To preface this post we played a game recently that we lost 4-0. Most of their goals came from direct play to a lone forward we just could not keep up with. However, for most of the night we were under immense pressure from their attack in our third. They only had 5 up and at times 6 counting the back they had coming up to take space on the far weak side (she only had one shot on a bad clearance). My concern is that I could not figure out why we could not find our shape and marks with 9 defenders. I tried to put the basic principle of what they were doing with overloads on the board to help us but even when I did that the shape and compactness of the defense broke down. I couldn't help but feel like I was just confusing them but really had no answers to their feedback. "If I step, who's covering?", "I need to be here, right, who's marking her?" Every time I moved a piece someone else was out of position and the basic elements of shift, pressure, cover, balance, broke down. Now, there were times when the midfield support was too tight to the back line which left too much space in the box. A lot of that had to do with the attacking teams poor organization and support, basically they would get bunched up and our girls would try to mark which in turn caused us to get bunched up. Again, I had no answer because it was as if I needed to tell them to mark space rather than following their mark. ............................................................________________........................................................ ..................................................................................G........................................ ......................................................D..................D...............D.....................D...........A ........................................................................CM.............A.............CM ...........................................A....................................A .................................................................................................................ACM ..................................................................................................A...................................A This is of course a crude diagram which looks much cleaner in tight spaces but on the field when players start stepping to defend those spaces open up to huge gaps. This is just a general idea of the looks that were giving us problems.
Often games don't happen like we planned and expected. Trying to make big changes or too many changes often is not as successful as making a few small adjustments. "Shape" is a quality of a zone defense or zonal marking. A pure man to man defense has no defined shape. I assume that you are playing either a zone defense or zonal marking in a 451 shape, a line of 4 backs with a line of 5 mids defending in front. If you find that opponents are attacking with only 5 or less players, one adjustment you can make is to assign 1-2 players to mark the most dangerous opponents man to man while leaving the rest defending zones (areas). This means the targeted attacking players will always be double-teamed as they move through the defense--their assigned marker plus whoever is responsible for defending the area where the target is located. I have a lot of player experience where the back line uses zonal marking while the midfielders mark opposing midfielders man to man. This means that the midfielders follow their marks on their attacking runs and also are ready to win the ball or else quickly press if the ball is passed to their mark. When the number of attackers is close to being even with the number of defenders, I prefer zonal marking, which is less confusing.
Out of curiosity, I see a lot where man marking is more confusing than zone. However, for me, I think there is more ambiguity in zone. I think it is easier to get beat (individually) in man systems but at least there is no question as to what happened. What am I missing? Specifically regarding your post, is it sound to have the back line zone while everyone else man marks the opponent, sans their holding backs?
Mixing zone with man to man coverage has been done for a long time by a lot of different teams. For instance with a 442, you have to worry about attacking fullbacks and midfielders running forward. I played many adult matches in the midfield and without thinking about it, I would keep track of how many opponents were behind me so I would know if there was 3 behind me, I would pick up the next runner going past me man to man so the team would always be 1 up in the back line. When I played in front of a FB, I would let the first opponent go past and then pick up the second runner man to man when they were trying to flood the FB's zone. If I was playing winger, I would mark the opposing FB if he ran forward to attack. It is all about maintaining balance. With inexperienced players though, they won't be able to read the circumstances and anticipate where they need to go. So they need a simple system. In man to man, it is important not to leave your mark unless someone tells you they have got him. So when a forward or midfielder tracks back with an opponent, they should not leave him until a back says he is taking over. In zonal marking (with one exception discussed later) you stop marking an opponent when he leaves your zone. What is important in zonal marking is telling your team mates when someone is coming into their zone so that they can takeover marking. The exception in zonal marking is that, close to the goal, it is too dangerous to leave anyone unmarked so all defenses become man to man near the goal. When I coached U10s I didn't have to teach this. I only explained what the danger area was and that no opponent should be left unmarked in the danger area (where it could score). Then I reinforced when they tenaciously defended the danger area. Prioritizing the defense of the most dangerous areas and opponents is just common sense. A primary defensive purpose of the midfield line is to literally slow down the attackers so that they cannot just sprint past the back line. In that respect the midfield line screens the back line. 1v2 pressure-cover exercises are a reflection of this.
Ok, there is some important terminology here I think will help us. "Danger zone" - I know this changes based on ability (shooter) but in general would this be the penalty area? Under these circumstances the idea of pressure, cover, balance changes somewhat because potentially what, or who should be part of the balance is man marking like this? .................................................D4..............................D2 ............................................................D3 ............................................................................................D1 ..................................................................A..............................A
The shape of the "swoosh" in the back line is going to be determined primarily by where the ball is. D1 would be high if he is on the attacker with the ball. If the ball was not near the back line, the back line should push up field to force the 2 opponents to move out of the danger area. Note about comments in clip: The narration is commenting about the 2 CBs being flat and not using a sweeper in this situation. The situation is that they are defending just in front of the penalty area so that the keeper is providing cover so a sweeper would just get in his way. This explanation is pretty good:
When Tony Dungy started rebuilding Tampa Bay it was forlorn franchise. So his approach was to reduce the number of cues his players had to deal with. Each player had a specific one, for example a defensive end would look at the foot positioning of his opposing Offensive Tackle—heel behind the toe of the outside foot and it was probably a run, heel off center and the tackle would probably pivot to drop into pass protection. Simplify your player's reads (for now). The closer the ball is to our goal, the tighter we get to our marks. (Literally) touch tight and goal side. Put a hand or a forearm on their lower back or waist, apply just enough pressure that you can restrict their movement. But it's not a grab. Position themselves so they can see and/or touch BOTH their mark AND the ball. Defender's gaze shifts between ball-mark-runners-ball-mark-runners. We don't need 11 sets of eyes on the ball. REACT. Do something. I'd rather them react and do something and fail rather than be late, inactive, frozen and we concede a goal.
I agree with elessar78's remarks except when the team is playing a zone. In a zone, players are defending an area of the field, not marking a man (unless they have the attacker with the ball). The priority for a zone is denying through passes in the gaps between the backs. The object is to force the attack to either pass back, sideways or down the flank, not through the center. Vision is still important, zone defense or man to man. The two clips linked above are zone defenses, not man to man.
I think the first clip of the defending back 4 (animated) shows some of our problem and also causes some confusion in how I want to instruct the players. Example, near the end of the video as the ball travels forward toward the end line there is no "swoosh" as two of the defenders stay high to mark attackers. Maybe its a slightly inverted swoosh. In that scenario we have the back line drop to keep shape and try to have the CMs marking those 2 attackers. Problem with us is it doesn't always work out. Maybe this is what elessar78 was referring to as far as staying touch tight. We do practice that scenario but I tell the players that it is assuming the mids have been beat or will be no help. We do ball watch an awful lot and I cannot seem to break them of that. We do great in practice of moving with the ball and marking correctly but games is another story. Could be because of our own slow, poor attack. We use the drill from the second clip playing 4v4, 5v4, and 6v5 in different areas. Thanks for the replies and all your help, gentlemen.
The "swoosh" shape is a ready position for the backs supporting off the ball which will change as the backs react to what happens next to the ball. At 1:18 of the clip the players are in a swoosh position. The players are inside the penalty box, so having the players off the ball drop further back would put them in the way of the keeper. This is a different circumstance from defending further up the field. After 1:18 the clip shows alternative movements for if the attacker with the ball moves toward the end line or tries to pass square. The covering CB stays positioned to protect against penetration or cross inside and covers the passing lane to the striker. He does not shift position to prevent the dribble to the end line. I agree that the positioning of the back line closer to the strikers in front of the goal is related to what elessar78 said. The way I think of it is that inside the penalty area all defensive organizations off the ball become man to man.