Masterpiece of David Alaba 1x1 Defending

Principles of Defending

 understanding of Delay, Depth, Concentration (Compaction), Balance, Discipline/Patience in the defending phase.

1. Delay - The ability to prevent the ball from being played forward quickly. A pressuring player needs to reduce the time and space of the attacker to prevent the ball being played forward. This is especially important when outnumbered to allow the team to re-shape to a loss in possession appropriately.
2. Depth - Reduce the space behind the pressuring player. Provide support in defence. These players do not provide pressure on the ball but instead support the challenging player. Their relative position to the pressuring player is dependent on the situation and part of the field they are supporting the player in. Defensive support is generally much tighter than attacking support.
3. Concentration/Compactness - The movement of players to concentrate into an area of the field vulnerable to scoring opportunities. Most teams generally drop on loss of possession and recover towards their own goal. Players should make runs back towards their own goal and goal side of the ball if desired.
4. Balance - In order to cancel the threat of mobility provided by the offense, balance is required by the defending team to retain defensive shape. Balancing is an extension of delay and support. Balancing players provide additional support. Be prepared to leave weak side attacking players unmarked to balance the strong side of the field.
5. Discipline/Patience - Defending players need to be patient and assess the risk involved in challenging for the ball. A well structured defending line can quickly become disorganized with one rash challenge. Players need to exercise control and restraint and re-adjust their shape to changing scenarios. Players also need to be alert to their surroundings at all times (switched on!).
6. Predictability - Defensive movements should encourage/force the attacking team to play into certain areas of the field. Channeling play into particular well defended areas or less important areas of the field makes play predictable and increase our chances of regaining possession or decreases goal scoring threats.

This is David Alaba........not your usual Lateral Esquerdo!

Defending Outnumbered

Costa Rica Vs Greece

5v2 and no goal! 

Good defending or poor decision from the attacking side?

Let me know your thoughts!

Effort IS NOT negotiable!!!

Tevez -Work Ethic

For all the trouble off the pitch, he offers you this!!!

Liverpool Diamond shape out of possession

Brendan Rodgers

Impressive the way that Liverpool work without the ball. The transitions/recovery process  make them a really threat with the pace and skill from their strikers. Notice Ballotelli defending the Tottenham Full back and how hard Ryheem Sterling work without the ball!
Is it enough to  win the barclays premier league? I think he will need to have a plan b for when they play against teams that sit down and defend deep. But there will be plenty of goals this season!!!

Liverpool- Diamond shape in possession!

Brendan Rodgers 

Coach the players to know the game, not only the position they are used to play.

"I have to pay attention to the way my teammates play, even the left and right back or the center backs, because you never know what is going to happen in the game"  

Said Gaitan in an interview to Record

«Thats right. The game is CHAOS. And it does not mater the space or position that you usually play. Modern structures are organized in a way that every player in the right context have to play in "unfamiliar situations". The demand, this way, is that every player has to know the global way of the structure, so that they can relate to each other in every moment, without putting in risk the stability of the organization.»

A while ago, a reader questioned us, in a very smart way, what would be the "road to take" in order to put in play the game principles in the begining of the season. «I think the argument is: would it be better to work on sectorial and intersectorial behaviour, where every player plays their role and just their role, or should we make the entire squad know all the positions in their sector.»

The way we think is « On the other side, if we really want to teach, if we really want that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.. we have to teach the game, not the position. The player has to understand what he does, and why he does it, he should not play "by heart".»

The way, for us, should be, teaching the game the way it is today. If in a game, in a certain point, every player pass through every position in the pitch, then... in the begining of the season (first oficial match) they should know how to behave (in a simply way) accordingly to the zone in the pitch where they stand at the moment, and of course, relating to their teammates. In the end, they should behave the way the game asks for. That is knowledge of the game.

In the video, Coutinho did not realized that, for that moment, he was a left back. And if he did realized, he does not know how a left back should behave in that (apparently simple) situation. 

(You can also see this in portuguese, here)

Zonal vs Man versus Man

Did you asked for drama? Gunners and Spurs win in the last minute

Drama begins today they said...

Here it is.

Eric Dier in his debut. Poor controle of the defensive line, should have been in sync and Dier would either be offside or if they have taken a two steps back (in a line) they would have resolved the problem. Late winner for the Spurs, using a player that was not even in the first eleven in his last club

and Ramsey, also in the last minute. Arsenal played his usual passing game, with good positional play but lacking speed circulating the ball. Its not about how much you run, its about moving the ball faster in order to create problems for the defensive organization of the oponent.

Manchester United changed from night to day, with much much less crossing than the year before, but still lacking consistensy. Mata wins new life in this kind of playing style and United fans can expect some exciting games. With 2/3 more weeks we will be able to see if their deffensive organization is better than the Nederlands in the World Cup. It has to be.. otherwise.. no trophys for the United fans. 

Let the drama begin!