In this fourth entry on the game of soccer, we are going to talk about the defensive transition (DT). The previous entries are these: Understanding the game (Part 1): The attack, Understanding the game (Part 2): The defense and Understanding the game (Part 3): Offensive Transition
The first thing we have to do when it comes to losing the ball is to determine what objective we want to propose to our team so that they can adopt the right patterns to be successful. As a general rule, there are two general behaviors that we adopt when we lose the ball:
Pressing or going towards the opposing player in possession to try to take the ball away from him again.
Retreating or going towards our goal prioritizing defending the spaces rather than going after the player with the ball.
There is a mixed option which means that it combines both, so that the player close to the loss is going to press and the rest of the players retreat.
In this article you can see it (What aspects of the game do I analyze?).
It is possible for the same team to aim to press and retreat depending on the area of the field where the loss occurs or the lane in which it happens. Losing the ball in the central lane is not the same as losing the ball in the side lane. In the following image we are going to see the objectives that we can propose to our team to try to recover the ball and/or avoid conceding a goal.
Covered or uncovered ball
The first thing to always be clear about is whether the ball is covered or uncovered after a turnover. To understand, the covered ball is when the ball is under pressure, that is, we can place a player close to the new ball holder and thus shorten space and time for the opponent to make the best decision for their interests. The uncovered ball is when we do not have any teammate who can be close to the ball. In this way, the opponent usually has space and time to look for the best response to achieve his goals.
It will be important to always try to have the ball covered to improve the success rate of our defensive actions and make it difficult for the opponent to score.
In these patterns that I am going to propose below you will see that some of them are repeated. And there are behaviors that are essential for the team’s success.
Team behaviors in zone 3
Losing the ball in this zone means that we have been very close to reaching the opponent’s goal and, therefore, it is important to put special emphasis on trying to recover the ball quickly, because we will have already done a lot of work to be able to score again.
Losses in the center lane
Losing the ball in the central lane entails different risks, among them, that the opponent will counterattack with the ball uncovered. Here, if we accumulate too many players, in addition to not getting space to take advantage, we can leave the team unprotected.
The behaviors to be acquired by the team can be the following:
Avoid forward passing
As a general rule, the forward pass is the one that can hurt us the most because it eliminates players from the action. It will be important to perform frontal or curved trajectories to see which potential receivers can receive the ball.
Preventing the opponent from being able to link up
Making sure that the opponent player who has recovered the ball can’t link up will make it easier for us to recover the ball, as we are isolating him from his teammates and leaving him with no options to continue the action.
Reduce the distance with the rival players
It is always important to leave little distance from the opponent, but in this area of the field and in the central lane it can be interesting to try to do so, because the less distance from the opponent, the less space and less time we leave him to get the ball out of that area and favor the continuity of the play.
Make sure they do not play with the goalkeeper.
Avoiding the pass to the goalkeeper can be a profitable option for the opponent, as this way he can gain time to reorganize himself and in this way he will have managed to get the ball out of the zone and, in this way, it will be difficult for us to get the ball back.
Orientation to the side lane
It is important to always try to take the opposing player in possession of the ball to the side lanes, as this way we are avoiding a possible shot on goal and we are reducing the playing space available to him, as in the outside lanes we have an unbeatable ally, the touchline. For this it is important that the defender has a good body orientation towards the rival player and can make use of defensive feints in order to hinder his actions and take him to where we want him to go.
Losses in the side lane
Losses in this lane are less dangerous than losses in the center lane although they are still of maximum threat as the ball is hovering close to our goal.
Therefore, the patterns we propose here are:
Avoiding a pass to get out of the zone
It will be important once the ball is lost to avoid the ball coming out of this zone, as this will mean that the ball will have passed us and we will be eliminated from the action. For this reason we will need to reduce the distances with the rival players and dissuade possible passing lines to hinder the action of the opponent who has the ball.
We have one thing in our favor and that is the touchline, so accumulating a good number of teammates can be useful to try to regain control of the ball.
Avoid ball handling
An action that can also damage us a lot are the ball losses that end up in the opponent’s conduction. This conduction is usually diagonal towards the central lane, although it can be a vertical conduction looking for a following action such as a cross into the box.
Here it will be important to confront the opponent in possession and use defensive feints (Van Dijk is an expert at this) to dissuade him and make it difficult for him to advance quickly.
Keep an eye on direct play
We will have to be prepared for direct play or crosses into the area, recognizing the pairs and seeing the finishing areas (the body orientation of our opponent can give us a sign of where he will be able to move) that they can occupy, it is important to count players and assume the responsibility of defending the area.
Reduce distances with close players
Linked to the previous point, we will have to reduce the distances with close players, so that we will shorten time and reduce space for them to develop their actions successfully.
In the case of a non-center, the distance should be short to prevent them from getting crosses into the area and the nearby players can receive the ball to turn the game to the other side.
In the case of a cross into the box, once we have recognized our partner and taking into account the possible finishing zone to which he is going to go, we will have to contact him lightly to narrow the duel and end up winning it.
Orientate towards the touchline
Here we will always try to play with our ally, the sideline, to be successful defensively. By having a good body orientation we will try to make sure that the opponent who possesses the ball cannot go inside and has to be parallel to the sideline.
Team behaviors in zone 2
Losses of the ball in the zone of progression are usually very dangerous, since we accumulate players in front of the ball who, when returning to the back, will take more time (if they can get there) to the corresponding action.
Losses in the center lane
These are usually the most lethal if we are uncovered. So our main behaviors must be based on minimizing the risk of exposing ourselves too much and facilitating the opponent’s goal.
So we must adopt the following measures:
Avoid forward pass
The first thing we must do is to avoid the forward pass, because this pass will eliminate us from the action and will leave a spatial-temporal advantage to the opponent to decide the best option for their interests. It will be important to be clear about our trajectory which, most of the time, can be frontal, although it can also be done with a slight curve. Here the most important thing at the time of the jump will be to see what we leave behind us to cover it.
Preventing the opponent from linking up
Once we have avoided the opponent’s forward pass, the next priority will be to avoid the opponent’s ability to link up. If we achieve this, we are, practically, reducing everything to a 1 vs 1 between the rival player in possession and our player pair.
To achieve this, we need the collaboration of the maximum number of players available for this action. And the following behavior is linked to this.
Reducing distance with close rival players
By reducing the distance with close rival players we will make it difficult for the possessing opponent to associate successfully, so this behavior and the previous one have a very close interrelation. In general then, we will be telling our players to defend “forward”, that is, to reduce distances with players close to the ball by passing forward, rather than backward.
Identify and protect own vulnerable areas
If we cannot manage to execute the above proposals, we must protect the areas that can make us more vulnerable, usually in front of or behind our defensive line. This will also depend on the height of this line and will be conditioned by the characteristics of the players that compose it and our idea of playing. Knowing which zones to protect and what each player is going to do will be useful to facilitate the operational tasks of the players and minimize execution time.
Orient to lateral lane
Same as in the loss in the central lane in zone 3.
Losses in the side lane
Losses in the side lane are going to be compromised because, in this area of the playing space, the density of players is usually lower than in the central lane.
That is why the priorities here are going to be:
Avoid passing to the back of the defensive line.
The priority when having a loss in the lateral lane in the zone of progression is going to be to avoid the pass to the back of the defensive line. This pass is usually caused by a movement of the opposing forward (either diagonally looking for the back of the fullback or perpendicular between the centerbacks to win their back). For this reason we will have to: get the ball covered so that the opponent does not have time to execute a pass with precision; make the defensive line run a few meters backwards protecting the space and then run forward to reduce the spaces that we will have generated in front of the line.
Avoiding ball handling
Same as in lateral lane losses in zone 3.
Try not to leave the lateral lane.
Same as in Avoiding passing losses in lateral lane in zone 3.
Reduce distances with close players
Same as in side lane losses in zone 3.
Orient towards the sideline
Same as in side lane losses in zone 3.
Team behaviors in zone 1
Losses in the center lane
Losses in this zone are very delicate because the ball is very close to our goal and we will have to do our best to try to minimize the possible fatal damage that the opponent can cause us. The most likely scenario here is that the opponent when he recovers the ball will try to shoot at goal or look for a pass to a teammate with an advantage to end up shooting at goal.
The patterns I propose here are:
Protect goal
The first thing to do when a loss occurs in this position is to protect the goal to avoid conceding a goal. Reducing the spaces towards the goal following the funnel that we discussed in the entry on defense (Shelling the game (II): The defense) and interpose ourselves between the opponent in possession and our goal will be adequate to try to dissuade the opponent from being able to shoot at goal.
Cover shot
This pattern is at the same level as the previous one in terms of priority because when we lose the ball in an area so close to the opponent’s goal we must prevent the shot. To do this we will have to place ourselves between the opponent and the goal and reduce the distance to be able to intercept the shot. The important thing is that when we get close to the opponent, we have to stop in time, to prevent the opponent from overtaking us with a simple touch of the ball.
Orient to the non-dominant leg
In addition to the two previous patterns, it is also essential to orient towards the non-dominant leg to reduce the success rate of the opponent when performing his action. The body orientation and the trajectory must be appropriate to try to offer him the unskillful part and make him fall into our trap.
Lead to the side lane
Same as in the center lane loss in zone 3.
Recognize pairs
We will also have to recognize the pairs to reduce the distance with them and reduce the space-time in case they are participants in future actions.
Losses in the side lane
Losing the ball in the side lane is “less” dangerous than losing it in the center lane but it is still very delicate because the ball is close to our goal. The most common thing here is for the opponent to cross into the box or look for a pass to the central lane to end up shooting.
Preventing the ball from coming out of the side lane
Here the important thing is to keep the ball in the side lane to help us from the touchline. By preventing the ball from leaving the area, we can prepare to defend a cross into the box and prevent the opponent in possession from connecting with a teammate in the center lane who can hurt us with a shot on goal.
Avoiding a cross
We will have to try to avoid getting a cross into the opponent’s area. Therefore, it is important to have a good approach run in front of the opponent, stop in time, and try to dissuade the possibility of the opponent to get a cross and, in case of not being able to dissuade it, to be able to intercept it.
Protect the area
Once we have managed to keep the ball out of the side lane, we must prepare to protect the area. We will need to have good spatial references of the area to protect (defensive funnel), we will also have to mark which player is defending each area.
Thus, the following pattern is closely linked to this one.
Recognizing pairs and finishing zones
We will have to recognize the rival players who are going to be possible finishers and reduce the distance and be able to contact them. It will be important to adopt a good body orientation to always be able to see the ball – rival player.
Do not go to the ground
Finally, it will be important when we are reducing the distance with the rival player, not to go to the ground, because in this way we will be eliminated from the action and the rival will overcome us very easily to be able to enjoy space to face the next action and have more probability of success.
So far the proposal that a soccer team can adopt when it loses the ball.
And you, what patterns do you look for in your team?
I read you.
Goal hug