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Tracking and handing over

HANDOVER

Follow the runner, or pass him to a team-mate and keep your own space. Which one depends on who is free to take him.

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

A midfield runner is a question the whole back of your team has to answer together: who has him? The answer can change during the run — a midfielder can follow him for a few metres and then pass him on — but at no moment can it be "nobody".

When nobody can take him

Their #8 runs past your #6 towards the space in front of your box. Their #9 is standing on your #5. The instinct is to point at the runner, shout "yours", and step back into midfield.

Do that here and the run has a gap in it. Your #6 lets him go after a few metres, your #5 is busy with their #9, and for the last second and a half of the run nobody is near their #8. The ball does not even have to arrive in that second for it to matter: that is the moment a good passer is waiting for.

Diagram4-4-2 vs 4-3-3
#1#3#4#5#2#11#8#6#7#9#1013452118679101345286101197
Passed on to nobody: your #6 stops after 8 m, your #5 still has their #9, and their #8 arrives with no one goal-side of him.

Send your #5 to take him instead and the handover works — for their #8. Their #9, who your #5 just left, is now in behind with a second and a half.

When the player behind you has his own man, the runner is yours all the way.

When somebody can

Change one thing: their #9 has drifted out to the touchline, and your #5 is free. Now following all the way is the mistake. Your #6 ends up in your own box beside your centre-back, and the space he was guarding — right in front of your defence — is where their #10 arrives a second later.

Diagram4-4-2 vs 4-3-3
#1#3#4#5#2#11#8#6#7#9#1013452118679101345286101197
Followed too far: your #6 has gone with their #8, and their #10 receives in the space he left with nobody within 10 m.

Pass him on at the right moment — your #6 for the first few metres, your #5 stepping up to meet him — and there is never a moment with nobody. Your #6 is still close enough to his own space to get to their #10.

Diagram4-4-2 vs 4-3-3
#1#3#4#5#2#11#8#6#7#9#1013452118679101345286101197
Handed over: your #5 has their #8 by the time your #6 lets him go, and the pass to him is cut out.

Neither answer is always right. The question is always the same: is the player behind me free to take him?

The model in one sentence: "having" a runner here means being within 5 m of him and on the goal side, checked every fiftieth of a second of the run — it says nothing about who wins the duel if the ball does arrive.

Live lab

Lab

Only the instructions that matter for tracking and handing over 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

Their #8 is running past your #6 towards your box, and their #9 is standing on your #5. Who takes their #8?

Your #6
Your #5
Live lab4-4-2 · Custom setup
#1#3#4#5#2#11#8#6#7#9#1013452118679101345286101197

Dragging is off for this challenge. Tap a player for instructions, or use the controls.

Challenge 1 / 2

    Saturday checklist

    Watch for it this weekend

    • Pick one runner at the start of an attack and watch who is with him. Count the handovers, and look for the moment when nobody is.
    • When a midfielder stops following and points, look behind him: is the defender he pointed at actually free to take the man?
    • Watch the space a tracking midfielder leaves. The best teams attack it with a second runner a beat later.
    Next: Defending wide areas →