Tactical Analysis

What to look for

to become

a tactical analyst

Published; September 2014 Stevie Grieve/@StevieGrieve StevieGrieve@hotmail.com

What do I look for when analysing Attacking Tactics?

• Formation as a starting point

• Patterns of play

• Common movement patterns

• Lines of play

• Circulation/Penetration/Width/Rotations

• Positioning and ‘Uniqueness’

• Controlling transitions before they happen

• The attacking ‘process’

Build Up Play – Starting Positions

• Shape in possession, normally a clear indication of which formation is used

Roma 4-3-3 Arsenal 4-2-3-1,

Bayern 4-2-3-1, Chile 3-2-3-2

• Look for circulation patterns

• Look for something ‘Unique’ or new

Starting Positions

Roma’s full backs stay slightly deep while the midfield control the play. Florenzi and Gervinho stay high on the sides while the full backs are used as wall players who stay behind the ball in most cases.

Pjanic controls the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 midfield rotations with Di Rossi and Strootman, who rotates with Gervinho on the left side

Starting Positions Bayern’s Full Backs – Alaba and Rafinha are rarely as wide as Guardiola used Abidal and Alves

Alaba and Rafinha are ‘pinched’ and play in ‘half spaces’ between the centre and touch lines, specifically to pass straight between wide midfielders and lateral central midfielders and have a wider outlet.

This position is also for quick defensive transitions after the ball is lost – less distance (around 10m) to recover to position than from a wider position

Starting Positions Chile’s wing backs are very advanced, trying to push forward to force back the full backs, freeing up some space for the lateral centre back to advance with the ball in possession.

Both CF’s stay close and only split wide if the AM can break through with a late run, keeping the CB’s narrow with the WB’s 1v1 on the side.

The deepest midfielders control possession and try to find the WB’s 1v1 and then support wide.

What can we tell from the formation?

• We can tell where the players will reshape to if possession is won and the ball is passed back to the defensive line or GK

• We can see where players movement patterns come from

• We can see who rotates and where to

• We can see if players are in ‘orthodox positions’ or not – Bayern; Full Backs ‘pinched’

Analysis; Patterns of Play

Patterns of Play

Barcelona 2010

Villa & Pedro; Wide-Centre Runs

Iniesta and Messi positioned on the inside, pull wide when Pedro and Villa move inside to occupy 4 positions across the defensive line between the lines and on the defensive line

Barcelona ‘Bowl’ front 6

Villa and Pedro out side to run diagonal inside between full back and centre back offering passes from all angles

Alves on right and Abidal or Alba high on left to stretch the defensive line

Messi plays as a ‘false 9’ between the lines and is unmarked

Iniesta drifts between midfield and attack

Barcelona ‘Bowl Attack’

The idea was to place 3 or 4 players centrally between the lines, to either leave the full back free, high on the outside to stretch the defensive line, or for the full back to be picked up and leave one of the lateral attacking midfielders free on the inside between the lines.

With 6 players high but no CF, they could overload and penetrate quickly via Messi/Iniesta dribbling & passing or Villa/Pedro running behind the defence.

Analysis; Movement Patterns

Common Movement Patterns

Arsenal v Liverpool 2013/2014

Arsenal v Liverpool

• Play in the zone directly infront of the lateral centre backs in the back 3

• Draw pressure and exploit the space behind

• Rosicky moves inside when in possession to play 4v3 in midfield then drift wide to press

• Giroud occupies far side CB

• Gibbs stays deep on left to play 3v2 on counter v Sturridge and Suarez

Adapting to opposition tactical change

• Liverpool adapted the cover the space with a deeper defensive midfielder to play 3-4-1-2 instead of 3-3-2-2

• Arsenal reacted with placing Ozil and Giroud on the near side CB to bounce 1-2s and try to overload the same zone

• Rosicky would play deeper to make late runs or incase the 1-2s were unsuccessful

Transition Management

• Borussia Dortmund are the best team in the world at transition management – each attack is planned, movements are rehearsed

• In the event of transition, players are positioned to counter-press or get back into an organised 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 block

• Transition Management is shaping the team to be ready before the event of a likely turnover of possession ie from a direct ‘vertical’ attack

• When starting a counter attack, the players must still be aware of the possibility of losing possession and must move in a way that allows the attack to deal with becoming the defensive team

• Normally, a 4-2 or 3-2 block allows for transition coverage

Tactical Analysis; Lines of Play

Lines of Play

Roma 2013/2014

Lines of Play

Positioning and movements off the lines in the build up phase Most top teams use 4 or 5 clear lines of play for positioning in possession

Lines of Play

Positioning and movements in the Penetration Phase

Roma

• Totti likes to drop off and play as a ‘false 9’ in the penetration phase, as his pace isn’t as effective as his vision or passing ability

• Roma like to play quickly through the lines with regularly 2 runners ahead of the ball

• Always look to penetrate through the back 4

• Gervinho is regularly left 1v1 from a switch of play due to his incredible burst of speed

Tactical Analysis; Circulation/Width/ Penetration/Rotations

Width in attack via

the wing backs

with CM Rotation

Chile 2014 v Spain

Rotations

Example of players changing position from the starting point to move to new areas, allowing other players to occupy a different position, moving the opposition players into new positions to create spaces to attack into

Barcelona Left side Iniesta and Alba Rotation

• Iniesta starts wide and likes to drift between the lines or dribble inside

• Alba recreates the width on the left

• Alba likes to overlap to attack on the blindside

• Iniesta likes to play 1-2s and look for diagonals

• Iniesta moving inside often overloads 5v3 in the centre with Messi as a ‘false 9’

Chelsea Rotations Hazard, Oscar & Willian

• Hazard is free to move between the lines and drag full backs with him to create wide space

• Central AM is allowed to make diagonal runs wide to drag away marking DM or overload on the side with the wide AM

• 3rd man passes when possible

• Luiz covers behind rotations to counter-press

Adapting to Opposition Tactical Instructions

• Agger is following Hazard, stopping him from turning regularly

• Agger is now faced with Eto’o in his zone, so needs to react fast and decide to stay with Eto’o or follow Hazard

• Lampard plays outside of Lucas, stopping him from covering Hazards receiving zone

• Willian makes centre-wide runs to drag Lucas

Penetration / Playing between the lines

Occupation of the space between the opponents midfield and defensive lines, allowing for penetration to expose the back 4 through eliminating the midfield

FC Porto

• Porto exploited the 3v2 advantage in central midfield with the #10 between the lines

• If the direct pass wasn’t available, a wide player would tuck in and offer an alternative pass.

• Once between the lines, they always had runners to offer passes behind the defence

Tactical Analysis; Positioning and ‘Uniqueness’

Bayern Munich;

Pep Guardiola

2013/2014

& 2014/2015

Playing in the Consolidation Phase

• Overloads in central midfield (3v2/4v3/5v4)

• Targeted attacking

• Specific zone occupation

• Keep the ball until you can go forward with the receiver able to continue the attack

Overloading Central Midfield

Bayern Munich

Half Space occupation to occupy the full back, leaving the outside space free, providing the opportunity to draw the opponent narrow to advance around the outside and stretch the block

Wide Zone Overloading

Ensuring that when the ball is wide that the ball can be retained, drawing over more defenders, using a ‘rondo’ to exit the area and attacking the spaces created from drawing opponents over

Playing in the Penetration/Finishing Phase

• Positioning in/around the box

• Transition cover

• #10 Movements

• Patterns of play

• Targeted attacks

#10 Movement

Movement to drag away the #6

‘Central Winger’ Run

• A run made by a central attacking midfielder into a wide position, normally marked, creating space in the centre

• If unmarked, it leaves a 2v1/3v2 on the side

• Used commonly by players who like to play in wide areas but are marked closely by FBs

• Can be used just to drag away a DM to leave space for the far side winger to move inside

• Often found via a 3rd man pass unmarked

Dragging Away the DM

• When man-marked by the #6/DM, drifting wide will open up space if marked, or leave the #10 free if unmarked

• The run doesn’t have to be a sprint

• Different type of movement to the central winger run who will be found on the touchline

• Used by players who are found between the lines and are closely followed

Creating Space

Movement to score from a cross with 2 up

Pizarro and Mandzukic

• Playing over a tight defence can be a way to beat the defensive block

• Very difficult to find space as a 1, so often 2 or 3 players will need to move to create enough space to lose a marker and be free

• Muller makes a run to the front to Koscielny • Pizarro makes a similar run, drawing both CB’s

narrow, opening a space • Muller rotates slowly back to where he started

before attacking the space created when the cross can be made

Attacking ‘Processes’

The idea of using the ideas of the opposition against them to exploit the spaces left.

This can mean allowing the opponent to press by holding onto the ball or passing to specific areas to then attack a specific space which may be left open

Provocation

Passing the ball into an area which will trigger the press from a specific player ie the full back, resulting in space being left behind the pressure allowing for a runner to attack the space behind

Another way of doing this is to continually place the ball into an area with runners around a weak opponent and stress him into mistakes

Using the opposition Game Plan against them

When you know what the opposition will do when the ball is in various areas, you can use this information to work around it, exploiting the opponents game plan to work to your advantage

Valencia v Benfica

• Benfica’s CMs always press when slow in possession

• After the press, the ‘10 would drift to the blindside to offer from the FB

• They knew space was available between FB and CM – wide AM’s drift inside to receive

• If both CM’s pressed, the ball was passed down the line then inside to hit the space

Specific Targeting

This may be where a team attacks in a way that stresses an opponent that after several attacks, mistakes will be made and the attack will find a way through to have a chance to score.

Example – 6ft 4 winger v 5ft 9 full back

Target for high balls, flick ons and runners from all angles to attack the flick on

What do I look for when analysing Defending Tactics?

• Formation as a starting position

• Block Height

• ‘Special’/specific player marking/overloading

• Compactness

• Pressing triggers and traps

• Defensive flexibility

• The defending ‘process’

Starting Defensive Formation

Teams defend in different shapes;

Narrow, wide and variable blocks

Some teams attack in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 but defend 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 to provide more organisation in midfield to protect the back 4

Atletico Madrid

• Very rigid 4-4-2 block, often 4-4-2-0

• Occasionally 4-1-4-1 if the far side DM arcs round to cover between the lines while a CF will drop or go wide as the WM tucks in

• Very, Very Compact on the side of the ball when possible

• Minimal space between the lines available

• Each player covers a specific zone and player

Roma

• Normally a 4-2-3-1 but sometimes a 4-1-4-1 depending on Strootman’s position

• If CB drifts to HWL with ball, he will close down the space and block passing lane to the player he leaves behind

• Block very narrow, leaving sides open to press

• Wide players block passing lanes from CB – FB

• Happy to deal with long balls to CF from CB

Defending in deep areas

How do teams change shape or prioritize defending specific areas when the ball is in the final 3rd?

Roma; Defending the centre in the final 3rd

• Wingers or Strootman in wide position cover the outside of the LB

• Di Rossi often drops between CBs to make a 5

• Back 4 within the width of the penalty box

• 3 CM’s make a triangle infront of the CB’s

• Minimal space between players, 10m max

Defending from wide positions

Will the defence stay as 4 or become a 5 or 6?

Does anyone drop into the defensive line?

Zone coverage

Man coverage

Who closes down if the FB is beaten?

Which zone is the GK responsible for?

Who deals with a cutback, and which player?

Mourinho’s Porto 2004

• Defending in the final 3rd centrally

• They ensure there are 3 players across the 6 yard line

• 1 player covering zone 14

• An equality or overload on the side

• A transition player for when possession is won

Dealing with a cutback

• Players retreat to defensive position but communicate to show which player is responsible for a player who can receive

• Is the attacker left or right footed?

• Which angles can be passed to

• Covering zone 14

• Defensive midfielders positioning

• Blocking passing angles

Moving out as a group

The full defensive line must be aware that when they push out, the attack may try to beat the offside line with a blindside run and a quick pass over the top of the defence.

All defenders must be aware of movement around them, especially 3rd man on the blindside, diagonal wide-centre runs and when passing on markers who drift across the line.

Ajax’s wingers are very deep, making a back 6

Playing Offside

What triggers could exist for playing offside?

Pressure on the ball

Only 1 pass available

Attacker unable to see the defensive line

Centre Back Leaving The Unit

Should only be used with tight cover around the pressing CB

Narrow Midfield and Wide Defence

Madrid v Barcelona used a wide defence to deal with the common switch to the winger, while the midfield 4 became narrow to play 4v3 in central midfield, enticing the full backs forward to the 2 strikers and wingers could exploit the space on the counter attack

Midfield Defending; Central Areas

• Play equal or +1 in the centre when possible

• Wide players track wingers/full backs

• Full backs tuck in to make narrow back 4

• Defensive line can look like a back 6

• Compact spaces between the lines

• Directing play one way or back when possible via positioning and body shape

Midfield Defending; Wide Areas

• No more than +1 on the side

• Use touchline as extra defender

• Don’t allow penetration in 1v1

• Direct play away from centre diagonally

• Double up when a turnover is possible via an agreed ‘pressing trigger’

Man-Man in central midfield 3v3

• A lot of teams now play 3v3 in central midfield and will mark man-man to stop teams playing through the centre, forcing play wide to where they can press the opposition with the touchline as an extra defender

• I feel that the next ‘evolution’ will see more teams using a pentagonal midfield to counter teams using a diamond

Defending Throw Ins

A lot of teams compact the area around the ball and attempt to man mark, while some teams like Atletico Madrid and Dortmund, offer a pass to a specific player and ‘trap’ the player to be pressed from all angles in an attempt to win the ball back from the throw in

Block Height & Width

• High of 1st player pressure

• Compactness between lines

• Distance between deepest & highest defender

• Distance between players

Marking the #6

Zonal Marking responsibility

Directing play away from the ‘Axis’

Cutting the field in half

Compactness

• Horizontal (from the side)

• Vertical (between lines)

• Triangulation

• Man-Marking Responsibilities

• Covering spaces behind pressure

Horizontal Compactness

• Players play very close to each other when the ball is in the wide area

• Intensity in pressing to regain in wide areas

• Directing play back to where it came from or backwards

• Leaves team weak against a switch of play

Vertical Compactness

• Minimal space between the 1st defender and last defender (less than 32m)

• Ready to press any forward passes

• Ready to cover behind the pressing players

• Normally combined with directing play inside

Pressing Triggers/Pressing Traps

• Directing Play

• Offering space for passes/dribbles

• Co-ordinated movement to press

• Flooding zones to overload & regain

• Making play predictable via ‘directing play’ and covering the space behind

High Pressing Man-Man

• Equality in pressing numbers

• Responsibility for 1 man

•Discourage short passes

• ‘Unique Pressing’

Deliberate ‘Mis-Placed Pass

A pass made to an opponent who can be double pressed to eliminate and re-attack the space

Zonal Flooding • Offering wide passes by starting

narrow then sprint wide in groups • ‘Triggering’ the overloaded press • Using the touchline as a defender • Often regaining possession via

predictability via Man-Marking and mass overloading (+2,+3)

• Players ready to cover the ‘exit’ spaces

ANY QUESTIONS?