Third-man combinations

A presser who stands on the line between the ball and your #6 has taken that pass away. He has not taken the ball away. He is one man, he can cover one line, and every other line on the pitch is still there. The third man is how you use them: instead of A to C, you play A to B and B to C, and the ball arrives at C from an angle the presser never had a chance to cover.

Three passes, one picture

In this example your left centre-back has the ball against a 4-3-3 that presses with its front three. The pass to #6 is blocked by their striker. The pass to your left-back is blocked too — their #7 is marking him — and so is the pass to your far centre-back, where their #11 stands. Three lines, three bodies.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-3-3

The bounce has to work twice

Your #8 is in the half-space, and nobody is on the line to him. That is only half the job: from where he stands, the pass on to #6 has to be open as well. It is, so the chain works — first pass, bounce, and #6 has the ball with his head up.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-3-3

When the second pass is the problem

Further up the pitch the first pass is the easy one. Here #6 has the ball and their striker shadows your #9. Your #8 is free — but his pass to #9 runs straight through their #10, who is sitting in that line. A free bounce player is not the same as a working bounce.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-3-3

A few metres fix it

Push #8 five metres higher and he is past their #10. Nothing else changed: same players, same press, a different angle for the second pass. Pulling him inside does the same job, and so does bouncing off a winger instead.

Diagram4-3-3 vs 4-3-3

One model limit worth knowing: the picture is frozen at the moment of the first pass, which is what a one-touch bounce really is. Hold the ball at the bounce player and they re-press, and the second line closes.

In the lab, pick the bounce player first, then move him until both lanes are green.