The Misconception About Positioning On A Vertical Line PT. 3

Controlling Transitions

Welcome back to the third and final part of using vertical inefficiency to promote progression. We have primarily focused on the offensive phase in the past two articles, but in any team or system that is successful there has to be a continuity between the four phases of play (Offensive Organization, Defensive Organization, Offensive Transition, Defensive Transition). Without continuity the team will be exposed in many different ways eventually. With this being said because we have talked a lot about the offensive phase. Now we will continue the discussion on how to keep progression as the priority while covering dangerous areas to prevent the opponents to exploit gaps in the attacking structure. First, let’s look at what areas need to be covered when building with two central defenders.

(Dangerous spaces in transition where red has low density)

Above the diagram is trying to represent the areas where if the ball is lost by red the blue team would have a big advantage just by the numbers they have in and around these highlighted areas Vs red. Almost all top level teams account for these areas in front of the CBs and on either side of the CDM. We have seen in the past Danilo’s short spell at city allow him to get into the team. When Danilo would play the inverted full back role Vs when Delph would play it had very different implications. Danilo moved…