Tottenham Talk on Tuesday 24th Aug
Tottenham Talk on Tuesday 24th Aug
Well good morning Spurs folk and welcome to another edition of Tottenham Talk where we will chat today about the tactic of playing out from the back.
Thanks to @SimplyWink, here is our Pass Map for the victory over Wolves which shows that only Dele, of our midfield three, managed 3 or more successful passes to Son.
To play out requites confidence, movement and above all a mental toughness that enables you not to give in to anxiety and make a mistake.
Our analyst should be calculating how many time we are successful playing out and how many times we fail.
I have never though we are very good against an aggressive high press and have tended to make a lot of mistakes I feel.
No statistics to support that, but it has been my gut feeling over the years. Gut feeling can often be wrong though so it does really need statistical evaluation as to it's effectiveness.
It's success relies on numerical superiority to find the 'free man'.
Players spread out vertically and horizontally to give themselves as much playing space as possible.
The opposition press can be more effective in a crushed or confined space, hence why you don't want a player trapped with the ball on the sideline.
Outside of the box to see centre-backs split the width of the box to give width.
The keeper is an extra outfield player to move the ball, left, right or centrally forward.
If the opposition are pressing high in numbers then there is space to be exploited behind them.
The full-backs have pushed on high and wide, against the touchline. When a centre-back has the ball they drop to give them a passing option.
Midfielders start high and drop into spaces, a central midfielder will move toward the full-back with the ball.
That gives the full-back three short passing options, forward to a player dropping from high, square or back to the wide centre-back.
A dropping attacking midfielder will draw a defender with them, who has to be careful that the pair do not play a give and go passing movement.
Full-back to dropping attacking player, attacking player immediately back to full-back, turn and sprint upfield, hopefully ahead of the opposition defender so a ball can be played behind them.
It's a probe ball playing into the dropping player, you are creating a space behind that may be exploited, creating space for yourself to run into, hopefully.
You are probing to see if this happens so the full-back either plays a safe pass or a pass to a nearly marked man to pull the opposition around.
Now there has to be room for a specialist coach for off the ball movement to create openings as everything is bog standard between the teams. They all do the same thing.
Tottenham are now not pressing high but sitting back to remain compact and prevent the opposition having space behind us.
This enables an opposition centre-back to push forward into the space in front of us and the opposition defensive players move forward with him.
As you can imagine this is now putting pressure on the centre-back to be a good passer when in possession.
You therefore ideally need two ball-playing centre-backs (Alderweireld - Vertonghen) instead of restricting yourself with one.
It again helps if one is left-footed and one is right-footed, not essential but an advantage.
Passing out from the back requires all players to be moving as a set of cogs to create passing options or space or simply to open up a passing lane to another player.
It is the job of the man on the ball to assess everything quickly and then to select the best option.
A series of drilled routines involving all the players here would be advantageous, something a specialist coach would work on.
Remember the key to success is not trying to know it all and do it all yourself, but to surround yourself with experts in their field and give them the responsibility to fulfil their role.
You become more of a co-ordinator, a manager, you lead the operation and call upon whatever expert you need.
Being a Head Coach should be no different to that.
I remember us playing Liverpool at Anfield I thing and the ball was played to Kyle Walker trapped on the side line with no forward passing options and his only option was a long pass back to the keeper which he made a mess of and they scored.
The longer the pass the greater the risk of it going wrong, hence the short pass with least risk is the preferred option.
This is why when looking at passing stats the short passes success rate is the most important, ahead of medium range and long range.
Now obviously, but nobody has told Tanguy Ndombele this, when you make a mistake and lose the ball, every player needs to get back into position quickly to defend.
Failure to do so presents the opposition with superior attacking opportunities if they are quick to react.
Those stats above are startling and emphasise what a defensive liability Ndombele is, he jogs back slowly.
On the ball, going forward he is brilliant, off it there is a lot of work to do and he doesn't seem to want to do it.
That's why 4 managers haven't selected him and he therefore wants out. I bet you if we were top of the league he would be doing his defensive duties an awful lot better.
You watch when things are not going so well for Spurs, our midfield don't sprint back, that's the difference between midfielders with an attacking mindset and those with a naturally defensive mindset.
Italians take pride in defending, not enough players over her in England do.
When you lose the ball you need to get bodies behind the ball as soon as possible to shut down opposition attacks, so a player who jogs back is abdicating his responsibility.
Sometimes the long ball is needed to either clear your lines when you have little time and no passing options or because there is space in behind a pushed up opposition defence to exploit.
In these situations you are looking for a long pass rather than a long ball and you hope your striker can hold the ball up, then bring others into play.
Players further up the pitch have to read the game and anticipate the long pass (proactive) by dropping in front of defenders to receive a pass and shield the ball.
I'll perhaps watch the game a second time but from a coaching point of view and see how many tikes we play the Dier out to Reguilón, Reguilón square to Dele, Dele forward to Bergwijn or Reguilón forward to Bergwijn passing patterns.
Alternatively it could be square from Reguilón tp Skipp, forward to Dele, out wide to Bergwijn or Skipp to Bergwijn, out wide to Dele.
This creation of space when passing out from the back is important so why pass the ball slowly so the opposition can readjust before you have had the chance to take advantage of the space you have created.
You are negating your off the ball and passing work, putting yourself under pressure and having to do it all again.
That's when players start to lose patience and play hopeful long balls that may well result in a turnover of possession.
Playing out from the back has risks and rewards, it requires good positioning, good off the ball movement, good decision making and good passing execution.
Well that's it folks.
- Don't forget to share this post on social media
- Visit the THBN website each day
- If you are a supporters group, distribute the article or direct members to it
- Americans share share share, a big audience I'm looking to grow further
- Outside UK - again looking to grow the audience, every share helps
Post a Comment