Group Defensive Principles Part 3

Handling Numbers Down Defense
Ideally, no player ever would end up in a game where he has to defend against 2 attackers without any backup support. However, realistically, this happens in game situations (even if just for a few seconds until backup arrives), so players need to be trained on how to approach numbers-down defending with confidence. The basic positioning of the solo defender is essentially the same as if he were a Cover player in a 2v2 setting.

In general, until the ball comes within shooting range, a solo defender will try to position himself so that he can remain in the path of the on-ball attacker and slow him down - but he will want to drop off towards goal sufficiently to also keep an eye on the off-ball attacker. As a general rule, most off-ball attackers will remain to one side and slightly behind the on-ball attacker until the ball is entering scoring range. At this point, the off-ball attacker will start to try to move to the far side of the defender in order to prevent the defender from staying enough to provide any pressure on the ball and still keep an eye on the off-ball attacker.

When this move starts to happen, the defender has two basic choices (which depend on which of the two attackers is considered more dangerous). If the two attackers are coming directly in on goal (attacking centrally), then the most dangerous attacker is probably the on-ball attacker, because the goal is relatively open for a shot. In this situation, the best choice is likely to be to make a sudden hard sprint at the on-ball attacker in order to force him to make a rapid shot or pass before he planned to do so (because forced shots/passes often are screwed up - and a hard charge may leave the intended receiver offside). Of course, when the defender makes this decision to come out hard, he must do everything possible to win the ball or knock it away, leaving the keeper to worry about handling the off-ball attacker if the pass gets through. To minimize the possibility of a pass, the solo defender may slightly angle his run to put his body in the easiest passing lanes to the receiver (unless covering the dominant foot appears to be the better option).

On the other hand, if the on-ball attacker has a very poor shooting angle because he is coming in from the side of the goal - but his off-ball receiver is stationed centrally around the top of the box (as he should be)- the most dangerous attacker usually is the receiver. As a result, in this situation, the defender will try to position himself more centrally than the keeper (who will be standing close to the near post). Normally, he will stand around the top of the goal area, in the hopes of intercepting any horizontal pass to the receiver (which is the most dangerous pass to him) and helping the keeper by blocking a low far post shot by the dribbler. Essentially, at this point, the solo defender is leaving the dribbler to the keeper, and simply trying to provide backup to prevent passes to the receiver. He knows that, if the receiver gets the ball, he is sunk - because the whole net is wide open, so he simply does the best that he can to cut off the easy options - and hopes that the attackers cannot convert on the more difficult options.

Group Defensive Duties of All Players
When there are more than two teammates available to assist in defense, the concept of marking becomes very important. If a player has consistently marked his man out for the whole game, and prevented any service to his mark by making the mark appear not to be open, the player has done an excellent defensive job without having come anywhere near the ball. This can be a hard concept for young players to accept unless the coach makes a big deal out of excellent marking - and praises them despite the fact that they are not seeing much action. As the coach moves into teaching team defense, the first rule of team defense to be taught is that everyone on the team becomes a defender when the team does not have the ball. Thus, all players must understand the 4 basic jobs of team defense, which are: No Get, No Turn, No Pass/No Shoot.

"No Get" means to prevent the player whom they are guarding from ever getting the ball. There is a detailed practice plan on marking in the Plans section of the Manual, so the methods to be used to prevent an opponent from getting the ball will not be discussed in detail here.

Of course, it is not always possible to keep an opposing player from getting the ball - especially when serving as a midfielder, because there will be times when he cannot get back into proper marking position in time because of an unexpected loss of possession (or because his mark is a bit quicker and/or checked back to get the ball). If his mark manages to successfully receive the ball, then the job of the defender becomes one of "No Turn" (i.e., trying to keep the attacker from turning in the direction of his goal, if this can be done safely).

When is it a good idea to apply heavy pressure to prevent the turn? It is a good idea to do this when you have backup support behind you (which is why midfielders normally will apply very heavy pressure to stop the turn). It also can be a good idea to try to do this when additional support will be available quickly or the risk of allowing the turn is relatively high.

Of course, occasions will arise in a game where the attacker may be able to collect the ball and turn in the direction of the goal before anyone on the team can get to him. Once the attacker has turned and is heading towards goal, the primary object of the initial defender on the scene is to prevent the attacker from getting off a shot on goal from decent scoring range/position. This is accomplished by getting in his way; trying to slow him down until reinforcements can arrive; and trying to steer him to the outside (which cuts down his shooting angle and makes the keeper's job a lot easier). Thus, at this point, the marking defender will work to insure No Pass/No Shoot, with his emphasis normally on preventing the shot (unless the pass is considerably more dangerous). These concepts will continue to be applied in 3v3 defense, as well as in any other situation where more than 2 defenders are available.

3v3 Defense
Most teams which play 3v3 will leave one player back as a pivot player and supporting defender. Thus, defending in 3v3 can be easier than in 2v2, because most attacks end up being 2v3 (with the spare defender free to move in to provide extra cover or pressure to win possession).

The defensive group has 3 basic choices in how to position this extra defender, ranging from fairly risky to fairly conservative. Which positioning to choose depends in large part upon the skill of the opposing team.

The most risky choice is to have the spare defender station himself as an outlet player - staying between the defense and the sole defender of the opposing team. This choice is somewhat risky, because the attackers are now 2v2 against the defenders (so the advantage of extra defensive numbers is lost). However, it is somewhat better offensively because it provides an immediate outlet for a counterattack if possession is won (with your team needing to beat only 1 opponent to score). It also has the advantage of preventing the opponents from putting all 3 players into their attack, as this will leave their goal undefended if the ball comes to the outlet player.

The most conservative choice to use the extra defender in a sweeper-type role, which frees up the other defender to closely mark the supporting attacker. However, because there is no outlet player available when possession is regained, this approach will reduce scoring chances unless your team plays good possession-style soccer (or has a high-endurance player who can sprint forward to become the outlet player when possession is regained).

The third choice is a hybrid of these two approaches, in which the extra defender becomes a floating Cover player who plays in any part of the field in order to quickly provide double-team opportunities on the ball (this type of player is also called a "libero", meaning a unrestricted player). If the Libero has developed the ability to read the field well, and is able to accurately anticipate when he will be needed, this option can work very nicely. However, if the Libero is relatively unskilled, the only thing that he may end up accomplishing is exhausting himself (especially if the opponents have a good short-passing game).

Usually, in a 3v3 contest, players will start with the conservative approach while they assess the strength of their opponents, and will then start taking some risks if this appears to be appropriate. However, it will take several seasons before players can be trained to recognize the proper balance between defensive risk and offensive reward. There are multiple variables which must be weighed in a short amount of time, and mistakes are bound to happen. However, if the coach constantly exposes the players to 3v3 games with varying team composition (so players have to contend with individual opponents who may be weaker or stronger), the players will learn to assess their own capabilities, the capabilities of their teammates, and the capabilities of their opponents. As they learn to make these assessments, they will become increasingly skilled in making the small-group tactical decisions which are required to be successful at playing soccer at all levels.

Summary
This is a very basic outline of the types of decisions which are involved defensively in small group play. Once players are familiar with these basic decisions, they will be prepared to make better use of additional players on the field. Why? Because teams which have 11 players per side on the field usually will not have more than 5-6 players who are playing offense or defense at any given time. The roles of the players immediately around the ball (Pressure & Cover) do not change. If anything, their roles are easier when playing in a larger group, because the extra players cut down on the amount of running/work and provide extra coverage. For instance, if the team is defending 6v4, this means that it has two spare defenders available. How should it use these two extra defenders. Well, common sense (and 2v1 and 3v2 experience) tells you that the first one should be assigned to dedicated Cover, while the remaining player may be utilized the best by creating double-team options or assisting in marking a particularly dangerous opponent.

If a player has never been allowed to play in small groups, or has never been rotated through defense, he will have no idea how to approach this golden opportunity. Often, he will just stand around aimlessly, or go stand by his mark up field (where he is doing no good at all). However, once he understands the basic principles involved in small group play, he is more likely to move automatically to provide defensive support when needed - and to automatically present himself as an outlet player when not needed on defense. Thus, even if technically serving as a defender, a player trained in solid 3v3 skills will realize that, if the opponent only has sent up one attacker who is easily handled by the 2 defenders already back, his best bet is to become an outlet player for them - and to bring the ball up field until he is challenged; or until he can see that other teammates are better positioned to take the ball forward; or until other circumstances make it more important that he return to the back.

Many youth coaches refuse to label their primary defensive players as "defenders", because they wish to impress upon all of their players that defense is everybody's job when the team does not have the ball. So, they choose to refer to these primary defenders as "backs". This may be helpful with young players. However, the coach probably will want to introduce the more common definition of their role at some point in training so that the players are not confused when they go to camps or play for other coaches. In either event, the coach certainly will want to impress upon all players that they have defensive jobs, and teach all players how to perform those defensive duties in a competent manner in a small group setting.

(From: http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~dgraham/manual/)