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Subject: Tactics for Newbs, Pt 1 - Defending
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Nin [del] to
All
Starting with the blatantly obvious, defenders are there to get in the way, kick and be a general pain in the arse to the opposition forwards. The key to defending as in real life is positioning and organisation. Your defenders will therefore be useless if
A) They’re not where the oppositions forwards are (Positioning)
B) They’re not where the ball is (Positioning)
C) They’re static when they’re needed (Organisation)
I’m going to address all these issues.
A) This is probably the most common mistake and the biggest fault. No matter how many forwards the opposition have you should always be looking to outnumber them. You can not do this if your left and right backs are too far forward.
YOU MUST HAVE A FLAT BACK LINE
I hope I made that clear. Having a flat back line means the opposition cant just place their forwards wide and behind your left and right-backs, leaving you 2 on 2.
IF YOU DON’T HAVE A FLAT BACK LINE YOU WILL SUFFER
If you should choose to have a 3 man defence like I do this is even more important. If you play the backs too wide, it’ll be your central defender against however many forwards the opposition choose He will be outnumbered and you will lose.
Your defenders should never be so far from each other that a player could run between them.
IF YOU CAN DRIVE A BUS THROUGH YOUR DEFENCE, THEIR PLAYERS CAN GET THROUGH TOO.
The only time your defence should not be in a straight line is when the ball is wide and one of them needs to pick it up but I’ll get to that later. Otherwise….
YOUR DEFENDERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE FLAT AND CLOSE TOGETHER
B) Ok a slightly more difficult thing for the defence to do is to anticipate where the ball is going to be played. It’s still not complicated though. If the ball is on the left, even if it’s in midfield, the defence should move left slightly to cover the space. It means even the slowest left back doesn’t have to cover half the length of the pitch if the ball goes down near the corner-flag. It’s all about preparation. Remember at all times though
YOUR DEFENDERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE FLAT AND CLOSE TOGETHER.
C) This can be simple and a bit more difficult and it works in two ways. One concerns your attack and the other concerns your defence.
To start with the attack it basically means that when you are in the oppositions half, your defence aren’t still stuck on your box chatting to your goalkeeper. They should be pushed up IN A LINE AND TOGETHER towards the halfway line so there is not a huge gap between defence and midfield and so the opposition cant counter you and have half the pitch to themselves. That’s the simple part.
The defensive part is slightly more difficult. Once the ball is in your penalty area having a flat back line is no longer any use to you. You defenders will have to cover wherever the ball is. This means spacing them out in order to cover as much space as possible. Ideally there should be 2 players near the ball and 2 players in dangerous areas to kick away and loose balls.
The third aspect to this is when the ball is wide. You should have 1 defender positioned out wide to stop the cross and 2 or 3 players in the box to deal with the cross if it comes in. Having your defenders on the line of the penalty area when a cross comes in is no use to you. Since when does anyone cross to outside the box?
And how do you do all this I hear you cry. Like this
http://www.youtube.com/v/ZSZgw-xYK_Q
Watch it and learn. It’s not complicated. You have 35 areas for the ball to be in, this means you have 35 positions you need to set your players up for.
Click on tactics
Select a formation
Rename it where is says “Create new tactics based on”
Pick the ball up on the pitch, place it in one of the 35 spaces
Move your players to suitable positions
Repeat for all 35 positions
Click Save
And it’s done! Then all you have to do is select it when you’re selecting your team.
And as if I haven’t helped you enough I’m even going to show you what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/v/xrO0OJKMnWg
This is not the complete tactic but it’s pretty much what I’ve explained and should give you an idea.
A) They’re not where the oppositions forwards are (Positioning)
B) They’re not where the ball is (Positioning)
C) They’re static when they’re needed (Organisation)
I’m going to address all these issues.
A) This is probably the most common mistake and the biggest fault. No matter how many forwards the opposition have you should always be looking to outnumber them. You can not do this if your left and right backs are too far forward.
YOU MUST HAVE A FLAT BACK LINE
I hope I made that clear. Having a flat back line means the opposition cant just place their forwards wide and behind your left and right-backs, leaving you 2 on 2.
IF YOU DON’T HAVE A FLAT BACK LINE YOU WILL SUFFER
If you should choose to have a 3 man defence like I do this is even more important. If you play the backs too wide, it’ll be your central defender against however many forwards the opposition choose He will be outnumbered and you will lose.
Your defenders should never be so far from each other that a player could run between them.
IF YOU CAN DRIVE A BUS THROUGH YOUR DEFENCE, THEIR PLAYERS CAN GET THROUGH TOO.
The only time your defence should not be in a straight line is when the ball is wide and one of them needs to pick it up but I’ll get to that later. Otherwise….
YOUR DEFENDERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE FLAT AND CLOSE TOGETHER
B) Ok a slightly more difficult thing for the defence to do is to anticipate where the ball is going to be played. It’s still not complicated though. If the ball is on the left, even if it’s in midfield, the defence should move left slightly to cover the space. It means even the slowest left back doesn’t have to cover half the length of the pitch if the ball goes down near the corner-flag. It’s all about preparation. Remember at all times though
YOUR DEFENDERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE FLAT AND CLOSE TOGETHER.
C) This can be simple and a bit more difficult and it works in two ways. One concerns your attack and the other concerns your defence.
To start with the attack it basically means that when you are in the oppositions half, your defence aren’t still stuck on your box chatting to your goalkeeper. They should be pushed up IN A LINE AND TOGETHER towards the halfway line so there is not a huge gap between defence and midfield and so the opposition cant counter you and have half the pitch to themselves. That’s the simple part.
The defensive part is slightly more difficult. Once the ball is in your penalty area having a flat back line is no longer any use to you. You defenders will have to cover wherever the ball is. This means spacing them out in order to cover as much space as possible. Ideally there should be 2 players near the ball and 2 players in dangerous areas to kick away and loose balls.
The third aspect to this is when the ball is wide. You should have 1 defender positioned out wide to stop the cross and 2 or 3 players in the box to deal with the cross if it comes in. Having your defenders on the line of the penalty area when a cross comes in is no use to you. Since when does anyone cross to outside the box?
And how do you do all this I hear you cry. Like this
http://www.youtube.com/v/ZSZgw-xYK_Q
Watch it and learn. It’s not complicated. You have 35 areas for the ball to be in, this means you have 35 positions you need to set your players up for.
Click on tactics
Select a formation
Rename it where is says “Create new tactics based on”
Pick the ball up on the pitch, place it in one of the 35 spaces
Move your players to suitable positions
Repeat for all 35 positions
Click Save
And it’s done! Then all you have to do is select it when you’re selecting your team.
And as if I haven’t helped you enough I’m even going to show you what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/v/xrO0OJKMnWg
This is not the complete tactic but it’s pretty much what I’ve explained and should give you an idea.
Anyone got something to add before i post it in all the 2nd division forums?
Great article !
on my mind is:
if your defenders are slow or your opponent§s strikers are fast(er), dont push them forward, just leave them sitting 1 or 2 positions in front of the box.
if you do have fast defence and you are attacking and you know your opponent is not dangerous on the wings (you know when you watch their games) it may give you a very good advantage to puth your wing back 1 or 2 positions forward. But only when you are attacking and the ball is way on the opponent's half.
worthy of a special part in you Sokker education series is defending throwins as many goals are conceded/scored after throwins.
(edited)
on my mind is:
if your defenders are slow or your opponent§s strikers are fast(er), dont push them forward, just leave them sitting 1 or 2 positions in front of the box.
if you do have fast defence and you are attacking and you know your opponent is not dangerous on the wings (you know when you watch their games) it may give you a very good advantage to puth your wing back 1 or 2 positions forward. But only when you are attacking and the ball is way on the opponent's half.
worthy of a special part in you Sokker education series is defending throwins as many goals are conceded/scored after throwins.
(edited)
Great article.... however there should have been something about having your defenders in a line and together in it imo, just a thought :)
I was trying to keep it basic. It's long enough as it is without getting into proper tactical details.
I'll start work on the Part 2 soon enough.
I'll start work on the Part 2 soon enough.
right you are, now that i see it i agree the way you put it covers the basics without making it too complicated or long.
Cheers for that - some interesting advice there
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