2023-03-25, 09:56 AM - Word count:
As time goes on the struggle I'm facing trying to come out with the "great attacking defender tactic" is that at the end of the day you need to score goals. I now know how to score goals.
The Math always adds up simply and never changes. Modern defences have at least 2 centerbacks or at least 3 defenders outside of wingbacks. The Philosophy of attack remains the same, width, depth, penetration, creativity and dispersion. Three out of those two relies on a simple premise of overloads. You want more, or at least equal, players at the point of attack than the other team. The best defenders of all time can't defend against two players at once. Going strikerless means you have an incredible defence and can dominate the middle third but you end up being stuck having to break into a defence that has time to set up and organize themselves.
My three major paths to this point have been double AMC double midfield wingers PF-D IWB, 4-5-1 with double advanced IF-A's PF-D, and a 4-4-2 with wingers AF PF-D double CAR.
All of these have struggled for surpriseingly different reasons. The double AMC as always does a wicked job of sucking in CB's and DM's allowing for the wingers to overlap and attack into the box, breaking their mark through angular advantage (I'll do that next week but yeah its a thing). But the problem of not having an AF means that there is always someone else there to pick up the runner and force a bad pass or a worse cross. 4-5-1 essentially becomes a 4-4-2 diamond with forwards cutting inside instead of outside. This struggles a lot with attacking width however. With the wingbacks overlapping on CAR's the buildup is very slick and accurate. However when it gets into that final third everything comes late and those IF-A's become even more isolated than 4-4-2's and the only breaking balls are directed to IF's having to shoot at sharp angles. 4-4-2 I've struggled to make work the most beacuse I can see somehow making it work. I'm really not someone that understands asymetric formations however, so I've struggled with moving players around to make it work. An offcenter PF-D creates very interesting effects on the ball being shoot to the close side winger who can then rapidly put the ball into the box.
And then I saw someone who was talking about playing old FM's and was talking about the different eras of the marking rework before they mentioned the winger rework. Those bad old days when wingers were utter trash and no one would square the ball. The answer dear reader is the same song we once danced to, the song we must dance to again.
Long shots. Longshots and outside-the-box shooting with power. The common orthodoxy tells the faithful that possession and pressing are the keys to modern football. But the oldest and constant weakness of Pepian tactics has been shots outside the box. Late arriving players that don't have someone who has picked them up yet, balls into space that are then shot when arrived to. Not running at defence but passing to the exposed space.
I'm telling you long shots were the answer the whole time.
The Math always adds up simply and never changes. Modern defences have at least 2 centerbacks or at least 3 defenders outside of wingbacks. The Philosophy of attack remains the same, width, depth, penetration, creativity and dispersion. Three out of those two relies on a simple premise of overloads. You want more, or at least equal, players at the point of attack than the other team. The best defenders of all time can't defend against two players at once. Going strikerless means you have an incredible defence and can dominate the middle third but you end up being stuck having to break into a defence that has time to set up and organize themselves.
My three major paths to this point have been double AMC double midfield wingers PF-D IWB, 4-5-1 with double advanced IF-A's PF-D, and a 4-4-2 with wingers AF PF-D double CAR.
All of these have struggled for surpriseingly different reasons. The double AMC as always does a wicked job of sucking in CB's and DM's allowing for the wingers to overlap and attack into the box, breaking their mark through angular advantage (I'll do that next week but yeah its a thing). But the problem of not having an AF means that there is always someone else there to pick up the runner and force a bad pass or a worse cross. 4-5-1 essentially becomes a 4-4-2 diamond with forwards cutting inside instead of outside. This struggles a lot with attacking width however. With the wingbacks overlapping on CAR's the buildup is very slick and accurate. However when it gets into that final third everything comes late and those IF-A's become even more isolated than 4-4-2's and the only breaking balls are directed to IF's having to shoot at sharp angles. 4-4-2 I've struggled to make work the most beacuse I can see somehow making it work. I'm really not someone that understands asymetric formations however, so I've struggled with moving players around to make it work. An offcenter PF-D creates very interesting effects on the ball being shoot to the close side winger who can then rapidly put the ball into the box.
And then I saw someone who was talking about playing old FM's and was talking about the different eras of the marking rework before they mentioned the winger rework. Those bad old days when wingers were utter trash and no one would square the ball. The answer dear reader is the same song we once danced to, the song we must dance to again.
Long shots. Longshots and outside-the-box shooting with power. The common orthodoxy tells the faithful that possession and pressing are the keys to modern football. But the oldest and constant weakness of Pepian tactics has been shots outside the box. Late arriving players that don't have someone who has picked them up yet, balls into space that are then shot when arrived to. Not running at defence but passing to the exposed space.
I'm telling you long shots were the answer the whole time.
