Defensive Strategies

mcmas · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:58 pm

I'm the manager / head coach of a U14 Girls team in New York.

I'd be interested to know what sort of defense other managers prefer at the youth level and why.

My teams play an aggressive offside trap, with the nearest defender stepping up to challenge the ball and the other defenders rotating to fill the gaps, while the opposite side wing drops back to cover the vacated side. It takes a lot of communication between the players and a lot of time spent in practice, but the results have been fantastic. I've been running this defense with my team since U10 and in about half of our games, we don't yield a single shot on goal. The opponent is suffocated and forced to defend constantly or send long balls upfield, most of which are handled by the goalkeeper, who moves out nearly into a sweeper role.

Most of our opponents play a stopper / sweeper defense. I do not see the benefit of this formation, but I am very willing to learn if someone can explain to me the pros and cons.

rik1276 · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:12 pm

Encuourage the defenders to pay attention also to what the other defenders in the defensive line are doing. Helps when springing the offside trap.

Takes a lot of concentration though and time to get players going this.

oranjepalooza · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:49 pm

wow....mcmas, the offside trap defense you describe your team playing and the results they get sound pretty astonishing, I guess my question is since your getting the results you are, are you considering changing? And if so why?

fatmore · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:12 pm

Many youth teams adopt a sweeper system. This system is used to counter the ball over the top which works well for younger teams because;

1. players tend to lack height and it is easy to get a ball over the top of the defence.

2. many players have not developed the composure to hold the ball in midfield and a hoof over the top is the easy thing to do.

If your system works don't change it. Even adult teams find it hard to get an offside trap working consistently well.

mcmas · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:54 pm

oranjepalooza wrote:

are you considering changing?

No, I'm not changing. I just wondered what the benefit of the other defense is. I know that my players smile when they see the opponent lineup in the "diamond" formation.

I put one striker either side of the sweeper and push a midfielder into the gap directly between the two wide defenders. My defense and wingers feed the ball into the gap at the center of the "diamond" and the central midfielder has options to either side of the pitch and a numerical advantage going forward.

The sweeper / stopper defense creates so many gaps and passing lanes for the other team that I can see why you never see a professional or collegiate team employing it.

And yet... every coach training course I've attended has taught the "diamond" defense. When I press for a reason, I am told that the offside trap is too complicated for children to understand and execute.

I say that grownups don't give kids nearly enough credit. It's a game, for heavens sake, and who's better at understanding games than kids?

Paul Blakeway · Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:40 pm

I can see that with the ever changing off-side rule, FIFA is trying its hardest to phase out defence minded play, in particular the "Off-side Trap".

I find that playing an off-side trap with youngsters is very risky as concentration and reading of the game are very important, qualities that most youngsters have yet to master.

As with younger players I beleive that enjoyment and learning are of vast importance, I encourage players and teams to be both adventurous and creative and try to encourage the use of skills and imagination....... results.......not always, but improvement......with every game!

Paul

TheStriker · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:37 am

The main advantage of the offside trap is that it adds depth. Another advantage is it is easier to organise. These two are the main reasons the offside trap is often used at junior level.

I employed an off-side trap system two seasons ago, and it was extremely successful. It was a 5-3-2-Sweeper formation with wing backs, with one of the midfielders playing a defensive midfielder role. Defensively the two central midfielders would find their mark and stick to him, leaving the defensive midfielder free in the middle to cover wherever needed. The outside backs would cover wide areas, often marking advancing outside midfielders, and the inside backs would mark opposing strikers leaving the sweeper free behind them to cover.

One thing a team should never do whilst employing a sweeper system is leave attacking players unmarked. As it's been said there can be gaps in a sweeper defence, and that is why whenever I employ it I always use a man-marking system at the back and send other players to cover any gaps.

If playing in a 4-4-2-Sweeper formation, for example, and the opposition pushes their strikers up into the spaces either side of the sweeper I would send my outside backs in to mark. If they push a central midfielder up into the hole behind the strikers my central defender would be right there. Thus 3 attacking players vs 3 defenders + 1 sweeper = 3 marked players + 1 sweeper. There would be gaps out wide but I'd have my outside midfielders drop into them, containing wide play and moving the gaps upfield to the wide areas around midfield. The opposition would be free to play long balls or crosses from such positions but, if they tried to move the ball inside, up the line, or towards goal they'd come under pressure.

fafali · Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:14 pm

If i see a team play a sweeper system, I tell one of strikers to go stick to the sweeper. That automatically takes 2 defender off and creates more space for my attacking mid-fielder behind the 2 strickers. i tell my other stricker to keep making runs wide to create even more space.
This usually leaves gaps in the middle for our mid fielders to feed the strickers in the dangerous areas.

I like playing 3-2-4-1

TheStriker · Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:26 pm

My preference is for a 4-4-2 with a flat back four, but playing a pressure style defence rather than an offside trap one.

Sometimes, however, you need to adjust to suit the players you have. The team I coached two years ago had six or seven good defensive players, and no great attacking players able to challenge defenders. That is why, with them, I chose to play a catenaccio style of defence and it worked a charm. We averaged about 1.5 goals per game, which was usually enough for the win.

adam · Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 4:25 pm

right then ladz ths is a true story im the manager of the uder 13s football team kersley colts
and at the beggining of the season we were bottom of the league do you no why it was because of the defence they wernt listnin they fort they new it all so they didnt bother listnin to me or didnt pay any attention to the offside trap intill i startin punnishin em n now they r doin well at he offside they are doing gr8 at evrythink midfeild n defence n attack so dont be to soft on em punish em if they dont listnin n since then we have neva lost a game

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