By Danny Carvalho
Question - “Just wondering about playing a forward in the offsides position. I see the advantage of defenders losing track of that player. My question is in what situations on the field would you play a player in the offsides position. I understand the player in the offsides position will just get back onsides when defenders back up or when the player with the ball looks up with no pressure to play the ball. What else do I need to know if I’m thinking about experimenting with playing someone in an offside position. ?"
Great question! It demands some profound thinking as it is not a much usual strategy as well as a tactical point of view.
1- Throw-ins
That’s a moment of the game where the offside rule doesn’t exist. So when your team have a thrown in in the final third, don’t hesitate to have a player closer to the end line than the last defender. Make the fielder bigger by having someone as deep as possible on the field, spreading opponents out to create a goal attempt.
2- Freekicks
On freekicks in the final third from the flanks is not very unusual to see teams that place a player in the offside position. The goal here is usually to send the ball to the far post for someone to play it to the former off side player who is now onside after the whole defense running in the box to try and clear it.
3- Building from the back
Imagine your team builds from the back consistently possession based, with short passes. You are now playing versus a team who presses high up the field quite intensely but they leave gaps behind their fullbacks or wingbacks for your wingers to run onto. That’s when I would play a striker offside.
On the moment we send a long ball behind the opposition’s side defenders and our wingers sprint in advantage, our striker will also be in advantage to receive a pass in front of the goal.
To be fair the strategy above can be used not only when building from the back but in any moment your team is in possession and there is a chance of your wingers scaping behind defenders’ backs to get a through ball and cross/pass it to an open unmarked striker.
I guess these would be the main three situations I would encourage my team and striker to play offside to trick the opponents and take positional advantage.
By Danny Carvalho, DOC at Corinthians Campinas Youth Club, Brasil
