Tag Archives for " Tactics "

0 Stopping Bayern’s Positional Play with Man-Man Marking

By Stevie Grieve

Pep Guardiola a main exponent of ‘positional play’ (or ‘Juego de posicion’ in Spanish) and uses a system based on overloads via occupying multiple defenders, occupying specific spaces, creating overloads and spaces to attack into whenever possible, and looking for ways to turn 11v11 into a 2v1 or 3v2 by placing players in areas where a zonal defence can be exploited.

A common feature of this is positioning a player in a pocket of space between the lines and in particular in the channels between wide and central players while between the lines. If a defender comes out of his zone to press, this leaves a gap for another to move into, and often de-stabilizes the defence for a few seconds, which is often exploited and leads to scoring chances.

If a player is unable to receive in any position, often they will only stay there for 2-3 seconds then make another quick run; the position will be interchanged with someone else, and the defenders have the decision – mark or stay in zone. The attackers regularly rotating positions causes confusion and often leads to Bayern overloading 2v1 or even leaving someone 1v0 in a dangerous area against the defensive line.

With the regular movement and occupation of several defenders with 1 or 2 players, this frees up players in defence or midfield to overload, gain control of the centre of the field then force the defence deeper.

Playing against positional play with a zonal defence is a job which requires a well drilled team and have the ability to deal with playing 3v2 or 4v3 in wide zones, but

7 Organizing Small-Sided Teams - Part I

There are many books and dvds that discuss the different formations that can be played in the 11v11 game but I haven't seen that much discussion about how coaches organize their players when playing 6v6 or 8v8. While there are some areas that use 7v7 and 9v9, the former are the two most common formats for young players in United States.

Players that are U9 and U10 generally play 6v6 I'll focus on this post. I'll discuss the 8v8 format that U11 and U12 players progress in next week's blog.

It could be that this subject isn't discussed often because the focus at this age is on players developing their skills.  This is true but they also need to learn how to play the game and understand the responsibilities of each position.

I keep it very simple most of the time with the

1 Schalke Controlling the Channels v Real Madrid

By Stevie Grieve

In the Champions League encounter between Schalke and Real Madrid, Schalke played the their usual deep 5-3-2 formation adopted by Roberto Di Matteo since he took charge earlier in the season. They normally play quite passive and only engage to press in numbers, specifically in 3v1s in the channel or when there is a good chance of a regain and particularly 2v1 against the touchline.

Schalke blocking Real Madrid’s channel attacking zone

As Kroos, Isco on the ball, Ronaldo and Marcelo are in the same strip of field. Schalke are able to control any forward passes, so Isco elects to dribble with no

2 Congestion on Chelsea’s Right Side

By Stevie Grieve

In the recent Champions League match between PSG and Chelsea, Chelsea set up to play compact and defensively with an emphasis on counter-attack, with a high prioritization with blocking PSG’s left with lots of players on that side of the field, with Willian, Cesc, Ramires and Ivanovic all regularly defending on that side against Maxwell, Matuidi and Lavezzi.

Normally, Costa would go to help and Matic would drift over to provide cover for the right side incase PSG broke though and exploited the space, while PSG would often send over Verratti and Cavani to provide extra bodies to try to find an overload.

Consequently, this means that often 8-11 players would be found on one side and within ¼ of the field or less, resulting in Chelsea blocking the vertical attacking actions PSG were looking for on the right side with Maxwell and Matuidi giving left sided balance and crossing opportunities.

PSG Tactical Alteration at Half Time- 3-4-3 with Switches to free Maxwell and Matuidi

In the 2nd half, instead of playing directly into the

1 Supporting the Striker

Small-Sided Game - Supporting the Striker By Sean Pearson Area: 45x30yards Players: 10 Teams: 2 Length: 20-25mins This game has 3 zones. 2 end zones (10x30) and a middle zone (25x30). 1 striker and 1 defender allowed in each end zone and the defender must stay behind the striker. Everyone else in the middle zone. Each

10 Messi’s New Position at Barcelona

By Stevie Grieve

Despite the criticism of Luis Enrique this season, he has made an improvement on the work by Tata Martino last season, by re-introducing a pressing game and adding an aggressive offside trap, while finding a way to play the front 3 of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar. Earlier in the season, Luis Suarez and Messi failed to connect with enough regularity so Enrique had to find a solution; change Messi from being the false 9 and instead play Messi in a right sided free role with Suarez central.

Obviously, having Messi on the side and not in the centre would make him less effective, so to allow him to drift inside and have Suarez occupy several defenders, there has been a newly formed right sided triangle created with the occupation of the wide zone rotating between Messi and Rakitic, with Alves playing slightly deeper due to his declining physical prowess.

Normally, we will see Ivan Rakitic as the right sided central midfielder, with Messi as a

0 Marseille under Bielsa - Attacking from Wide

By Stevie Grieve

Marcelo Bielsa is a coach who many of the great coaches have studied methods from, coaches like Pep Guardiola among many others have credited Marcelo Bielsa with provoking the way they think about the game and implement many of his ideas into their own teams. One of Bielsa’s trademarks in his traditional 3-3-1-3 /3-4-3 diamond formation was attacking wingbacks or full backs. This strategy has had to be adapted to be successful in Europe however, and he has adapted a 4-2-3-1 or flexible 4-3-3 hybrid formation with a player dropping between the CB’s to build up play, with a massive emphasis on using the pace and attacking instincts of Djadjedje down the right with Thauvin, while Pierre-Andre Gignac play almost as a left forward – playing on the far side to attack crosses.

When they attack from wide areas, they like to play 2v1 against the full back, with at least 3 and normally 4 or 5 inside the box, positioned within 3 key zones, and often looking for loose balls from other positions inside the

0 Creating and Capitalizing on Finishing Opportunities

Training Activities for players U14 and above By Chris Kouns These activities are designed to help your players not only get repetitions in terms of some of the technical aspects of finishing, but, to also create an environment for them when they can hone their “Finishing Mentality” Activity 1: 3v1 / 3v1 + GK’s Field

0 Barcelona's Offside Trap

By Stevie Grieve

Luis Enrique took over at FC Barcelona in the summer and one of the first things he has done is make sure that the team are much more solid defensively than they have been in previous seasons. Part of this has been to introduce an aggressive offside trap with Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano; two players who can hold a defensive line high and read when to leave the strikers in offside positions.

There have been various ‘trigger’s for the offside trap, and I will look at 3 of these triggers to play offside;

• When the opponent is forced back under pressure

• When the opponent is on the counter attack but pressure is place on the ball in midfield and a long pass is expected

• When a pass needs to be played first time and the strikers are running beyond the defence in expectation for a long pass

The key to a successful offside trap is that pressure is on the ball when it is used; often an offside line is held when there is no pressure on the ball, resulting in the player in possession having time to pick the correct pass which catches the defence in a position where they cannot recover.
In Barcelona’s case, they offside trap is successful when only 2 of the back 4 are in deep positions, generally with the deeper of the 2 centre backs controlling the line depth.

Against Atletico Madrid, Barcelona secured their first win against the current La Liga Champions in 7 games and the fact that Atletico’s direct approach was nullified by the offside trap went a long way towards the solid defensive display.

Barcelona offside trap trigger – 2v1 on the side

Here we can see the compactness of Barcelona from the

0 Atletico’s Defensive Struggles this Season

By Stevie Grieve

Last season, Atletico Madrid won La Liga on the back of a strong defensive unit, good individual players and speed in transitions in both attack and defence. After losing GK Courtois, LB Felipe Luis and CF (and talisman) Diego Costa to Chelsea, they have struggled to recreate the attacking transitions that provided so many goals for Diego Costa, while being much less organised in defensive play, particularly in both horizontal and vertical compactness.

In the last 7 games against Atletico, Barcelona have struggled as Atletico’s game plan was simple – reduce space between units, stop Barcelona from being able to get players between the lines to receive and reduce the space on the side of the ball as much as possible. This did not happen.

Good Compactness in a situational 3-4-3

Here, Games is to press and play 1v1 against Messi who plays as a

3 Liverpool Improving in Possession

By Stevie Grieve

Since the summer, Liverpool have struggled to get back to the fluid and penetrative style of last season. Losing Luis Suarez was a big blow, and replacing him with 2 immobile strikers instead of a more suitable mobile player or use the rapid and mobile Divock Origi (who stayed on loan at Lille) has caused no end of problems for the team in an attacking sense.

Recently, Brendan Rodgers has found a way to fit in his £25m signing Adam Lallana, talismanic figure Coutinho and potential World Class player Raheem Sterling, by using a system of 3-4-3-0, incorporating a back 3 with Emre Can able to stride into midfield and use his excellent ball playing abilities, with raiding full backs Moreno and Manquillo offering the width on the sides.

The often criticized Joe Allen has found a position similar to the one Busquets made his trademark by dropping between centre backs and operating in front of the oppositions midfield, looking for passes into midfield or attack from a deep position, with Henderson playing ahead of him in a position to press or offer short passes to and from Allen to keep play moving.

Liverpools 3-4-3 is designed to place players between the lines and attack the

1 Chelsea’s Centre Backs in Wide Positions

By Stevie Grieve

Jose Mourinho teams have been strong defensively since he took over in his 1st role at Benfica, through from Lieira, Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and again to Chelsea. The backbone of his success has been from a very effective style of play based on not conceding goals, being compact vertically and horizontally, with the 2 centre backs being able to play close together and in front of the goal. In this Chelsea team, although they are the best team in the Premier League and one of the best sides in the Champions League, the lack of pace in the centre of the team is a concern, particularly when Cesc and Oscar and caught high as they are not quick enough to get back and help Matic once the press is beaten.

Another weakness is when Cahill or Terry are drawn wide in possession or to defend 1v1 on the side, Nemanja Matic will cover between the centre backs or in the half space, often leaving a hole in front of the defence due to Cesc or Oscar being too far away to cover the space in front of the back 4.

Against Tottenham, Mauricio Pocchetino had a clear game plan – tempt Chelsea into allowing Terry or Cahill wide in possession then win the ball form high pressing traps in the 4-2-3-1, then attack diagonally towards the far

0 Scotland Game Plan vs Germany

By Stevie Grieve

Scotland went into the game against newly crowned World Champions, Germany on the back of a 6 game unbeaten run. New coach Gordon Strachan has assembled a team with a solid work ethic who can follow out his tactical instructions against stronger opposition and win, as shown by home and away victories over Croatia. The set up of the Scotland team has changed drastically over the past 18 months, with the re-introduction of high pressing, a more offensive game plan and the use of Steven Naismith as a CF, who likes to drop off and roam, leaving space for more movement across the front line from midfielders and wingers.

In this match v Germany, we saw another side to the ‘new Scotland’; a clear coherent game plan designed to use Germany’s ideals against them. Scotland wanted to direct the game to Germany’s left and Scotland’s right, trying to keep the ‘space invader’ Thomas Muller from being able to have an impact from the right, while trying to win the ball on the right and leaving a 2v1 on the far side in Scotland’s favour if it was switched, to release the rapid Ikecha Anya down the left in transition while maintaining defensive balance with Whittaker covering behind at left back.

Scotland using Germany’s pressing against them

When the ball was won, Scotland would often try to play 2 or 3 quick passes before going forward. Traditionally, Scotland would regain the ball and

1 Holes in the 3-1-4-2 System of Manchester United

By Stevie Grieve

New Manchester United Manager Louis Van Gaal has taken over a struggling side from last season, but despite the criticism that David Moyes endured, Louis Van Gaal's premier league start had delivered 1 point from 2 winnable games. This was followed up by a 4-0 humiliation from MK Dons. Despite fielding largely a reserve side, it did contain experienced first team and internationalists in Javier Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa, Jonny Evans and David De Gea.
In the 3-1-4-2 attacking system, there are space to exploit in transition, or when the midfield press high. When the ball is played wide into the full backs, this may entice the already high positioned wing-backs to press high and

0 Coaching Team Shape in the 3-3-1

How many times do you hear coaches yelling, "Spread out, create space!" And how often do you see the players look around and not move much?

This is a sign that the players don't know where to go or how to move in relation to their team mates. This ability is not a natural one for most players. They need to be shown where to go to support their team mates while keeping proper spacing between themselves and their team mates.

A new book called, 'Coaching Team Shape in the 3-3-1' by Sean Pearson contains

0 Developing Soccer Intelligence

Soccer is a 'Player Centered' game. The players make the decisions as the game is played. Unlike our traditional American sports of football, baseball and basketball. In those sports the players rely heavily on the coaches for direction and decision making. The coaches call the play, give the sign for a certain pitch or run an in-bounds play that the team has worked on at practice.

By contrast, soccer is a free flowing, constantly changing game where the players have to decide what to do based on where they are, where their team mates are and where the opponents are at any given moment. There are no time outs and few stoppages that allow the coach to directly effect the play. The players must have the ability to

0 The North Carolina Way

I have always admired the University of North Carolina Women's Head Coach, Anson Dorrance. He has been the Head Coach at UNC since 1979 and has won a record 22 National Championships. More than 50 of his former players have represented their country on the National Team. He is also well known for promoting and developing creative dribblers and finishers.

I've read all of his books and watched any videos I could find. So I was very excited when Dorrance agreed to headline our 2008 WORLD CLASS COACHING International Seminar. More than six hundred

5 Training 2 v 1 Situations

Playing indoor soccer or Futsal during the winter provides a great opportunity to focus on teaching players how to break down defenses in 2 v 1 situations. This is an important tactical situation for players to understand and be familiar with because so much of the game can be broken down to 1 v 1

0 Attacking in Transition

This is a portion of an article that appears in the November edition of WORLD CLASS COACHING Magazine. It's available to all subscribers of the Member Drills Database. The article contains an analysis of the game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. The author, Stevie Grieve, looks at the factors that lead to an effective

0 Changing the Game

When the game isn't going our way and what we're trying to do just isn't working, I look for ways to change the game. There are a few things that I look at and will discuss here but there are countless ways that changes the coach and players make can alter the game.

The first thing I look at is tempo. Is the other team stopping us and creating attacks of their own because they are playing more quickly than we are? Are they putting us under pressure because they are keeping possession longer and building up against us? Are there one or two areas on the field where they are just quicker than we are and we need to change who is playing in those areas?

If the other team is just working harder than we are and investing more into the game we need to raise our game match their intensity. I don't believe this is often the whole problem. Coaches who just

1 Developing a Style of Play

There are three thinks that I think contribute to the formation and system that coaches choose to play with. The qualities and personalities of the players on the team is most important. If you have a lot of attacking personalities then a system like the 4-3-3 makes sense. If you have a forward who holds the ball well and can play with their back to goal then you could use a 4-5-1 effectively. But each system can be played with a different style; possession, direct attacking, counter attack, etc.

The second contributing factor is the coaches preference. Most coaches

0 Beating the 4-2-3-1

More and more teams at every level from youth to professional are playing with a 4-2-3-1 system. The first stage in the process has coaches trying to figure out how to play with formation and how to teach it to their players. The second stage is for coaches to break down its strengths and weaknesses so they can decide how to defend it.

This latest book from Stevie Grieve breaks down the 4-2-3-1 in all

1 Attacking in the Final Third

The June edition of the WORLD CLASS COACHING magazine that is part of the Member Drills Database will have a session from Elmar Bolowich, Head Men's Coach at Creighton University. He presented it during the 2013 Nebraska WORLD CLASS COACHING International Seminar. The focus is on

0 Defending on the Sides in the 4-2-3-1

One of the factors that always kept me from moving away from the 4-4-2 was a concern for how to cover the wide areas using a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. Once I understood how to teach my players to recognize cues and cover for each other I saw how the systems could be used to teach players more about the game. Requiring them to make decisions is the best way for them to learn rather than just putting them in a formation that has strictly defined roles where they just, 'do their job'.

Stevie Grieve's latest book, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 Advanced Tactics, does a great job