Team Tactics

Why Every Soccer Player Should Know Tactics

At Soccer Training Solutions, our focus is on individual training and showing players what they can do to improve their game outside of the structured environment of team practices and games. This motivation and work-ethic is vital for players aspiring to unlock their full potential.

But there’s another element to continuous improvement that we also recommend: learning some soccer tactics.

Your individual training will give you lots and lots of touches and to develop your fundamental soccer skills like dribbling, receiving and touch.

These skills serve as your building blocks, but the way you put these blocks together to be the best player you can be requires knowledge of how they all fit into a larger whole in the context of real competition.

And it’s important to clarify that I’m not talking about getting deep in the weeds on theoretical philosophies or a bunch of complicated Xs and Os diagrams.

I’m talking about the basics: common styles of play and how different teams (including yours) go about trying to win games.

Like with individual training, your team’s practices and games aren’t totally sufficient for developing the tactical knowledge you’ll need to thrive.

For one, your coach will usually be teaching just one particular style of play (and depending on your age and level, your coach may be more of a motivator/organizer and not even have much tactical experience themselves outside of putting the best players in the game or making sure everyone has fun).

Your coach’s style may be at odds with what you yourself need to thrive. We of course recommend you always listen to and obey your coach, but you also want to be able to identify where they’re coming from in terms of how they set your team up and how that fits into universal soccer strategies you see in high school games all the way up to the English Premier League.

So what are some of these tactical concepts that are important for any player to know about?

At it’s core, we’re talking about what a team does to try to win?.

Do they try to possess the ball for long periods of time and gradually build up attacks? Or do they try to quickly spring forward and attack their opponent’s goal?

Do they press the opposition and try to win the ball, or sit back deeper and stay disciplined?

This involves the formation (like 4-4-2, or 4-3-3, or 3-5-2) but it’s also much more; any of those formations could be trying many different things tactically and put the players in different roles.

For example, in the team’s midfield, is one player positioned farthest up the field and lead the attack? (A classic number 10). Do the players more or less equally push forward to attack and drop back to defend? (a number 8) Is there one or two midfielders who largely stay back and anchor the defense and start passing sequences? (a number 6)

When the team has the ball, does a forward try to run in behind the defense to receive a through ball? Or do they check back to receive it farther from the goal?

Does the team as a whole try to attack down the middle, or attack the end line from out wide? If the latter, who is it that provides the width and pushes forward? Outside backs? Wingers? (And who is ready to drop back immediately if possession is lost?) Do they mainly utilize quick, short passes or longer, more direct passes? Are any players a big part of the offense for their dribbling ability?

And in response, what strategies does the defense do to try to counter these strategies?

You can discuss soccer tactics with a ton of advanced terminology, but at the end of the day it’s these types of questions that we’re talking about.

So thinking about them in terms of your own team, and looking for them when you watch soccer on TV can make sure you have the larger soccer IQ that will serve you well throughout your playing career.

As a caveat, I’m not talking about burdening the youngest players with this additional requirement (although watching soccer on TV and in person is a great habit for players of any age to build). But by U-13 or U-14 or so, this type of thinking should be happening. (Some more good discussion in this article.)

To take the next step, you can read some of our tactical-related articles, start here. and/or let us know if there are any particular concepts you’d like us to talk about

If you want to take a deep tactical dive, take a look at our list of recommended books on soccer tactics.

How Much Do Managers Matter? From Tactical Genius to Man Manager

By Parker & Walsh Leave a Comment

How much influence do soccer managers actually have over their team’s results?

It’s a more complicated question than it might initially appear.

The booming popularity of the soccer tactical analysis can make it seem like all managers are chess masters expertly moving their pieces in just the right ways to unlock the opposition and emerge victorious.

But this isn’t always the case, as we’ve explained that there are problems with treating tactical analysis as the be all end all for what influences a result.

Beyond that, some managers rely much more on their motivational skills than their Xs and Os acumen. This can make us wonder how effective these different approaches are, and whether either actually can mean more than simply assembling a team with the best players.

Soccer Tacticians vs. “Man Managers”

One major distinction we hear about regarding managers is that of the “tactician” vs. the “man manager.” If the former is exemplified by the image of Pep Guardiola’s endless tactical drilling and preparation, the man manager category is quite different.

As one source put it, “a man manager may not necessarily have a strong tactical understanding of the game, but they excel at building relationships with players and creating a positive team environment.” These managers succeed by knowing how to fire players up in order to play at their best (attributes that are also often linked to national team managers who have less time overall with their players).

The man manager category is also often populated by former players given roles largely due to the weight of their name, like Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer with Man U and Frank Lampard with Chelsea and Everton, both of whom ultimately failed when their limitations became increasingly apparent.

Because of this, and the cult status behind such revolutionary managers as Guardiola, Klopp, and even Mourinho, combined with the genuine soccer ideas they pioneered that revolutionized the modern game, seem to strongly suggest that the tactician is the most successful.

But on the other hand, if pure man managers can hold their own at least for a while, without much actual nuts and bolts coaching acumen, then is tactical instruction really that much more important?

Which Managerial Type Reigns Supreme?

In our opinion, a strict dichotomy between the two categories doesn’t really exist in the real world, and the best managers must employ a combination of the two approaches in order to succeed.

For one, soccer’s tactical evolution has has developed to a level at which just about every pro team has applied most of the major concepts into their strategy and teach them to their players. Even the most pure of a “man manager” who may lack tactical aptitude will rely on their team of assistants to drill the players on positioning, patterns, and other tactical ideas.

One source has argued that “elite tacticians are those who are not afraid to do what has not been done” and routinely “rewrite the concepts of the game.” But at the same time, “elite tacticians are not exactly elite managers.”

These innovative managers come up with major advances, but they often do not translate that into major success themselves; instead, other coaches take their new ideas and improve upon them. To give some examples, Marcelo Bielsa is cited as a major influence by almost every top manager, but he has never even managed one of the world’s top clubs and most recently flamed out at Leeds United in 2022. Ralf Rangnick revolutionized the press in German soccer, but didn’t reap the benefits himself; Jurgen Klopp did.

Because of all this, it’s the man management side that becomes even more crucial. Coach Julian Nagelsmann is one who has actually ventured a guess at quantifying the question, saying that “thirty percent of coaching is tactics. 70% is social competence.”

The most crucial role for the manager is to connect with players, and make them feel a sense of belonging and purpose. As another soccer writer put it, “one can have all the tactical knowledge, but if he can’t convince his team or motivate them or bind them in team spirit, they won’t carry out the tasks on field.”

Do Coaches Even Have a Major Influence on Results?

Some historical examples show us the big impact that the best managers can have.

In 2012-13, Manchester United won the Premier League but then longtime manager Sir Alex Ferguson, considered one of the greatest of all time, retired and was replaced by David Moyes. The following campaign, the club had all of its same players and was arguably even better, but they limped to a 7th place finish.

One observer said that Ferguson “knew the club inside-out. He was well aware of all its strengths and weaknesses, and would devise his tactics and strategies accordingly. He knew how to handle his players, how to train them, how to motivate them – how to get the most out of them. He knew what to do (and not do) when under pressure, what to do when in a comfortable position. David Moyes, unfortunately, didn’t have a clue.”

On the other side we can look at the early “Galacticos”-era Real Madrid, who made signing the world’s best players its goal but never fully meshed as a team, failing to win as many major honors as expected and burning through 4 managers. Many great managers have done more with much less, including Rafa Benitez in La Liga and England.

But beyond these anecdotal examples, the bigger picture is much more in question.

What Does the Research Say?

Several academic studies with more rigorous methodology have also tackled the question of the impact of managers, and their findings show that overall, soccer does not do a good job of valuing managers. Despite their often celebrity status, most managers fail to add much value at all. One study showed that there is a short-term boost when a new manager is hired, “due to the fact that players will be out to try to impress their new manager to ultimately keep themselves in employment” but that disappears after 12-18 games.

Another large-scale study discussed in The Economist compared team results to projects based on player skill and other factors and found that managers carry some impact, but the effect is small: “For a manager switching jobs after one year, we expect his new team to reap just 8% of his prior outperformance. Even after a decade of coaching, this figure is still only 45%, implying that the primary causes of a manager’s previous successes were beyond his control.”

Similar to our previous examples, however, they do make some exceptions for the best of the best: “A few bosses have beaten expectations for long enough to deserve proper credit. Despite lacking the star power of La Liga’s titans, Diego Simeone led Atletico Madrid to a Spanish title. And Jurgen Klopp turned mid-table Borussia Dortmund into two-time German champions. Conversely, Carlo Ancelotti has squandered resources. Although he has led the team with the best players in its league in eight of his past 12 seasons, he has won only three titles in that time.” (Not so special; Managers in football. (2019, January 19). The Economist, 430(9126), 85(US).)

Another article reaches similar conclusions: “For the most part, they are tinkering around the edges, their decisions and their choices and their approaches largely irrelevant to how their tenures will play out. Only the true greats, people like Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, had a tangible, discernible impact. All the others were at the mercy of factors not entirely within their control: a club’s financial potency, the quality of player on the books, the strength of their opponents. It is only necessary to glance at Paris St.-Germain to know that, even with a high-caliber manager and a high-quality squad, sometimes the mix is not right; something has to spark, something between chemistry and alchemy, to make things work.”

The Bottom Line

Summing all of this up, tactician managers start revolutions and any successful team needs a solid tactical grounding, but man management skills are often even more vital. Simply looking at year-by-year lists of champions reveals that although money can buy success to some extent, it’s not always the team of stars who win it all; you need those players to play with each other and buy into the bigger picture.

But this can’t always be traced to coaching: beyond some legendary examples, the overall managerial effect may be overstated. We can’t forget the often significant role that luck and randomness play in the results as well.

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EPL Tactical Trends in 2022-23: What to Watch For

By Parker & Walsh Leave a Comment

One of the best ways to get better at soccer is to learn from the pros, and with the recent boom in soccer streaming services there are more ways than ever to watch the best leagues from around the world on any device.

The English Premier League has always been one of the most popular, due to its storied traditions, rabid fanbases, and ambitious clubs keen on constantly putting together the best players from around the globe.

But as an aspiring player yourself, what should you be watching for to make sure you aren’t just entertained, but also educated? Following the movements and actions of a single player (ideally who plays your position), throughout the game is always a good idea, and has direct relevance to your own play.

Another important principle is to remember to “take your eye off the ball.” Although it’s tempting to follow whoever has the ball in their possession at that moment, shifting your focus elsewhere helps you identify

But to become the best player you can be, it is also useful to consider your own role in the larger context of the team and its general strategy. Here the Premier League

In this article we will look at some tactical trends from last year, how they may shape Premier League teams’ approach this year, and

Inverted Wingers as Goalscorers

Which players tend to be the primary goalscorer is another question that reveals a lot about a team. Are they banging in crosses to a physical number 9 striker? Playing through-balls to forwards or wingers? Do they defend and aim to steal a set piece goal from their big center backs?

One tactical trend in the Premier League in recent years has been the False 9 who drops deep to draw defenders out of position and initiate attacks. Because of this the space often opens up for wingers to make diagonal runs through or cut in themselves.

An added twist that we also have seen frequently is the inverted winger, which means that a left-footed winger lines up on the right wing and vice versa. This gives them an advantage in cutting inside and either crossing, dribbling or even shooting the ball. (As a bonus look out for the outside back on the same side to overlap when the inverted winger runs inside.)

For many Premier League clubs, these inverted wingers are expected to carry the bulk of the goalscoring load.

Last EPL season we saw two inverted wingers battle for the Golden Boot, Mohamed Salah of Liverpool and Heung-min Son for Tottenham. Look to see if this trend continues this campaign.

Rotating Positions / Positional Fluidity

The scenario we laid out in the last point, an inverted winger cutting inside and an outside back overlapping to maintain the team’s width, represents a larger theme as well in modern football tactics that we see in the EPL. That is of rotating positions or positional fluidity.

The basic idea is that players can interchange and take on different positions and roles from what one would “normally” expect from their position.

To identify this, look for shifts in positioning when a team transitions into attack, like a center back dropping deep in between center backs, or a winger coming inside. It could even be an attacking fullback not just pushing forward but also coming inside, like Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The details vary by team, but often the goal is to create overloads and positional advantages and exploit them in the final third.

Manchester City recently have exhibited extreme fluidity up top due to their use of a False 9, often Bernardo Silva, and using Gabriel Jesus as a winger. One analysis called the side “extremely difficult to deal with due to them forever swapping roles and not staying in fixed areas. City have successfully destabilized defenses by firstly unbalancing them and then penetrating them.” Now with Gabriel Jesus gone to Arsenal and big striker Erling Haaland signed, it will be interesting to see how Guardiola shifts his tactics.

Another team to look out for for positional fluidity is Leeds United. A Leeds reporter explained some patterns in article about their preseason: “Although Marsch likes a 4-2-3-1, this is by no means fixed positionally, and in all three matches, Leeds rotated positions. This was notable in central midfield (namely new boy Marc Roca), with a player dropping either between or beside the two central defenders and acting as the quarterback. Roca dropped between right centre-back and right-back, and Crysencio Summerville, playing on the right wing, moved into the vacated central midfield space; Roca then broke the Palace press with a vertical pass to Summerville, who received on the half-turn and drove forward.”

Another example to look out for could be a center back who carries the ball forward and launches attacks, an especially effective strategy to counter the ever-popular high press: “Antonio Rudiger often did this extremely well for Chelsea but is now off to Real Madrid, and Erik Ten Hag also sometimes used Frenkie de Jong this way at Ajax, so it will be interesting to see if these or other clubs continue to utilize the strategy.

Counterpressing

This concept, known as “Gegenpressing” where it emerged in Germany, is certainly not a new idea in the EPL where it has been used to great success for years by some of the best managers including Jurgen Klopp. The idea is when you lose the ball to attempt to win it straight back as quickly as possible instead of falling back into your defensive shape.

High-work rate teams like Leeds will likely use this strategy frequently, as explained in the previously referenced article: “For Leeds to attack teams with vertical passes through the middle, they need space and a disorganised opponent, both of which are possible if you can quickly recover the ball. Critically, counter-pressing is a team activity, and Leeds often try to pincer press opponents by having multiple pressing players come from different sides of the ball. This cuts off passing options and hassles the player in possession into making a decision — and Leeds will hope it’s often the wrong one.”

As you watch this and other presses, ask yourself if the team is immediately pressing or waiting for specific cues. And since it is such a drain on player fitness and stamina, how long can the team do this effectively before they either become ineffective, give it up, or make substitutions for fresh legs?

Dominance of the 4-3-3?

The most popular formation in 2021-22 was the 4-3-3, especially among the top clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City, so it’s likely to see this trend continue.

However, there are plenty of others that will see wide usage too, such as the 4-2-3-1. One manager who have made another formation a big part of their identity, we can look to Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel and his use of the back three in the 3-4-2-1 formation and its variations. With wingbacks who can drop back to make a back five when in the defensive phase, and two defensive midfielders to anchor the back line, it’s a strong base to start from. It wouldn’t be a bad bet to predict that more teams will use three at the back and wingbacks this year.

Another possible scenario is a return to more classic formations. It’s important to remember that tactical trends happen in cycles; that is, with constant tweaking and reactions to new ideas. Because of this we sometimes see teams return to older strategies, albeit with different context and reasoning than originally. One soccer analyst has theorized that “as defensive blocks become increasingly compact and more space appears both in behind defensive lines and in wide areas of the pitch, we’re likely to see sides adopt a more direct approach and return to formations like the classic 4-4-2.” He continued by touting the counterattacking potential against possession-based 4-3-3 sides, the potential for overloads on the wings, and the benefits of two central strikers who can run in behind.

All of these concepts, of course, are just a sampling of the wide tactical variety we are about to see over a long Premier League season with 20 very different teams.

To learn more about these and similar soccer strategies (as well as how they developed over the years) take a look at our recommended soccer tactics books.

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The Problem With Soccer Tactical Analysis

By Parker & Walsh Leave a Comment

soccer tactical analysis In recent years a particular type of soccer writing has boomed in popularity: the tactical analysis. These pieces aim to tell a story about how a game unfolded using subtle, easy to miss details that, according to the author, hold the key to interpreting the result.

Inspired by soccer tactics books from authors like Michael Cox and Jonathan Wilson, an army of columnists, bloggers and YouTubers with varying levels of experience are now publishing and sharing tactical analyses in order to explain the results of the biggest games.

A tactical analysis typically begins with a breakdown of the teams’ formations followed by a close look at the trends and patterns that proved decisive in the contest. You learn things like the positioning of midfielders, pressing schemes, overloads to create numerical advantages, and how each coach adjusted over the course of the match.

And to provide evidence for the points made, there are diagrams, screenshots, and even GIFs and videos that illustrate the narrative.

The story often seems convincing, even if you may have watched the same game and not noticed many of the particular trends. In some cases, however, it’s natural to question some key elements of the analysis.

Is that actually what those midfielders were trying to do? Is that GIF representative of the whole game, or just that particular sequence?

And, perhaps most crucially, does any of this even line up with what the coach actually called for?

A closer look at a tactical analysis often reveals a lot of hedging language that throws the narrative into doubt. “‘It seemed like” a player started to drop deeper. The team “appeared to” change up their press or passing patterns.

Indeed, a major weakness of these analyses is that we almost never get to hear a tactical plan from the coaches themselves, so these analysts are making something of an educated guess based on what they know about the team.

And it’s often not difficult to dig up a screenshot that illustrates the opposite of what was said in the analysis. Who is to say which is the trend and which is the outlier?

An exclusively tactical focus can make it seem as though players are interchangeable cogs and it’s just their positioning relative to their opponents, masterminded by a brilliant coach, that decides games.

But in the real world, it’s the moments of individual genius, lucky bounces, and even bad calls that lead to goals and decide games.

Because of this, critics have argued that tactical analyses are “not meant to be a description of how a game unfolded, or why one team played better than another, because that is often a result of factors that have nothing to do with tactics.” Instead, “tactical analysis describes longer periods of time. This is what Wilson does in Inverting the Pyramid, picking games to help the reader understand the evolution of soccer strategy over its 150 year history.”

The urge to wield it as an explanatory tool may be connected to the “glorification of general managers and back-room statisticians” and the fact that “some sports fans derive more joy believing their team outsmarted their opponent, as if that is some higher form of victory than scoring a beautiful goal.”

Ultimately, analyzing tactics on a game by game basis has its place, but it’s important not to go too far in concluding that it decisively caused a particular result.

To do so ignores so much of what makes soccer exciting, unpredictable and ultimately worth watching.

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What is Possession with a Purpose in Soccer?

By Parker & Walsh Leave a Comment

We’ve written about keeping possession and how to do it for a team’s success in soccer, but it’s important to understand that this doesn’t mean that all passes are equal.

Instead, you hear that teams not only need to know how to keep the ball, but that they need to achieve “possession with a purpose.”

What does this mean and how can you improve your ability to do it, both individual and as part of your team? This article will dig into the details.

Why is Possession Important and What is its True Purpose?

Finding the “purpose” of possession requires us to step back and consider our overall mission as a team trying to win a soccer game.

Unlike certain possession drills, ten passes don’t give us a point in the real world. What does give us a point, however, is scoring goals.

So working backwards from that objective, the purpose of possession is to generate scoring chances.

It’s unlikely that a single pass will completely open up your opposition and allow you to break through and score*, so this is why a series of passes in succession, otherwise known as keeping possession, is necessary.

An in-depth article on possession on the website American Soccer Analysis describes the first half of the “strategic attacking process” as:

Gain possession of the ball
Retain possession and move the ball
Penetrate & create goal scoring opportunities

So these steps give us some key aspects of possession that we’ll need in order to do it with a purpose, like moving the ball in order to achieve penetration. In the next section we will dig deeper into these ideas.

*Another important factor is the place on the field where you gain possession. For example, if you press high and win the ball from the opponent deep in their defensive third, then one pass may indeed be all you need in order to generate a scoring chance. But this is a starting point that is much less common.

How Do You Identify Possession Without Purpose?

Sometimes in soccer a good way to understand a particular concept is to see the opposite in action. So in this case, what does possession without purpose look like?

Even at the professional level, we can identify teams doing this. In fact it can be quite prevalent because defenses are often drilled to apply just the right type of press to make a lesser team uncomfortable when on the ball.

A team in possession without purpose will usually look pretty similar. First, you’ll see that the bulk of their possession is in their own defensive third, since this is where they have a numbers up advantage and it’s also the least dangerous area for the opposition.

Possession without purpose will mean less movement of the ball, so the passes will normally not travel a great distance and will not move into new areas. And more importantly, there will be little to no penetration in the passing. You’ll see lateral passes straight across followed by negative passes backwards to a defender or the goalkeeper. These passing patterns will be fairly predictable to spot.

In contrast, let’s discuss what it would look like if that team does achieve purpose in their possession. First, there will be significantly more movement of the ball into new areas. Think of the right back playing a long switching pass across the whole field to the left back or a midfielder. In general, players will look to pass “between the lines” which means behind a line of the opposition, usually the midfield or defense.

What Skills and Drills Can Help You (and Your Team) Possess with a Purpose?

There are a few fundamental soccer skills that are necessary to possess with a purpose. One is movement: you need to be able to make the right types of runs not simply to get open for a pass, but to break lines so that you pass and receive in a dangerous position behind the midfield or defense.

In order to play the right passes you of course need the technical foot skills to do it, including accuracy with all surfaces and the ability to use both feet. You also need to build good habits like keeping your head up, taking a look over your shoulder, and playing quickly.

There are also particular drills to practice possession as a team which will help you start to possess with a purpose. As a general principle, any possession drill that requires moving the ball from one area to another will help with possessing with a purpose.

The drill might be that you score a point by passing into and receiving the ball in an “end zone” that is marked off with cones. You may also mark off a series of 3 zones that each team must pass through in order to get a point. There also may be a required number of passes in one grid before the team must switch the play over to another grid where additional players are waiting. You can also set up a game with goals and goalkeepers where some of these objectives must be achieved before that team can shoot on goal. Overall, there are nearly endless variations, but all of these will help you possess with a purpose as a team.

We hope this article was helpful in understanding the purpose of possession and how to start doing it as both an individual and a team. If you have any questions or other ideas, let us know in the comments below.

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Soccer Possession Drills: Best Exercises to Learn to Keep the Ball

By Parker & Walsh Leave a Comment

rondo 4v2 5v2 Passing is a fundamental individual skill in soccer, but when the whole team gets in on the act, it becomes something much greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Possession is a key metric for team success, a requirement for scoring goals, and something that you need to be able to do well as a team, regardless of what any particular game plan is going to look like.

You may think that you need a whole team to work on possession, but this is not necessarily the case. In fact, one of the more popular possession exercises involves just 6 players. There are endless variations of adding numbers in different situations, though, so you can certainly utilize any higher number of players that you happen to have.

Let’s start with what teams and players most commonly do to work on their possession skills.

Rondos, 4v2, 5v2 and (Much) More

The most basic possession exercise has quite a few variations and you may call it a few different names.

Some refer to it as rondos, while others prefer to name the number of players who are serving in the drill, like 4v2 which indicates 6 players (this is the drill we referred to above). It’s closely related to some much simpler games that just about all of us are familiar with: keep away (aka “monkey in the middle”).

But no matter what you call it, the drill involves setting up a square area for playing. It is also characterized by a numbers up situation for the attackers (otherwise possession would be far too difficult to keep).

So in the most common example, we have 4 players on offense and 2 on defense, or 4v2. The offensive players usually start stationed on the outside of the square, while the defensive players start in the middle of the square.

To play, the offensive players try pass and keep the ball away from the defenders, who in turn try to intercept the ball and take possession.

If a pass is intercepted, the player in the middle switches to the outside and player who made the pass goes into the middle. Also, if a pass goes outside the square, then the player at fault (either the one who played a bad pass or failed to receive the ball properly) goes in the middle and the defender who has been in the middle the longest goes out.

Setting a Technical/Tactical Goal for Small Sided Possession Games

In these types of drills, possession is obviously the ultimate goal. But there’s more to it than just dinking the ball around. It’s important to have a purpose to work towards as you play. There are plenty of possibilities for what this could look like.

For example, the goal could be taking extra care to play the ball across your teammate’s body to their opposite foot so they can open up as they receive it.

It might simply be keeping your feet moving when anticipating a pass. Or picking your head up and scanning around before receiving a pass so you have a better idea of where you’re going to go with it.

For the defense, a goal might be communication between the two players, always saying who is going to press and who is going to cover.

There are many different types of benefits to rondos that have been studied extensively.

Variations on Possession Drills

We’ve already hinted at one variation that you can do: change up the number of players on offense and defense. 5v2 is another common one, and you can try playing with 1 or 3 defenders as well.

If you’re tweaking the number of players in the possession drill, then you’ll also want to consider varying up the size of the playing area. In general a smaller square makes it more challenging to keep possession and leads to quicker passing, while a larger field gives players more time and can get in more touches. (You can quickly set up soccer cones or extra shoes and move them to your heart’s desire.)

Offensive Link in the Middle: One possession drill that we like is used with a slightly larger square (or circle) and has one of the offensive players play in the middle and try to link play from one side to the other.

This will have them checking to the players on the outside, receiving the ball with a defender at their back, and either turning and dribbling or finding another open pass.

Other variations on these drills can incorporate larger numbers of players, which we’ll explore in the next section.

Larger Sided Possession Drills

You can take the main concept of the numbers up possession situation of a rondo and apply it to a bigger group. One good way to do this is the 4v4+3 possession drill.

To do this drill, use a larger area but make it somewhat rectangular. You are playing 4 offense versus 4 defense with three neutral (or all time offense) players who do not switch. Here when possession is lost, the whole team of 4 switches to defense and the defense becomes the offense.

Switching Possession Game: Another good drill to play involves two rectangles side by side. Play 4v2 or 5v2 in one rectangle with one offensive player alone in the other rectangle. If the offensive players get to a certain number of passes, they try to switch the ball over to the target player and if successful, everyone moves over to the other area to continue the game (minus one offensive player who stays and becomes the new target player).

There are also lots of different tweaks you can make to this type of switching game too; the sky is the limit!

Fun Possession Games and Challenges

Just because you aren’t playing a regular full team scrimmage doesn’t mean that you can’t make your possession drill just as fun as a game.

Passes = a point: One easy way to turn nearly any drill into a game is to say that a particular number of passes (5, 10, 12, etc.) will earn you a point. Sometimes a bonus can be given for a pass that “splits” the two defenders.

However, with any type of rondo in which offensive and defensive players switch frequently, it can be difficult to try to keep score.

So in these cases, another way to do it is not to switch when the ball is lost, but rather award the defensive team a point if they win the ball and resume play.

Find a fair number of passes for the offense to get a point and you have a challenge: which team can get to 5 or 10 points first.

Passing into Squares: Another good drill is to set up a few smaller squares inside the larger area which serve as target areas. The offensive team tries to complete a pass to a teammate who receives it inside the square.

To up the motivation levels even more, you can incorporate shooting on goal with possession drills.

You can set up any size grid and either a numbers up (like 6v4) or even (like 7v7) number of players. Your “goals” can be cones, or you can use actual goals to shoot on. Common parameters include making the team that is up numbers get to a particular number of passes before they can move towards and shoot on goal. The team that is numbers down usually is allowed to shoot any time they win the ball due to their disadvantage. You can also incorporate all of the other concepts like adding 2 or 3 neutral players. You can even set up two fields side by side, each with goals, and have your players switch sides as in the previously described exercise.

As you’ve hopefully seen by now, there is no shortage of possession drills that you can work on as a soccer team, from the basic 4v2 rondo up to a much larger exercise with the whole team and even goals.

If your team works on practicing possession, which drills have been your favorite?

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What is a Late Run into the Box and Why is it Good?

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soccer player late run

Recently we’ve been looking at some tactical terms you may hear from your coach or from others who analyze the game of soccer. These have ranged from patterns and positions of play to recycling possession.

Today we’ll look at another term that can be a little tricky to nail down: making a “late” run into the box.

First, this is usually described as a beneficial thing for player and team, but you may be wondering why that is so.

If the run is late, then doesn’t that mean the chance has passed?

No, not at all!

With this concept, it’s not that a run is late as in too late to be effective, but rather that it’s a well-timed run that catches the defense unaware and vulnerable.

How to Time Your Run Into the Box

It turns out that the ideal timing for your run is, you guessed it, as late as possible.

When you think about it, this makes sense.

If you arrive too early before the ball has arrived, the defense has more time to adjust and mark you, making it less likely you can receive the ball.

However, arriving late can lead to no one picking you up in time, so you can receive the ball in a dangerous position and get a shot and hopefully score a goal.

So now that we understand the basics, how exactly does this work in a game?

A run into the box can be effective in any attacking situation where you are in a position where the player with the ball can find you. It’s most common on situations where the ball is on one side of the field, which opens up space in the middle and on the opposite post. The situation can be a set piece like a corner kick or open play like a cross.

In order to make an effective run into the box, you need to be familiar with the most dangerous zones around and in the box so you can understand what space to exploit.

These include the near post, far post, the penalty spot, and at the top of the box. One common aspect of all these areas is that they are difficult for the goalkeeper to come out to reach a cross.

This concept can also vary depending on the position. For example, wingbacks or wingers can make late runs into the box that are especially hard to identify and defend against. Especially in younger age groups this can wreak havoc on the defense as they often can’t pick you up.

For other attacking situations, it may be a central midfielder who arrives late to receive a pass near the top of the box.

These runs are certainly something you can (and should) practice individually, but in a game situation it’s only affective alongside your teammates. More specifically, you need to have multiple attackers to run into the box and overwhelm or confuse the defense so that a late run will be effective. Make sure that different players are running into the different areas of near post, far post, the penalty spot, and the top of the box.

Finally, to make an effective run into the box, you want to change speed so you burst into the space and take the defense by surprise. (Read our article on getting separation for more tips.) You also should practice changing direction, such as cutting away from your area and then accelerating into it for added deception.

The more you play, the better understanding you will develop of space in and around the box and how to best exploit it with a late run.

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What Is Recycling Possession in Soccer?

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recycling possession

At its core, possession is a pretty simple concept in soccer. Many, but not all, of the top professional teams value keeping possession for its benefits of helping create space, stretch out your opponent, and ultimately create scoring chances.

But there’s more to possession than just passing the ball around. In particular, there are some more specific concepts that are important to learn for anyone who wants to have a complete understanding of how possession plays out in real game situations. One of those is recycling possession.

The Basics of Recycling Possession Defined

When you first hear it this may be a bit of a confusing term. What does recycling have to do with passing the soccer ball?

But when you consider what the concept refers to, the name does make sense.

Essentially, recycling possession means that the team with the ball plays it back to a player who is providing cover. That player in turn moves the ball to another area of the field where the team then “rebuilds” their possession.

But since recycling possession usually involves taking the ball from a more advanced position to a deeper one, is this even a good thing?

Possession: Patience and Chance Creation

In an ideal soccer world we would be efficient with our possession and quickly attack the opposition vertically, culminating in a shot on goal.

But in the real world, defenses are structured to prevent us from easily penetrating and continuing to move forward.

So it becomes necessary for the team in possession of the ball to be patient and work methodically to create space and eventually unlock the defense.

In many cases, this will involve probing one particular area of the field, but if it is not possible to play a penetrating pass or dribble into a dangerous area, it becomes necessary to reset and attempt to penetrate another area of the field.

And it’s recycling possession that allows us to switch things up and probe the new area.

This act of recycling has plenty of additional benefits too: the switch can catch opponents off-guard and out of position, allowing easier penetration into a dangerous area.

It also helps to tire the defense out since they have to run more to keep up with your passing.

Possession and Ball Retention

Another term closely related to possession is ball retention, and this is another way to help us understand recycling possession. Ball retention means not only keeping the ball away from your opponent, but also possessing with purpose in order to create an opening in advanced areas at the right time.

Recycling possession is a crucial component of ball retention, of keeping the ball while drawing opponents out of position and ultimately allowing your team to penetrate and create chances.

Working on different build-up patterns of play and honing your movements in conjunction with your teammates will help your team avoid possessing solely for possession’s sake and move towards a more strategic passing strategy.

One good way to improve your understanding of recycling possession is to watch for it on TV. When can you identify a team recycling in order to probe a new area of the field? Did the reset help them ultimately move forward and attack?

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Tactical Terms: Positional Play vs. Principles of Play vs. Patterns of Play

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soccer tactics positional play diagram

The world of soccer tactics can be a tough nut to crack: there are a dizzying array of formations that often change during the game as well as plenty of advanced concepts that can be difficult to identify, let alone analyze and apply to your own situation.

In many cases, however, the core tactical concepts are relatively straightforward to understand with some effort. But one factor that makes it more difficult is the specialized vocabulary used to describe them.

This article will define three terms that we’ve found to be easily confused. In fact, they are all “P” words followed by the term “Play,” but all mean different things!

These three tactical concepts are Principles of Play, Patterns of Play, and Positional Play. What are these and how are they different from one another?

What Are Soccer Principles of Play?

This is likely the easiest of the ideas to understand conceptually, but it also branches out quickly into lots of diverse tactical topics.

We like this definition to sum up the concept of principles of play:

“The principles of play are the fundamental strategies that a team uses to effectively adapt to any tactical situation during a game” (Source).

They are separated into attacking and defending principles. The wording of these can vary slightly according to different sources, but are usually these:

Attacking Principles of Play: Penetration, Support, Width, Mobility, Improvisation/Creativity, Scoring/Finishing

Defending Principles of Play: Pressure, Delay, Depth/Cover, Compactness, Balance, Control/Restraint

What Are Patterns of Play?

If principles of play are the general attacking and defending strategies used by a team, patterns of play are much more specific sequences that a team repeats over and over again until they become second-nature rather than actions they need to consciously think about when they come up.

According to one article, “patterns of play are designed to be practiced to help players identify common situations in the game itself. When these situations occur, the players involved will think about the movements within a pattern of play (that they practiced in training) and will re-enact them in the game.”

To give an example in an attacking context, “we train patterns of play to help players identify and execute pre-determined passing and moving combinations to beat the opponent’s defense … Sometimes that may mean penetration to score a goal, other times it may also mean playing through the opponents forwards or midfield to get through their defensive block or pressure” (source).

What is Positional Play?

Finally we get to our final term, positional play. This is probably the most complicated to understand, but let’s dig into it. This analysis gives a definition:

“Positional Play is a style of play where the football pitch is divided into zones and each player is assigned to a zone. Each zone has a different role which means that each player has a different task to execute. If a player moves into another zone, a teammate has to take his place, which is what we call rotations.”

This idea is part of the Dutch “Total Football” pioneered by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff at Ajax and Barcelona, and one prominent modern practitioner is Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, who made his name with Barcelona as well.

This quote by a former assistant of Guardiola also helps explain the idea:

“(Soccer is) a game of position, not possession. What does this mean? It means that when you have the ball, the goal is not to move the ball but to move the opponent by quick switches of position to find somewhere to pass the ball in order to give your side an advantage.”

So when compared to the two other concepts, Positional Play is the most specific and refers to a particular style of play, even though that style is rather complex to understand and appreciate.

We hope this article has helped clear up these “play” terms that may sound similar but in reality refer to different things.

To gain a more in-depth understanding of these and other tactical concepts, we recommend checking out our list of the best soccer tactics books.

Best Soccer Books for Learning Tactics and Advanced Strategy

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By Andrew Walsh

In recent years there’s been an explosion of interest in the tactical side of soccer.

The tactics of the world’s top managers are regularly broken down at a level rarely seen in generations past. Countless blogs have sprung up on the internet breaking down the formations and tactics for all of each week’s top games as well as the more obscure ones. And coaches of all levels are incorporating exciting new ideas and strategies into their game plans.

But in order to gain a deeper understanding of soccer tactics, it’s best to go beyond the blogs that can vary considerably in clarity and quality, and dig into some foundational texts on soccer tactics.

These are our picks for the best tactics books available right now, in no particular order, and no matter whether you read your books in print or electronically or call the game soccer or football.

Our List of the Best Soccer Tactics Books

The Mixer by Michael Cox

With the Premier League high atop the popularity charts for professional soccer leagues both in the US and worldwide, this is a great book for understanding its tactical evolution. The game we watch today on NBCSN or Sky is practically unrecognizable from what you’d have seen around the league’s inception in 1992.

Cox’s well-researched and interesting book takes you from the days of “route one” football filled with long balls and big bruising forwards to the false nines, skillful defenders, and midfield wizards of today.

The book covers some of the business side of the game that fueled many of these changes, but for the most part focuses on the tactics. A great read for those who’ve marveled at some of the Premier League’s more exciting players over recent years and are interested in getting a better overall understanding of their contributions to one of the world’s greatest leagues.

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Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson

Many would consider this list woefully incomplete without a mention of this voluminous tome. It’s considered by many to be the finest work on the subject of soccer tactics. Others, however, describe it as a dense slog bogged down by a dizzying amount of obscure coach and player references going back to the early decades of the 20th century.

I tend to think it’s somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, as there’s a great deal of useful history even if you might decide to skim through some parts. But in terms of understanding how we got to where we are today with soccer tactics, no other work even comes close.

You’ll travel back to the 1930s, jaunt through South America and Dutch Total Football in the 1970s, and eventually arrive at modern-day Barcelona and other current tactical leaders.

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Complete Guide to Coaching Soccer Systems and Tactics by Jacob Daniel

Jacob Daniel, a longstanding Director of Coaching for US Soccer, has laid out an excellent soccer resource covering tactical formations, attacking and defending principles, training exercises.

Some sections of the book are aimed primarily at coaches, but players and fans will still get a ton out of it as well due to the abundant diagrams, clear descriptions of tactical principles, and its overall comprehensive nature.

The book walks you through everything from the strengths and weaknesses of a 4-4-2 vs. a 4-3-3 to the principles of zonal and man-to-man marking, with helpful examples sprinkled in throughout.

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Zonal Marking: The Making of Modern European Football

We’ve already covered Cox’s book on the Premier League, and he’s also branched out for a wider-ranging tactics book covering the whole of Europe.

Think of this book as Inverting the Pyramid if it were focused just on the last 30 years in Europe. As such, it does not go into as much historical detail and to as many far-ranging footballing nations. But many fans will appreciate a focus on the events and players who they remember from their own lives, rather than earlier anecdotes that might seem like ancient history despite their value in shaping today’s tactics.

Zonal Marking the book grew out of Cox’s popular blog of the same name. If you’re looking for more writing from him, he no longer updates the blog but instead writes a regular tactical column for The Athletic (which does require a paid subscription).

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Soccer: Modern Tactics: Italy’s Top Coaches Analyze Game Formations Through 180 Situations

This books presents a rather unique structure as the author is joined by 10 top coaches from Italy including such legends as Carlo Ancelotti, Arigo Sacchi, and Marcello Lippi. This gives you much more than one perspective on the tactical concepts discussed, but all still within the specific tradition of the Italian school of thought.

Most formations are covered but it’s far form a book for beginners; it assumes considerable tactical knowledge and some of the diagrams and concepts are rather complex. It also has some rather direct translation and perhaps less than comprehensive editing, but as long as you are looking for information on soccer tactics and not riveting English language prose, you will be fine.

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Masters of Modern Soccer by Grant Wahl

Soccer journalist Grant Wahl has made a fantastic contribution to the genre with this work. It’s not a traditional tactics book from the perspective of a coach, but rather an intimate look at a select group of great players and coaches and how they approach the game.

The personal touches of the chapters–interviews combined with Wahl’s analysis–give this book a unique insight not often seen.

Wahl digs into their motivations, thought processes, and their actions on the field through the lens Players profiled include Christian Pulisic, Chicharito Hernandez, and Xavi Alonso. In addition to the players he also interviews Belgium coach Roberto Martínez and Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc.

I also recommend looking up Youtube videos of the closely-analyzed plays described in the text to better understand them.

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How to Watch Soccer by Ruud Gullit

This type of book by a former player or manager can be hit or miss: some spend most of their time gushing about their own accomplishments.

Here Gullit does share quite a bit of his personal history, but there’s a good deal of tactical rumination as well, and it’s valuable in the sense of being a personal account of strategy from a top professional player and later coach.

I found it to be much more useful than the others of the genre that I’ve read, at least.

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We think these books are the best choices for understanding soccer strategy and tactics (and they also make great soccer gift ideas). Have you read any of them? If so, what did you think? Would you add any others to this list?