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Soccer Edition 58 Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter. Today’s subject will deal with responding to a long ball out of the back. First I would like to apologize for anyone who tried accessing FineSoccer.com yesterday and couldn’t get through. There was some type of problem with the server and it was down for a large part of the day. Everything is fine now. Too often I see a team play a long ball out of the back and do nothing with it. This ball could have been hit long for any number of reasons including seeing a player running into space, being under pressure and not wanting to risk a short pass or just not knowing anything to do with the ball. Although it’s not the subject of this newsletter, I should say that although I love ball possession and put a great deal of emphasis on keeping possession of the ball until a scoring opportunity arises, I do think that way too many players who play in a system such as mine take too many chances in back. If you are a defender and are under pressure, there is absolutely nothing wrong with knocking a ball long or out of bounds in order to eliminate mistakes. Too often, defenders do things like try to dribble out of pressure or make short dangerous passes that when they do work look great but it always comes back to a risk/reward situation and the risk is too great for the reward possibilities. Be willing to knock a ball long or out of play when under pressure in the defensive third of the field. If you do knock the ball long out of the back because of pressure (or any other reason) it’s important to then compress the field by stepping up and supporting the midfield and forwards. Too often, a player knocks the ball long and stands or slowly walks up. Instead, knock it and step up hard. Many things happen by doing this will almost all of them being positives. First you will most likely get the opponent offsides (this is NOT an offsides trap but rather a supporting run that just puts them offsides as a bonus). Also, it will allow you to win many more second balls (if your long ball is headed back in your general direction, by stepping up you will be closer to the ball then the opponent so either you will win the ball or she will be offsides). The next advantage is that once the forwards get caught offsides a few times or get beaten to the ball a few times, they will start running with you. This is an example where you are dictating the game to the opponent. When you dictate how they will play and make them make adjustments to your style of play, you will normally be successful. When you do step up after a long ball, it’s important that you step up and in. This means as you step up, head toward the center of the field as well as forward. The reason for this is that while we want to be wide in our attack, until we see that the ball is won, we must be thinking of compressing the field both horizontally as well as vertically. The only disadvantage to stepping up after a long ball is played is that it does require good conditioning (there actually isn’t much more running because once you step up hard, you can relax some) but it does mean some additional sprints. Also, the idea of stepping up and putting an opponent into an offsides position is only effective if the assistant referees are staying in position. Factors like conditioning, speed of the opponent and positioning of the AR are extremely important in situations like this. Step up as a team and with confidence and you will find you actually have to defend less and can get into the attack more. In other words, it’s win/win situation for you and your team. If you haven’t yet, please participate in the current online survey at http://finesoccer.com/survey.htm Remember that all past newsletters are archived at http://finesoccer.com. Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to comments@finesoccer.com or posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.com/forum.htm Have a great day Lawrence |
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