Defending wide areas

A winger on the ball is rarely alone. Somebody is running past him, round the outside or through the gap inside, and their #9 is already on his way to the box. That is three problems, and in most shapes the defending side has three players nearby to solve them: the full-back, the wide midfielder and the near centre-back.

The mistakes are all versions of the same one — two players solving one problem.

Two at the ball

Their #11 has it on your right. Your #2 goes to him, and so does your #7, because the ball is where the danger feels like it is. Now look round the outside. Their #3 is overlapping into the space your #2 left, and he takes the ball with more than a second before anybody reaches him.

Diagram4-4-2 vs 4-3-3

Split them: one presses, the other goes with the runner. It does not matter much which way round — your #2 pressing and your #7 recovering, or your #7 pressing and your #2 dropping. What matters is that it is one each.

Diagram4-4-2 vs 4-3-3

The centre-back stays in the box

The third player is tempted too. Your #5 sees the trouble out wide and drifts across to help. Every metre he moves towards the touchline is a metre their #9 has in front of goal — here, a second and a half on his own at the edge of the six-yard box. The wide problem was already solved by the wide players; your #5 created a new one.

Read the run you are given

On the other flank the same shape asks a different question. Their #7 stays wide with the ball, and their #2 does not go round him — he runs through the gap inside your full-back.

Track the touchline, as you did a minute ago, and your #11 is running to a place where nobody is. The runner who matters is the one inside him.

Diagram4-4-2 vs 4-3-3

The model in one sentence: runs are authored, the wide players go to fixed spots when you choose their jobs, and "dealt with" means their receiver has less than 0.8 s before your nearest player reaches him — no tackle, no cross and no header is modelled.