfield something to think about defensively. Our wingbacks play within ten yards of the line of the ball so they are happy to roam up and down.
This has implications for the type of player that can play at wingback in this formation. Firstly he must be physically fit. The ball goes up and down a lot over the course of a game and the wingback must keep up. Our left wingback could run all day. We change our right wingback a couple of time over the course of a game. He must also be tactically astute. Because of the way we attack we expect our wingbacks to think first about defending and then about attacking. In any event our left and right centrebacks are extremely capable at covering.
Next we have the defensive midfielders. One of them must always provide cover to the defense. This means when we lose the ball we immediately have someone to pressure the ball. Our wingbacks will be tracking back with their midfielders so unless they break very quickly we should always have a centreback spare. In this diagram the player who has lost the ball is our ball playing No 10:
Their player has four options available to him. Whichever of the three available passes he makes, the ball will be contested by one of our players. Pass to their winger and our wingback will cover, pass to their spare midfielder and our holding midfielder will be straight onto him, and pass to their striker and our defender has him covered. Alternatively he may try to run with the ball space to encourage movement from his forwards. This is the most dangerous option. It is imperative that the player he has lost the ball try to win it back immediately. In this case it is our no 10. Delaying the attack by even just a few seconds will prove crucial as it is the job of our spare defensive midfielder to stop him. He will charge across the moment the ball is lost to prevent him moving further forward. It is thus vital for him to be extremely athletic. Fortunately we have a fantastic player in this position whose surging runs forward and sheer athleticism put in mind Vieira at his best.
As the team gets older this formation will become susceptible to enthusiastic fullbacks he might well create 2 on 1 situations on our wing, especially if our wingbacks are caught out of position in an offensive area.
Next we have the ballplaying midfielder. The No 10. Aside from his role in giving the defensive midfielder a precious few seconds to make up ground, he is vital in relaunching attacks. When we win the ball back it is him who our players will first try to hit. He must have and indeed does have the ability to play properly weighted through balls. He must have an intimate understanding of the runs of our star striker. He is faster than any defender in the league so doesn't have to risk being offside and it puts less pressure on our playmaker. Opposition defences will be prone to balls over the top once we win back possession. With two passes we can go from defence to attack.
If they have committed their fullbacks to the attack as in the diagram then not only is the ball over the top an option but a 3 v 2 overload. The second striker is a Heskey type who can receive the ball make 5 or 10 purposeful yards, protect the ball before playing off to out speedy striker or the playmaker.
It is of course possible that one or neither of their fullbacks will be committed to the attack. In this case the ball over the top is still an enticing option. Regardless, if they will only ever attack with 6 men then we have a psychological edge on them.
It is also possible that the player who wins the ball will not be able to hit our playmaker. The players are drilled to look for him and the playmaker is constantly moving to find space and make the pass as easy as possible on whoever is likely to win the ball. However that will not always be possible or one of their fullbacks might mark him (a curious thing to happen but nonetheless possible). In this case the direct ball over the top for the speedy striker is an option. In the diagram above the left wingback or either defensive midfielder might try this. The right wingback or one of the holding midfielders might try to find the support striker, who is very good at holding up the ball (he has good strength). He can then run with it, feed the speedy striker, pass to the playmaker or knock it back to one of the surging holding players.
If all else fails or there is panic then the players are to hit the wings. At worst you will concede a throwin.
With the ball we look to pass and move. The crucial link is the playmaker. He has the best vision and execution.
He should always have 5 passes available to him plus the dribble. This is good from an attacking point of view. This attacking shape means the other side has to have 6 defending players turned on and doing their job. This is rare. Our playmaker knows he can hit either wing, set our speedy striker free or play short to the supporting striker. Failing these he can run himself. As a last resort he can pass sideways to our Vieira style midfielder who is exceptional at driving forward with the ball. With good movement we will destroy teams. We do. Look at this diagram:
The black line represents a run he can make. Clearly positive. Once he's at the edge of the area the other team will need to commit more than one man to block the shot freeing up, in all probability, our star strike to his left. Failure to do so and he has a monstrous shot. U11 goalkeepers will struggle to deal with a high shot. If this isn't on then he has several options. I love to see kite shapes on football pitches. They are beautiful as they provide at least two options for the player with the ball. The red lines represent the balls he can play. The emphasis is on moving right here. The midfielder who starts with the ball can hit all three players. Ideal as he has the best view of the game, facing goal. The support striker can also find three players. He is strong enough to hold up the ball and watch the runners come towards him. It will take very good marking to contain all three players runs. If the Vieira style midfielder gets on the ball any closer to goal then he will shoot. Our speedy striker will be watching, waiting for any rebound (again, likely if he shoots high).
If the opposition is committing a lot of players to defending on that side then it is possible to switch play to the left. Unless the defending team have 8 or 9 players back they will struggle to contain us.
Earlier I mentioned several factors which are more important than the generic formation numbers. These can be summarised as two factors. Firstly what I shall call the team block. This is how high up the attacking line is and how high up the defending line is and, importantly, how close they are to each other. We are happy to play quite deep to limit the impact of speedy wingers. We are also excellent at counter attacking (turning defence into attack quickly) so this system works well for us.
The second important factor is what is happening to the 3 or 4 people closest to the ball. These are the most important players. Our team has many many options. We achieve this by having wingbacks that provide security in defence and an overload in attack. Two such players with great tactical versatility are vital for the success of this tactic.
With it we have won 5 and drawn 1. Pretty good.
1 comments:
Great article Thank
you so much!
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