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PAGE 18
by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net |
NOTE: Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the
idea that someone would publish them. I subscribe to the
Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that
posts extremely well thought out replies. These are some of
Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.
I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to
publish them here. If you like what you see or have a
question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at
garyrue@bellsouth.net
There are
50+ more pages of Gary's posts
categorized at the Home Page of Exercises
of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.
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Flat Back Four Defense - Zone 101 |
Just as the individual skills and techniques are the
foundation of any defense, the understanding of when and how to utilize these skills
within a system is just as important. As there are many ways to play a flat back system, I
will try to stay generic enough in the training exercises that a coach will be able to
adapt his players to his particular system.
The flat back system we will discussed is based upon zonal
defensive
concepts. In zone play, a player must cover a determined space. Each player is concerned
with defending an area of the field rather than to mark a man. Specifically, in a zone,
the player must constantly decide how to support a teammate defending the ball and mark
near-by attacking players.
Players must defend as a team in zone play. Maintaining a proper
team shape is crucial. The team must move towards the ball as a collective group, while
still maintaining shape and attentiveness to forward attackers.
There are several
advantages to zone play
as discussed in an article by Jeff Tipping in Coaching Soccer, "Zonal Defending: Is
It Right For Your Team?"
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Easier to maintain defensive shape
as players are less inclined to get pulled out of position.
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Players generally do less running as
they don't have to track opponents all over the field.
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It is easier to hide weaker players.
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Teams are able to attack more
efficiently from an organized shape.
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A greater number of defenders are
around the ball
Some disadvantages include:
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It is difficult to pull a player out
to mark an "assigned" player
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Verbal communication is mandatory
and indispensable.
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Flatten defense without proper
depth, positioning and recovery can lead to through balls and breakaways.
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Players must constantly decide
whether to mark or support a teammate.
The keys to good zonal defending:
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The central defender(s), as the
whole team pivots around the center backs.
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Defenders do not cross in front (or
behind) each other except in emergency situations, such as to provide cover or stop a
through pass.
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The ball should be forced wide and
kept wide. This helps the defense to "step up" and compress the attack.
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There must be constant pressure on
the ball to prevent the vertical serve.
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The central back(s) must decide
whether to step up to compress (and catch opponents offside) or drop back and provide
defensive depth.
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Flat
Back Four Defense - Zone 102 |
One of the best ways to understanding zonal
defending is to the divide the field into 4 vertical channels. For the purpose of
discussion, lets assume a 60 yard wide field. Draw a vertical line down the center and 2
vertical lines 9 yards from each post. That will give two 13 yard central channels and a
two 17 yard outside channels. The exact distance is not (or should not be) an issue as the
players will not have lines drawn on the field during games. Perhaps for a 70 yard wide
field, channels of 15 and 20 yards would be more appropriate.
The central channels are
smaller because the defense
need to be more condensed in the
center and allow more room near the touchlines. In the case of 4
back defenders, each defender is responsible for a zone and be
able to cover the adjacent zone. As you can see in the first
example, the central defenders (D2, D3) have three zones each they
may need to move into or cover, were as D1 and D4 only have two.
As shown in figure 2, when the ball is near the touchline, D1
closes down ball as D2 moves into the outer zone to provide
support. D3 and D4 are slightly deeper (only a couple of yards)
than D2, as they have moved over into their adjacent zones. D3's
and D4's positioning is dictated by the positions and movements of
the off ball attackers.
In figure 3,
the ball is in a central zone. D1 and D3 have moved into or close to that
same zone as D4 has condensed the defense by moving into his
adjacent zone. D4 has some flexibility in his positioning and
actually controls how flat the defense will be. D1 and D3 must
support the ball and
 they
can only alter their positions slightly mark nearby attackers.
(d4) could play deeper and provide greater depth ONLY if there are
no forward attackers. Or <d4> may actually slide over move and
pick up D3's current mark, thus freeing D3 of that responsibility.
In this situation, the defense wants to
allow the attack to pass square and wide and take away any through
balls through the middle. If A beats D2 to the middle, D3 would
step over and pick up A, as D1 and D4 would move over more to
support D3. Hopefully, D2 would recover to pick up the pieces left
by D3 and D4
As you can see the
flat back defense is hardly flat. However, the defenders that are well off the ball keep
the defense compressed by staying in line with one another.
Now the coach can teach these same defensive roles to
the midfielders,
as their defensive structure and roles are exactly the same.
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Flat Back Four Defense - Zone 102 Clarification |
I recently was asked two questions on the zone defense. First
question was how deep do you play the defense and does it change when you reach the 18?
The second question was when the ball is along the touchline, how does the defense respond
to a ball down the touch to a second attacker making a lateral run to the touch?
Re: defensive
changes and depth, the defense "adapts" rather than "changes" as the
distance from the goalline changes. It flattens out even more the closer to and inside the
18 the defenders are positioned. Attackers must be marked closer and tracked longer when
they reach the area. Support position depth inside the 18 would need to be about 3 yards
instead of about 7 yards near midfield. When the attack reaches the penalty spot, the
defensive line is very flat and pulled in tight.
Re: the
diagonal run wide--remember, a defense can't take away everything. A ball up the touch may
be able to get to an attacker who has made the diagonal run wide, but he should be easily
closed down and kept wide. The attackers may be closer to the goal, but should not be in
much better position. Sooner or later we should have help from a recovering halfbacks.
If A2
makes the lateral run D3 may follow for a little bit, and communicate the run to D2. Note
there is not much room between D2 and D3 depth-wise, so the run must stay flat and right
at D2 to be on-side. If the ball is played down the touch, D2 can go immediately to it
(this is another situation the defenders may need to cross). D1 would recover towards near
post on the pass, assess the situation and then provide D2 support. Post pass positions
are shown in the ().
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(d3) (d4)
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(d1)
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| (d2)
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| o(a2) \
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| . .
\
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| . .
\
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| . .
| D3
D4
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| .
. |
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| .
D2 .
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.
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| .
A2
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| . D1
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| o
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| A
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D1 may also be able to recover on the pass and pick up A2, leaving
D2 in the same defensive support position. D2 and D1 should be
communicating.
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(d3) (d4)
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(d2)
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| (d1)
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| o(a2) \
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| . . I
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| . . I
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| . I.
D3
D4
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| . /
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| . / D2 .
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| . /
.
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| . /
A2
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| . D1
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| o
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| A
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Notice,
the support defense is flattened out closer to the "on ball"
defender as the ball gets closer to the goalline (this in reference to
the first question).
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Flat Back Four Defense - Off-Ball Positioning |
The
exact positioning of the off-ball defender based on his "mark" needs to be
discussed further. Drawing triangles can help pinpoint this critical positioning. The
three vertex points of the triangle are the ball, the center of the goal and the off-ball
attacker. The off-ball defender when marking an attacker needs to be within this triangle;
that is, he needs to be on the ball-side.
In the figure below, D1 is within the triangle of A1,
A2 and CG (center of goal). If D1 was in position (d1), then D1 could not support the ball
and would put A1 ball-side.
Also in the figure D3 is within the triangle of A2,
A3 and CG, supporting D2 and marking A3. D4 is also within his triangle of A2, A4 and CG
(not drawn).
Several points need to be made. Notice
how D1, D3 and D4 have "flatten out" to compress the attack away from the goal.
The depth of the position is based on the support depth needed for D2. Being this close to
the goal, the backs should not be more than 5 yards away. D1 probably wants to be a shade
more goalside of A1 than the ASCII ART allows, but if D1 were to be at position (y), then
D1 would not be able to adequately support D2. This could pull D3 and D4 back and put them
too far away from A3. If D3 stays at his current position, A1 may be able to take
advantage of the space behind D3 and still be on-side. For instance, A2-->A3-->A1
(who has made a run behind D3).
Actually D1 probably wants to play some games with A1
by dropping back a yard waiting for A1 to step up even, then stepping forward a yard to
put A1 clearly off-side.
If A4 is not there or anywhere close, D4 could move
over into the A2, A3, CG triangle, taking over the A3 mark, allowing D3 to move into a
double team on A2. D4 is the player with the best view of the situation, able to see the
ball and the goal, plus all "dangerous" attackers. If A2 is under heavy
pressure, A4 may want to dictate a "step up" of the D1, D3, and D4, which would
put A1 (and A4) in an offside position forcing him to come back.
Now what if A3 makes a lateral run behind D2? What
should D3 and the other supporting defenders do in this situation? There are a couple of
options for what could be a desperate situation. D3 could let A3 go and let D1 pick up the
second player in a 2v1 situation (ugh!). D3 could slide up into a double team on A2
restricting the passing options. Or D2 could leave A2 for D3 and drop back to mark A3
(probably wouldn't happen).
The recommended option would be for D3 to follow A3
(along the defensive line) to the other side of D2. This move may leave D2 without
adequate support if A2 is able to get past D2. D4 will have to move over to support D2's
left side, but this would leave great space to play A4 into. However, D3 may still be in a
good position to pick up the support until D4 can slide over. Once D3 has completed the
cross-over, D3 could take over A1's mark, leaving D1 to pick up A3.
Only in emergency situations do you want your defenders crossing behind one another in a
zone, but this is one of them.
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