Defending against a narrow attack

This session is focused on finding a solution for the defensive problems caused by playing against a narrow attacking front four. It was specifically created as a tactical solution to help a team usually playing in a 4-3-3 formation to defend against a team who attack in a 4-2-3-1 formation with a front four that stays narrow and receives balls through the middle of the pitch rather than wide from the wings.

Through using this training session we reshaped the formation of our team into a 4-4-1-1, encouraging the centre backs to defend higher up the pitch and in a more compact manner. This helped the defenders to anticipate the initial pass into midfield and allowed them to track runners to cover any passes into the opposition’s creative players in that area. This made it extremely hard for the opponents to penetrate centrally.

POSSESSION WARM-UP

We set up a possession square of 10x10 yards. We’re using 12 players in the square, playing in a 10v2. The aim for the 10 red players is to pass the ball and keep possession under pressure from the two defending players, who press and try to force the passers to make mistakes, as shown [1]. If either of the two pressing players wins the ball, they should clear it  out of the area.

1

We play three games of three minutes with a different pressing pair each time.

POSSESSION GAME

We set up a playing area of 30x25 yards. We’re using 24 players split into three teams of eight. Two teams play against one another inside the area, with one team supporting from the outside of the area and playing for the team in possession.

The coach starts play by passing to one of the teams inside the area. They pass to try and keep the ball with the help of the outside players and under pressure from the pressing team.

If the pressing team wins the ball, they should quickly transition and become the new possession team, passing to try and keep the ball, as shown [2].

2

The two teams inside the area have no restriction on the number of touches they can take, but the players on the outside are limited to two-touch. We play like this for 90 seconds, before changing the conditions to limit the inside players to two-touch and the outside players to one-touch and playing for a further 90 seconds. We then change the conditions again, this time not allowing players to pass the ball back to the person they received it from and limiting the outside team to two-touch again. We play this for a further 90 seconds to complete the block.

After each block we rest for one minute and rotate the teams. We run each block three times in total, so every players gets a turn in each role.

TACTICAL PRACTICE

This activity is specifically designed to highlight and then remedy the problems created when defending in a 4-3-3 formation if the centre backs are too deep when playing against opponents who attack in a narrow 4-2-3-1 formation.

We set up a playing area between the penalty areas of a normal pitch with a goal and a goalkeeper at each end. The playing area is divided into thirds. We’re using 20 outfield players split into two teams of 11 including goalkeepers. We set the blues up in a 4-3-3 formation and we set the reds up as the opposition in a 4-2-3-1 formation, encouraging them to attack narrow.

We play a normal 11v11 game but to highlight the problems, for the first 10 minutes the blue centre backs aren’t allowed to go into the middle third. They are sitting deep and as a consequence they are encouraging the opposition to play the ball early into the midfield, inviting attacking players to run at them and being caught out by penetrating through balls, as shown [3a].

3a

After the first 10 minutes we explain to the players what has been happening. We then remove the conditions that stop the blue centre backs moving into the middle third and we now encourage the centre backs and full backs to play a much higher defensive line. We also ask them to track runs in midfield, making that area of the pitch more compact and difficult to play through, as shown [3b]. Additionally, we change the shape of the midfield three and the wide players, making it a narrow midfield four and now asking the team to play in a 4-4-1-1 formation.

3b

This change in tactic forces the opposition to go into less dangerous areas to receive the ball. It cuts down the space in front of the centre backs that teams playing with a narrow attack were able to exploit in the first part of the activity.