2023-01-07, 09:31 PM - Word count:
One of the things to keep in mind for an attacking defender is their directness due to a lack of unpredictability and the lack of desire to keep hold of the ball.
Having the trait of "runs with ball rarely" means that the first reaction to getting the ball is to pass it off. I will consider this going forward to be the primary trait of an attacking defender and its strongest source of value.
I've begun to consider a few quirks of, if not just in fm, transitional football and how counters are started. Interceptions require almost inherent moments before receiving the ball when its evident that an interception shall be successful. Pressing often requires the defender to win a second ball. Winning an aieral duel inherently leaves a player off their feet. What I'm digging at here is the player who sucsessfully causes a turnover in posession is, in most cases, not the player that can do anything in the transition.
Secondary assists are not a stat that has widespread acceptance yet but is one that I most firmly believe is as important as an assist itself and is more important than the one that actually scores the goal. Creating chances requires an opportunity for a player to express creativity. Scoring goals require a chance to score a goal. Both of these things however become much easier with better quality opportunities being given.
Ok ok I'm not happy with where that last paragraph ended so lets break this down.
A goal comes from an assist, which comes from a secondary assist. Scoring requires technique composure and the ability to be in the right spot at the right time. Assisting requires the ability to successfully place the ball in a spot to allow another player to score a goal. Here is where it breaks down however, because we can all agree that something comes before an assist to allow or facilitate its creation to then allow a goal to be scored.
Its like making a part, each step in the manufacturing process from cast to packaged product, its quality is reliant on the quality of a job that is done before it. Much like soccer the less steps to making a part exponentially increases the final quality of a part. The 4-4-2 direct English style didn't come out of a hundred thousand games being played and the best style being decided from them. That culture and style came from statistical studies on goals and how they are created. The less passes leading up to a goal the more exponentially likely it is to result in a goal. The 4-4-2 system then both increases the amount of opportunities that turn into a goal, by shortening the time between gaining possession and attempting to score a goal but also by increasing the probability of those attempts resulting in a goal.
We now know the Italians and the Argentinians took it into new, more violent, and physical directions but at the time it just seemed like the most logical way to play the game. More cohesive system-orientated tactics then developed to counter this logic by both lowering the amount of opportunities allowed, by retaining possession, but also by lowering the probability of these opportunities to become goals, by employing defensive shapes and pressing players before they're able to properly assess where to pass the ball.
This is the magic that I'm seeing from attacking defenders in my hype addled mind. Imagine a system where instead of having to break lines through brilliant passes or geometric player placement, the lines don't even exist anymore. Direct passing from an advanced position, not just from a general pressing philosophy but instead from Brazilian individualism corrupted into a mold of an Italian Trequartista that does what is necessary to win through physicality instead of creativity, through aggression instead of flair, and through making a pass before it becomes difficult to find one.
Having the trait of "runs with ball rarely" means that the first reaction to getting the ball is to pass it off. I will consider this going forward to be the primary trait of an attacking defender and its strongest source of value.
I've begun to consider a few quirks of, if not just in fm, transitional football and how counters are started. Interceptions require almost inherent moments before receiving the ball when its evident that an interception shall be successful. Pressing often requires the defender to win a second ball. Winning an aieral duel inherently leaves a player off their feet. What I'm digging at here is the player who sucsessfully causes a turnover in posession is, in most cases, not the player that can do anything in the transition.
Secondary assists are not a stat that has widespread acceptance yet but is one that I most firmly believe is as important as an assist itself and is more important than the one that actually scores the goal. Creating chances requires an opportunity for a player to express creativity. Scoring goals require a chance to score a goal. Both of these things however become much easier with better quality opportunities being given.
Ok ok I'm not happy with where that last paragraph ended so lets break this down.
A goal comes from an assist, which comes from a secondary assist. Scoring requires technique composure and the ability to be in the right spot at the right time. Assisting requires the ability to successfully place the ball in a spot to allow another player to score a goal. Here is where it breaks down however, because we can all agree that something comes before an assist to allow or facilitate its creation to then allow a goal to be scored.
Its like making a part, each step in the manufacturing process from cast to packaged product, its quality is reliant on the quality of a job that is done before it. Much like soccer the less steps to making a part exponentially increases the final quality of a part. The 4-4-2 direct English style didn't come out of a hundred thousand games being played and the best style being decided from them. That culture and style came from statistical studies on goals and how they are created. The less passes leading up to a goal the more exponentially likely it is to result in a goal. The 4-4-2 system then both increases the amount of opportunities that turn into a goal, by shortening the time between gaining possession and attempting to score a goal but also by increasing the probability of those attempts resulting in a goal.
We now know the Italians and the Argentinians took it into new, more violent, and physical directions but at the time it just seemed like the most logical way to play the game. More cohesive system-orientated tactics then developed to counter this logic by both lowering the amount of opportunities allowed, by retaining possession, but also by lowering the probability of these opportunities to become goals, by employing defensive shapes and pressing players before they're able to properly assess where to pass the ball.
This is the magic that I'm seeing from attacking defenders in my hype addled mind. Imagine a system where instead of having to break lines through brilliant passes or geometric player placement, the lines don't even exist anymore. Direct passing from an advanced position, not just from a general pressing philosophy but instead from Brazilian individualism corrupted into a mold of an Italian Trequartista that does what is necessary to win through physicality instead of creativity, through aggression instead of flair, and through making a pass before it becomes difficult to find one.
