A good team is built from the back

No, you’re not misreading it. Nor it would be a far-fetched eulogy of a defensive based approach to the game.

A good team is built from the back, even though the approach is a counter-attacking one or a possession based style. Yet, it still is misread by common sense as a understanding of building a solid defense block to give creative freedom for the midfielders and forwards to roam and create havoc on the opponent defence.

Solid centre backs and strong, destructive defensive midfielders are seen as an important thing in common brazilian approach to football, especially within passionate football fans. The popular wisdom says that “good players are capable of creating something out of nothing”, but this regressive approach to football is now even wronger. In a football world dominated by aggressive pressing, lack of spaces and the 11 players on the pitch oriented to have a defensive task in the transition and defensive phases, this kind of point of view can reduce the defensive solidity of the defence. If you can’t manage to do passes, may it be a short or a long one, the defence will stay with its back upon the wall for most of the time and you will lack counter-attacking abilities.

A typical 4–2–3–1 against a 4–1–4–1 high pressing. Wingers marking full backs, full backs vs wingers, center-midfielders agains defensive midfielders, defensive midfielder makes the cover shadow of the number 10.

As seen in the graph above, a 4–2–3–1 can be boxed against the defensive area by a man-oriented marking of the ball distribution from the back. The close downs are pretty clear here and the opponents know who to shut down and when. With a double 5 that lacks passing abilities, such as Jean in Botafogo (averaging only 65,3% of completed passes), the team gets more vulnerable to a high pressing opponent and has its defensive structure disrupted.

Pressing the ball on the defence. Lack of quality makes the centreback risk a long pass, to the side, which will probably be intercepted by the opponent centreback or the opposing full back.

In this sketch we can see how a back four will have problems against a 4–1–4–1 during the high pressing. The centrebacks will have no-one to pass into the space, and defensive midfielders will be pretty much cornered, receiving the ball near the box with its back to the opponents half. A need for good passing defensive midfielders is a must, once the press is intense, is to move the ball fast from one player to another, so to find a space. If your team wants to exploit spaces, it will probably do so by attempting fast passes and making swift transitions to the attack instead of playing with its back against the wall. A lack of good defensive midfielders with the ball will make the counter attack more and more difficult, even in a long ball approach.

The defensive midfielder receives and turns the ball to the attack. He needs a good passing skill to find the teammate and not be desperate to get forward. Sometimes, patience is a virtue, even in a counter-attacking team.

In a mid pressing approach, the defensive midfielder, who is supposed to give stability on the midfield area, must be suitable to play the ball and decide whether to pass the ball backward, making a “rondo” to open spaces upfront by playing with the opponent tight marking, or to play a more risky pass. But the stereotypical defensive midfielder in Brazilian football ressembles more of a third centre back, who only covers full backs and blocks the centre of the area. The problem is that with this, attacking midfielders and forwards only get to see the ball sometimes, often in a long ball duel or an aerial duel. Plays that some times can be thwarted with a tactical foul, to stop the momentum from building.

This kind of approach also weakens the team when it needs to build up attacks instead of counter attacking. Mostly because wingers here are more of wide forwards and less of creative midfielders and the use of only one creative midfielder and two defensive midfielders who only destroy overloads the number 10.

Problems in build up in a common 4–2–3–1 in Brazil. Lack of central presence.

In the example shown here, one can see that full backs are given way too much freedom to move upwards, so the defensive midfielders move slightly wider to cover their runs. But this movement creates a common problem: there are no players on the central area of the pitch. To activate the number 10, he needs to drop way too deep to get the ball, being way too far of the final third and only relying to backward passes and long balls to the wingers and marauding full backs. It sort of resembles a 4–1–5 overload, where the number 10 will almost always be alone in that area of the pitch, while leaving way too much space for the opponents to counterattack through the middle and accelerate the play.

In this frame, we can see another possibility with the double 5 lacking creative abilities. One of them may turn into a third centre back, doing a lavolpiana, and the other one maintain its number 5 position. But against a narrow defensive side, the team only gets to infiltrate the wider areas. The number 10 gets no activation, and the team has to use crossing almost all the time. And even with the high number of crosses, the team will make no profit of it, since the narrow four man defence of the opponent will have numberical superiority on the center of the pitch. When they recover the ball centrally, they can exchange passes quite fast to make a counter, due to the lack of central presence in the midfield.

A highlight of a central midfield counter against two defensive minded midfielders.

In the last frame one can see the frailties in the central areas in the double pivot, with one of them making a lavolpiana. Central passes are kind of easy, since the team only attacks wide, with the opponent overloading the central areas in defence. Opponents are close and can play short, simple passes without much of pressure on the ball, and accelerate the play towards the opponent area and creating havoc.

That being said, when I turn to say that a good team is built from the back, is not that I’m making a compliment of defensive approaches, defensive midfielders who lacks football abilities and only destroy. The defensive midfield position is one of the most important, since it gives structural and technical balance so the team can attack, counterattack and also defend. Forget the narrow minded brazilian wisdom of centrebacks and defensive midfielders who make hard tackles and commit fouls often. The most important side of these players are not attacking opponents, but to be smart and close down spaces, so the opponents cannot play. And when they recover, they are the first attacking players, as they will play the ball more or less direct, dictating the tempo and exploiting the opponent weaknesses.

Future is now. Stop living in the 80–90’s.

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