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Tatics
Introduction to Tactics [19 Jun @ 9:41am]
Tactics are an important part in any game of football and the game at grassroots level is no different. We all like to see children’s teams playing football the right way by passing the ball around and getting lots of touches. These principles should be taught in training and carried onto the pitch on match days.
3-5-2 [19 Jun @ 9:43am]
Introduction This is a great formation to play if you have the right type of players. It can be a fantastic system to pass the ball in, as it lends to forming triangles all over the pitch. A number of professional teams have adopted this way of playing over the years, with Glenn Hoddle being a great advocate of this formation in his time as Swindon and Chelsea manager. The use of a sweeper and wing backs allows the team to really spread out and make the pitch big when in possession of the ball. This makes it very difficult to play against if you have players who are comfortable on the ball and can pass it well. The only real weakness of this set-up is that you can get exposed in advanced wide areas, behind your wing backs, especially when your wing backs start to tire as they have a huge workload in this system. Attacking This is essentially a passing formation. The keeper will always look to roll the ball out to either the sweeper or one of the centre backs to start the attack. Once the sweeper has possession of the ball the two centre backs will spread to give him/her two options. Your sitting midfielder will come short for the ball, giving your sweeper another option. Your sitting midfielder is the ‘prober’ . He/she must be a good passer and possess a good first touch, as the play will be going through him/her the majority of the time. When the sitting midfielder is allowed to turn he/she will have a number of passes available. The two more attacking central midfielders will be giving depth to the shape by advancing behind the opposition’s midfield. If playing against the standard 4-4-2 formation, this will give you a number of advantages. First of all, you will outnumber them in the middle of the park and therefore, someone will have to engage the sitting midfielder at some stage. This will lead to one of your attacking midfielders being free and it is this situation that you wish to create. When you can move the ball to your spare midfielder, he/she will be able to run at the back four and either look to shoot or slide a ball through to one of your forwards. Your wing backs are crucial in this formation and they need a lot of discipline and intelligence when playing in this position. If your sitting midfielder is on the ball and the opposition have decided to play ‘tight’ in midfield and to bring their wide men in to combat your three central midfielders, then the wing backs are the favoured ball. If the ball is played out to the right wing back then you do not expect the left wing back to be bombing down the left side as this will leave you exposed. The left wing back will take up a supporting position by staying wide and watching as play develops. You will have two attacking midfielders and two forwards who are capable of making the box for any crosses, so it is important for the wing backs to conserve their energy by simply taking up a position so that, if a cross is over hit, they are in the vicinity to pressure the ball or even retain possession. If the right wing back does not make any headway down his/her side then you can switch play effectively if the left wing back is in a position to receive the ball wide. You expect your forwards to play as a pair. This means one of them dropping short to help with the build-up play while the other may offer a run in behind. Always alternating these runs will make life hard for the opposition and will give your midfielders plenty of options. Encourage two- and three-touch play in this system. This will get the players into a rhythm that will create the habit of moving and creating space for themselves and their teammates. When your players know that the centre midfielder is looking to pass in two touches they will make sure they are available. The same goes for the sweeper. If everyone knows that he/she is going to have two/three touches they will provide the angles and movement necessary to make this happen. Defending When defending in this formation it is essential to get the balance right with the wing backs. When attacking down one side of the pitch, the wing back on the opposite side should not be fully committed to getting in the box but should be hanging wide and anticipating where the ball may go. It is as if he/she is playing as an advanced full back, which means that you are essentially playing with a back four. To get this balance right is fundamental to the defensive side of this set-up. To use all the advantages of having extra players in central midfield areas, and to have the advantages of wide players, you must be solid at the back otherwise you will be exposed. The uncertainty of playing with three at the back is often what puts coaches off playing this way. If you can get the wing backs playing in a disciplined fashion then you will be always attacking and defending in numbers. If play breaks down and one of your wing backs cannot make up the ground in time to defend, one of the centre backs will fill-in for them as a defensive full back. The other wing back will also play as a full back, while the sweeper becomes one of two centre backs. When playing against the standard 4-4-2 formation your sitting midfielder will push up onto one of the opposition’s centre midfielders. One of your other central midfielders will sit back and pick up the opposition’s other central midfielder. This will leave you with a spare midfielder who will look to shut the opposition’s full back down. With the wing backs dropping off, it is one of the midfielders' job to shut an advancing full back down. The two attacking midfielders will alternate this job depending on which full back has the ball. Always show the full back down the line as he/she will have no options to pass to. The opposing wide player will be marked by your wing back and your defenders will be picking up the forwards. Up front, you expect your forwards to shut the central defenders down and put them under pressure. Their job is made easier by the assistance of the spare midfielder shutting down the full backs. Overall, this can be a very effective style of play if you possess the right players and they are coached the right way to defend and attack in this system.
4-3-3 or 4-5-1 [19 Jun @ 9:42am]
Introduction This formation is becoming a popular system in the professional game, especially when playing away from home, as it provides a very compact midfield that is hard to break down and, at the same time, is a great system to counter-attack with. You will often find teams at grassroots level adopting this system, but for very different reasons. Due to the nature of football at grassroots level you will find the ball going long a lot of the time with the midfield less involved, so the three forwards prove useful when looking to pressure and challenge the back four with a solid three in midfield looking for the second ball. Attacking The flexible nature of this formation makes it popular as there are many variations to the layout of your players within this system. When attacking it is essential that your wide attackers provide the width while your three central midfielders provide depth and angles for the back four to utilise. With an extra player in the centre of midfield when playing against a 4-4-2, it is important that you feel comfortable passing into the midfield. Therefore, you should play three people who are comfortable on the ball in the midfield positions. The lone striker has to be good at holding the ball up as this will be necessary when building any attacks. It will give the team time to support the play, especially if it has been played up to the front player with a long ball. The midfield shape should consist of one of the midfielders coming short to offer an option while the other two stretch the opposition’s midfield by taking up advanced positions, preferably behind their midfield. This causes problems for the opposition as someone will have to shut down the deep lying midfielder if the defender decides to pass it to him/her. If the deep midfielder is shut down, this should leave one of your other midfielders free. When the deep midfielder is shut down effectively, the ball can simply be played back to the defender for him/her to try to find the spare midfielder. This is the basis of drawing the opposition in to create spaces behind them. When the deep lying midfielder is not shut down then he/she can simply turn and face the play and look to attract a player to him/her before passing it off to a teammate. Both full backs should provide width when the team is attacking and they should make themselves available whenever the ball is played into midfield. The more options the midfield players have the more confidence they will have to receive the ball. The front player must always be looking to face up and provide a link for the midfield to play off, unless the ball has been worked well through the middle and the midfielder is running at the back four. In this instance, the forward must look for a ball in behind so that the midfielder can slide him/her in for a shooting opportunity. Defending When defending in this formation you have two options - to press and shut down the opposition or simply sit back and let them try to break your shape down. Both of these options are effective, depending on your situation in the game. If you are looking to chase the game when behind then the aggressive pressing tactic is suitable. If you are defending a lead then sitting back and keeping a solid shape could prove more beneficial. To shut down aggressively your two wide forwards should press the opposition full backs and preferably show them inside towards the bodies in midfield. For this to be effective you will need your full backs to be fit and brave by backing up the wide players and pushing up within tackling distance of the opposition's wide midfielders. Your three central midfielders will mark man-for-man in the middle, with the spare midfielder pushing forward to support the wide forwards in their pressing. Your centre forward will be marking one of the centre backs. This will leave the opposition with few options to pass to and, hopefully, you will regain possession once the ball has been hit long. To sit back and keep your shape, you will do the opposite from the aggressive pressing game. The two wide forwards will sit back and pick up the opposition's two wide players, allowing their full backs to have the ball. If the full backs advance to the halfway line, this would be a good time to start to engage the defender. Once the wide forwards have pushed onto their full backs, this is the cue for your full backs to push onto the opposition’s wide midfielders. In central midfield you will be man-for-man, with a deep lying midfielder not marking anyone but screening the back four by playing roughly 10-15 yards in front of them. Any ball played into the opposition’s front men can then be challenged by this player. Your back four will have to play reasonably deep, but not too deep, as there will be no pressure on the ball when the opposition full backs have it, so they cannot afford to play too high as these players will have time to pick a pass. Your centre backs should be ready for any ball played in the air or any ball played in behind. Your centre forward will be dropping off so that any opposing midfielder that wants to come short for the ball will be challenged by this player. All in all, this will be a hard formation to break down when sitting back and defending solidly. Individual errors cannot be accounted for, but it will take a well-drilled side to break down this formation if applied correctly.
4-2-4 [19 Jun @ 9:41am]
Introduction This formation is very rarely used in the professional game unless it is adopted in the final few minutes of a game when searching for a goal. However, at grassroots level this can be a very effective formation to use as the defenders you will be playing against will find it hard to cope with the four up front. The very nature of this set-up suggests a direct approach. With four front players, the focus is to get the ball up to them as quickly as possible to put pressure on the opposition’s back four. The idea of this very attacking formation is to force mistakes from the defenders and to pressurise the goal as much as possible. In the professional game it is rarely used as it leads to being overrun in midfield and good defenders can cope in one-v-one situations. At grassroots level it can prove to be a very effective way of playing as the defenders are not as adept at dealing with one-v-one situations and they tend not to take advantage of the weakened midfield. Attacking When attacking with this system, it is essential that the two centre forwards give depth. One forward will come short to feet, while the other looks for the long ball over the top into space. Both wide men will be advanced and can try to find a position between the opposing wide midfielder and full back. The idea is to make it difficult for the full back to mark you as he/she doesn’t want to be dragged too far away from their centre back. At the same time the opposing wide midfielder doesn’t want to be forced all the way back to his/her defensive line as it will result in both midfielder and full back doing the same job and marking the same player. Both central midfielders will match up in midfield against the opposition’s two central midfielders. Their job will be to pick up any second balls from the attackers and to support the forwards if they manage to bring the ball down. Your defenders will be looking to pass up to the four front players as quickly as possible. It will be very difficult to play through the midfield due to the lack of numbers in that section of the pitch. However, it is always worth passing into the centre of midfield if it drags the opposition’s midfielder out of position and consequently makes more space for the front men to get hold of the ball. Your central midfield player will simply pass it back to the defender for him/her to then play up to the front man. If your central midfielders are fit enough it can be worth one of them gambling, occasionally, to see if they can get the wrong side of their marker. They will not be picked up by the opposition’s back four because they are all occupied with the front players. This is a good tactic to use, especially if you have a tall striker who wins flick-ons on a regular basis. This will give the central midfielder the confidence to make that run without fear of being caught out if the header is not won. Tricky and skilful wide men are handy in this system as they will be one-on-one with their markers all the time and, if they have the measure of their marker, they can be devastating in this position. Regular crosses into the box are difficult to deal with at any level and will result in goals. Defending You will have to be very disciplined and astute at the back when adopting this tactic as you will be put under pressure, especially on the wings. Fit full-backs are ideal for this system as they can get out to the wide men and make up for the lack of orthodox wide midfielders that this formation lacks. When one of your central midfielders has gambled and the play has broken down it still leaves you with five players to get past before they can get at your goal. When you have been caught on the break in this fashion then it will require your back four to drop off and remain compact and tight. The opposition’s wide midfielders are not so important in this instance and it is important that your full backs do not venture too far away from the centre backs as you do not want to create any holes for the opposition to exploit. Your remaining central midfielder will try to stall the advance of the attack by staying central and trying to force the play wide. All four front players will be pushed onto the back four when the opposition’s keeper has the ball in his/her hands. This will force the keeper to go long. If the opposition’s keeper is confident enough to try and throw the ball out to the wide men then you will expect your wide forward to back track and put some pressure on the player. It is essential your centre backs are comfortable in the air as they will be having a lot of long balls to deal with. As the ball goes long, your two central midfielders will be dropping back towards the back four so that any second balls from the centre backs are within distance for them to make a challenge. Overall, this tactic is used when chasing a game and looking for a goal. However, this way of playing can be used from the start of the game and can be very effective at grassroots level as it puts a lot of pressure on the opposition’s back four which, more often than not, will result
4-4-2 [19 Jun @ 9:43am]
Introduction The tried and trusted 4-4-2 formation is the most common formation seen in the UK and one that most players have been brought up with. The solid four at the back and the four midfield players are a firm favorite, especially with UK coaches as it is a safe and trusted way of setting up your team. A successful 4-4-2 formation is helped by good quality wingers with pace. This is a given in the professional game but not so available at grassroots level. However, there are some very good tips to get the best out of your players in this set up and to get the team all thinking on the same wavelength when defending and pressing. A well organized team at grassroots level creates a massive advantage in any fixture. Attacking The basic principle in any formation is to make the pitch big when you’ve got the ball and compact when in search of regaining possession and defending. When attacking, the wide midfielders should give you width and the two central midfielders should give you depth. This will give your defenders options when looking to pass and automatically create the angles you want when looking to retain possession of the ball. Depth in the central area of midfield means one midfielder coming short to offer an option for the defenders and the other looking to take up a more advanced position to really stretch the opposition. The advantage of the positioning of the advanced midfielder is that if the ball does go long, he/she is in a position to support the play. The two attackers should be split to cause the opposition to think. One striker should come short to offer a solid base to hold the ball up while the other striker should threaten to get in behind the opposition’s backline. Both movements give the team options and this is what you need to successfully utilize this formation. The full-backs need to offer width as well as the wide midfielders. The full-backs are often the ‘outlet’ for the team when playing 4-4-2 as they are usually unmarked so it is essential for them to have the confidence to get wide and offer that option, especially, to the midfield. You will find that the midfield will have more confidence the more regularly the full-backs provide this option, as it is an easy get out ball if the midfield is under pressure. Defending When defending in a 4-4-2 formation it is essential to keep a compact shape between the midfield and the back four. This means having a small distance between the midfield and the backline. The tighter the distance, the less chance a team has of getting in that advantageous position of being on the ball, behind the midfield, and running at the back four. Good communication and a desire to defend is required when creating this compact block of eight. The opposition cannot harm you when they are playing in front of you. The centre backs are expected to deal with any long balls by winning their headers and the compact shape should lead to a midfielder picking up the second ball, or at least competing for it. If the opposition are good enough to feed the forward to his feet, the compactness of this shape should lead to the defender pressuring the ball from behind and the midfielder pressuring the forward from the front, just waiting for the forward to mis-control the ball. This pressure should lead to a challenge or a turnover in possession. When a ball does find its way through to the opposing forward’s feet it is a good tester to see if you have the distances right between defence and midfield. Ideally, by the time the ball reaches the forward, a midfielder should be within tackling range after the forward's first touch to control the ball. A bad touch should provide an opportunity to regain possession. If the opposition’s back four are passing the ball about, the front two should apply pressure on them. This should, eventually, force the opposition to pass it into the midfield or long to the front two, where the compactness of the team will prove it very difficult for them to find a way through.
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