Tactical concepts
The words you hear on every broadcast, explained: where a team defends, how it attacks and what it does in the seconds after losing or winning the ball.
Key points
- A match has four phases: attack, defence and the two transitions between them.
- The height of the block is where a team chooses to start defending.
- Counter-pressing tries to win the ball back in the seconds after losing it.
The four phases of play
- Organised attackThe team has the ball and the opponent is set.
- Defensive transitionIt has just lost the ball: press or drop back?
- Organised defenceThe opponent has the ball and the team is in shape.
- Attacking transitionIt has just won the ball: counter-attack or keep possession?
Almost all tactical vocabulary describes what a team does in one of these four phases.
High, mid and low block
The block is the whole team out of possession, and its height is where the defensive line sits.
- High block: the team defends far from its own goal, with the back line near halfway. It goes with a high press: forwards closing down the opposing centre-backs to win the ball near their box. It leaves a lot of space in behind.
- Mid block: the team waits around the halfway line and presses when the ball enters its zone.
- Low block: everyone close to their own box, with the lines tight together. It is the usual choice for a team protecting a lead or facing a much stronger side.
Counter-pressing
Also known by its German name, Gegenpressing. When a team loses the ball, the nearest players immediately press the man in possession to win it back within the first few seconds, before the opponent can organise. If it works, the team recovers the ball near the opposing box; if it fails, the opponent has space to run into.
Positional play
A way of attacking that occupies the pitch in an orderly fashion to create overloads: more players than the opponent in one area, or a free player between the lines. It relies on width (wingers on the touchline), patience on the ball and the third man: A passes to B so that B can lay it off to C, who was the free player all along.
Other common terms
- False nineA centre-forward who drops into midfield and leaves the centre-backs with nobody to mark.
- Wing-backA full-back who covers the whole flank in systems with three centre-backs.
- Counter-attackA fast attack straight after winning the ball, while the opponent is out of shape.
- Between the linesThe space between the opponent's defence and midfield, where a free player does real damage.
The shapes underlying all this are covered in football formations.