Forward Defending

Unlike a previous blog entry which covered a predominantly defensive 1-3-1 formation to simply stave off a strong attacking threat; the following looks at the different approaches required to be taken depending upon the positional preference of the personnel, but ultimately playing to win. In this case the preference is defence.

So, you’ve registered a new team. You’ve got your players together. You’ve made a note of the essentials; player’s names, mobile numbers, and weekly availability. Then when it comes to the most important managerial question “Which position do you play?” problems can sometimes arise. Ideally you’ll be given a broad spectrum of replies “versatile defender / defensive midfielder”, “wing-back / attacking winger”, “attacking midfielder / striker”. However sometimes a shared self opinion of one’s limitations can sometimes come in the reply of “just stick me at the back”; and suddenly you realise you’ve signed a team of centre-backs use to playing route one football with a skill-set that extends to hoofing the ball the length of the pitch.

Although at this time, as manager, you may now wish you’d done a little more pre-season scouting before you embarked on assembling this seemingly very one dimensional outfit; by simply applying the correct tactics you can at least assign your defensive players to alternative yet still effective positions other than patrolling in front of your own area.

We’ll take it as a given that you have had a willing (or reluctant) volunteer to don the gloves and go in goal. Ideally they’ll possess the skills needed for Small-Sided Goalkeeping (which we may cover in a later blog), but at the very least you’ve now got one less position to worry about.

For those that have read the earlier blog on the 1-3-1 formation (An Effective Formation for a Struggling Team) will have hopefully taken on board that although those players were playing in the positions that they needed to be in, it wasn’t to suggest that any of the players were highly skilled in any of the roles or indeed much suited to them. It was merely the most effective team system to employ with the safest formation to avoid being on the wrong end of a cricket score.

Taking the scenario that we are presented with a team full of defenders, we can already safely assume that at least a couple of the outfield positions at the back are taken care of as the correct positions are being occupied by players with the correct skill set. This is because these players are suited to those roles. But to ask a defender to play ‘up front’ and to give him the instructions of “take people on, use your pace and to try get a goal out of something” may not be advisable. This is not because our defender is playing in a far more forward position than they are use to, but because they would be trying to play the role of the ‘attacking forward’. In this sense they are not suited to the role that’s being asked of them.

What Manager and Player need to remember in this case is that although being deployed in an “attacking” position, the player is not an attacker and we want to make as much use of his defending skills as possible. Here we are using him in the role of a Defensive Forward.

The term and role may be nothing new to the modern day 11-a-Side footballer. Many attacking players at the top level who possess precise passing, good finishing and generally a keen eye for goal will also have the ability to competently fulfil defensive responsibilities from the front. This may be as little as closing the opponents defence down and minimising their space to as much as chasing and battling for the ball until possession is won (the latter would be typical of Park  Ji-Sung or Carlos Tevez).

Player A, B & C are examples of advanced defending roles

The above diagram demonstrates how Player A is closing down the space. He’s pressing the opposition high up the pitch in the final third making it harder for the opponent’s defenders to create passing options for one another. The situation that the blue “left back” finds himself under is one of constant pressure. Player A, rather than picking up another man and taking away one of the blue “left-back’s” passing options or standing off between “left-back” and a fellow team mate anticipating the pass and trying to intercept, he instead goes and closes down the opponent, in this case at a very opportunistic time being as he is in the corner. Although it’s still possible for the “left-back” to find another outfield team mate to pass to, with the tight angle that our Defensive Forward has now created, the odds wouldn’t favour his pass finding someone. The blue’s options would be to hit and hope down the line where maybe he does have a very skilled forward of his own to get it under control or at worst the balls goes out for a kick-in; try and win a kick-in off Player A; or utilising his precision passing and fire back to the safety of his Goalkeeper. The flip side to these three options is that as none of them our guaranteed they may all end in our defensive yellow team winning possession. The long ball may find a yellow opponent. Attempting to play it off Player A, if he controls it well, can be handing possession to Player A and allowing him to turn and run with the ball. And finding ones Goalkeeper can be especially tricky if playing in a 6-a-Side League that implements the Area Rule (Goalkeepers are not allowed out of the area and no outfield players are allowed in the area). If this pass isn’t exact and is instead played just half a yard in front of the area, with the Goalkeeper powerless to intercept, it opens up a chance for a yellow opponent to pounce on the opportunity and have a shot on goal. Affectively, in this scenario, Player A has indirectly created a goal scoring opportunity for his side without even touching the ball. This has all come about with Player A pressing high up the pitch, closing down the space, putting the opponent under pressure and forcing him into making the mistake. This is our most forward defender’s role; to harry the deep lying blue players. His other role, but this can depend on his size and build, is to hold the ball up and bring others into play. Presuming it’s a defender whose frame is what you would expect of a typical centre-back, he would be ideal to receive a lot of ‘Route One’ long balls from the Goalkeeper’s throw. It’s not through skilfully slick passing or patient build up play, but the desired effect of getting the ball up top and keeping it there for at least a little while would favour our Forward Defender getting it under control rather than it would a small skilful striker. Once he’s held it up, he can look to release it to any team mates who have pushed on into the opponents third of the pitch and allow them to have a pop at goal (this would be much the same way in that England and Liverpool used Emile Heskey).

Then we have Player B who will play an almost lost-art of a defensive role, the Sweeper. When most hear the term ‘Sweeper’ they think of the classic sweeper from years gone by who would play in behind the two centre-backs and clear up any danger. The Modern Advanced Sweeper instead sits in front of the defence protecting the defenders (much like the Makelele Role) but also can slot into that back line when others have pushed forward (in which, currently, Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets is revolutionising this role).

Finally we have Player C. It seems that more often than not my own team comes up against a team who in terms of man to man we can sometimes certainly match, but there’s always one who simply plays us off the park (or Astroturf in this case). There always seems to be one player of outstanding quality who has had the whole team built around him. He’ll drop deep, he’ll bomb forward, and he’ll take people on and unleash a thunderous shot or provide that killer pass and put it on a plate for his fellow team mates to score. All attacks go through him. This player is going to be Man Marked out of the game. In a sense it’s giving Player C licence to roam around the pitch but only in that he must roam where our opponent’s star player chooses to roam. Sometimes the most skilled player can be the most athletic player and the game will be an exhausting exercise for our Roaming Defender. However, as much as he won’t be able to prevent every pass or every attempted shot from the opponent, his job will be to simply make a nuisance of himself for the duration of the game. Track the opposing player around the pitch and limit his creative freedom. It will too be a frustrating game for Player C as he will not be in a position to receive passes or indeed be too much involved in play. But if he’s persistent and doesn’t neglect his role at the temptation of getting involved in play himself he’ll be able to neutralise (as much as possible) a big part of the opponents attacking threat.

The Forward Defensive roles will not do much in terms of achieving many numbers in the ‘Goals Scored Column’, but it does offer other positional options for a team full of defenders as opposed to playing ‘5 at the back’.