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Build-up shape

BUILD-UP

Shape your back line so the ball can leave your own third against a press.

Go to the lab ↓or read the 2-minute lesson first

Playing out from the back is a counting game before it is a passing game. Your keeper or a centre-back has the ball, and the other team sends its strikers to press. Count the players who can receive a pass in that first line, and count the pressers coming at them. If the numbers are equal, every receiver can be covered. If you have one more, they cannot cover everyone — but numbers alone do not open a pass; the spare man has to stand where the presser's shadow does not reach.

Try itGoalkeeper · one slider
First line13452861011971345211867910
Stays

First line

2v2

Your players against their strikers inside the first-line box. The dark cones are their cover shadows.

Two against two

Take a 4-3-3 building up against a 4-4-2 that presses with both strikers. Your left centre-back has the ball. In the lab, one striker presses him and turns his body so that his cover shadow falls on your holding midfielder, #6. The other striker steps towards your right centre-back and stands three metres on the ball side of him. Two receivers, two pressers, and both passes are covered.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-4-2
First line13452861011971345211867910
Two against two in the first line. One striker shadows #6, the other stands on the pass to the far centre-back.

The third man

There are three ways to add a player to that line. The holding midfielder drops between or beside the centre-backs and you have a back three. A full-back tucks inside so he is close enough to receive. Or the keeper steps out of his box and becomes a passing option behind the ball. In this example, dropping #6 all the way into the line takes him out of the striker's shadow: the striker keeps pressing the ball and cannot turn far enough to cover a pass that goes sideways.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-4-2
First line13452861011971345211867910
A back three: #6 drops into the line and the pass to him is open. 3v2.

Four beats two

Numbers are only the start. A striker can press the ball and hide one pass at the same time, and a second striker can mark one more player. That is two passes taken away, so three players in the line can still leave the carrier with one option — and sometimes none, if the third man stands in a shadow. In this example a back three plus the keeper makes it 4v2, and two of those passes are open. That is when the press starts to break.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-4-2
First line13452861011971345211867910
Back three plus the keeper: 4v2, and the pass back to the keeper is open as well as the pass to #6.

In the lab, build the first line yourself: drop #6, tuck a full-back, or bring the keeper up, and watch the count and the open passes change.

Live lab

Lab

Only the instructions that matter for build-up shape are here. Solve the challenges, then explore.

How the lab measures Player positions, distances, and how fast your players can reach each part of the pitch. It doesn't model the ball, marking, body shape or decisions, so treat the numbers as a way to see the idea, not as a verdict on a real match.

Challenge 1 of 2

Put three of your players in the first-line zone against their two strikers.

  • First line
    2v2target 3v2
    Not met yet.
PresetsCustom
Live lab4-3-3 · Custom setup
First line13452861011971345211867910

Drag your blue players to move them. Tap one for player instructions.

Team instructions

Goalkeeper

Player instructions

Challenge 1 / 2

  • First line 2v2

Saturday checklist

Watch for it this weekend

  • When the keeper has the ball, count the defenders who show for a pass against the strikers pressing them.
  • Watch the holding midfielder as the centre-backs receive: does he drop in, or stay behind the strikers?
  • Notice which pass a pressing striker takes away with his body, not his feet.
Next: Freeing the holding midfielder →