Your Game: Getting behind the defense quickly!
July 30, 2007
One of the things I really enjoyed about my college team was our direct
style of play and how quickly we were able to break done our opponents. Granted we had some very talented players, we also had a strategy
that always caused havoc. This strategy was nothing
more than playing a long, short, then long ball.
Most of our goals were scored by our outside backs playing a
long and direct pass from our final third to a sticker in the opponents
final third (that’s the first long ball). That attacker, as they were
checking back to receive the ball, would play a one-touch short pass
back to an oncoming mid fielder who would then dump the ball into the
corner for the outside mid, who was making a blazing run down the flank while the opposite side outside mid made a similar run. Then, once under control the outside mid began gunning at the near pole drawing the opponent over and would then slot the ball back across the goal mouth for the oncoming runners or could sometimes take on the opponent 1 v 1 to put the ball in the back of the net.
This series of play happens in about 8-10 seconds with at most 1-2 touches and if done
technically right the opponent was on their heals and usually did not know what hit them. The are limitless
combinations of how this happens but to keep it simple - its a long,
short, long sequence. If you watch a lot of EPL you’ll see this
sequence quite a bit. However, it does not happen so easily to very good, quick and organized defensive backs. Still, mistakes can be forced easily with this direct attacking strategy that can quickly put lots of pressure on the other side.
Later, I plan discuss some of the strategies to
create this opportunity and how to capitalize when you get behind the
defense. If their fast enough you’ll need to have other options. So, until next time "get stuck in!"
~ Jason
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