What is the defination of a withdrawn forward? I hear a lot about playing with a tall striker then a smaller but quicker withdrawn forward. On my high school team we have this really tall stirker thats about 6'3 and i was thinking that he could play up top as the striker and have 2 of our other forwards who r quicker but are smaller at 5'7 and 5'3 play withdrawn. What are the responsiblites of a withdrawn forward in terms of checking back and their partnership with the lone striker? also if anybody could answer this is the what is an attacking mid and is it the same as a withdrawn forward? Heres the formation 3-1-3-3 ----GK----- LB--CB--RB ----CDM--- LM--CM--RM --WF---WF--- ----ST---- Since we are not a talented team and imcapable of holding the ball or playing a possession type game and mostly just play long balls we should ditch our 4-4-2, 5-3-2, 5-4-1, and play this formation so at least theres more people up field to receive those long balls. But again i was thinking we should try to take advantage of our big man and play him up top and play our other 2 quicker smaller forwards withdrawn but what r their responsiblites in terms of checking back and their relationship with the striker and the midfield?
Boy, there is a lot going on in that question. Essentially, the difference is: the withdrawn forward "holds" the ball with the intention of distributing, while the attacking midfielder tries to "create and go forward" with the intention of distributing. A withdrawl forward is a forward who usually plays with his back to his opponents goal. His job is NOT to sprint forward and beat the defenders on the run. His job is to receive the ball, hold it and try to spread it around to other forwards or midfielders. He doesn't need to be fast, but he must have very good ball handleing skills and vision. An attacking midfielder is somewhat similar to a withdrawn forward, but threre are some differences. The attacking-mid has excellent ball handeling abilities, great vision, and very good speed. Once he has the ball, he will try to either: (1) pass to another midfielder one-touch or two-touch, (2) beat the midfielder covering him, and then maybe take on a defender and dish to an outside midfielder, or (3) dish to a forward or give a through ball to hit the striker in stride, or (4) free himself to rip a shot on goal. One question: The tall guy, you said he isn't as quick as others, but is he fast? I don't know if having a tall, but not so quick forward as Striker is gonna get the job done. You really want someone up top with some speed. I have a concern with the fact that your team is not capable of holding the ball, but you want to employ a withdrawn forward. If your team can't hold on to the ball or string a few passes together, then the withdrawn forward may never see the ball. I'm not sure a withdrawn forward is going to help in a kickball scenario. Maybe it will. Maybe the withdrawn forward would gobble up the balls headed out by the opponents defense. Re: the formation: I guess if I was coaching a team that wasn't very good, I would play a more defensive formation than a 3-3-1-3, (which is essentially a 4-3-3). This is a very offensive minded formation and any decent team with a finisher will exploit you and put a crooked number on the scoreboard. I would think you would want to slow the game down, maybe play a 4-4-2 or a 5-3-2. If you have at least one absolutely incredibly fast individual with skill, I would say play the 5-4-1 and let this guy have a go while the rest of you keep the other team at 0. That's my take. Hope that helps.
Like I said, that is how I see it. You could ask a lot of people what they expect from each position and get a bunch of different answers. HalfNelson31, I would say just read all the ideas and see which would work best for your team.