ACT Football Masters - ACTMasters

17 Posts

Our favourite little puppy

17 Posts

I thought it would be nice to have a forum here to supplement the massive amount of information available on line.

There are already great forums discussing formations and their applicability, so we might distill some of that information here to discuss how we should be playing this formation with the resources we have.

I think there's 2 important points to make here as a start.

1) A lot of people online say the 4-2-3-1 (or any formation for that matter) is only really an indication of how many are playing in each third.
2) The real importance is for each player to understand the game plan and be able to read where they need to be FOR THE TEAM and to get there.

It's easy to see this in practice. Everyone I am sure can think back to any game we have played and see that although we stick with a 4-2-3-1, each game can be drastically different, even if the teams playing us are using a fixed formation. And even within one game, changing even one player can drastically alter the dynamic of the formation.

So why is the formation important? And why is it not?

I think it is key to us as we are not experts. So in that vein, as we struggle to find our connections and place in the team, we use a strict formation to allow people to avoid having to "know" what our teammates are always going to do, and reducing our focus to the smaller area we know we are responsible for.

However, it can play very differently depending on the team we are playing and who is in each position.

I think it's important to get an understanding not only of where you are playing, but the expected roles of the other positions near you.

For instance:

Forward: Generally to accept the long ball from the mids at times we can beat the defence, and take the shot. Otherwise, hold up and look for the back/side pass to the first or second row of mids.

Attacking Mids (refering to the left and right): I like to think of these as wingers. Although they have the ability to go right to the goal post in attack, they need to think they are a first row of defence. In that context, if the ball is in our defences and the "winger" is still past the half way, he's too far forward and needs to get back. The winger can assist defensive mids in cutting off the opponent wingers. In the friendly with Brindi, I found I was constantly running as far back as the top of our goal box (to cover if the defence had been pulled across) to the goal post where I scored basically 1 foot from the goal when the goalie fumbled. This is important for the "winger" as the 4-2-3-1 is vulnerable to the attack down the wing due to the concentration on shutting down the centre of the field.

Centre should be holding in the middle third always forming the bridge between the defensive mids and the forward - in attack should only just get into the box, and should not come back further than halfway between the half and our box. - This is important, if the centre comes right back to the box, it leaves the long range shot open to them and too many options to pass back and switch.

The Defensive mids are KEY to this structure. They must cover each other and work as a unit with the central mid. In fact, in many descriptions of the 4-2-3-1, the 2 defensive mids are referred to as central mids (CM). Their job should be to completely lock down the top of the box and allow no shots, no runners, and no free men. It's a tall ask, but in most cases on defense, we SHOULD have at least one, if not 2 extra men unless the other team is only playing 3 in defence. The defensive mids (CM) must track both ways in defense, if the ball goes to one side, ONE CM follows the player, the other must be covering the centre. On the switch, they must swap, when the other CM get's drawn wide, the first one has to haul ass back to the centre and cover that top of the box. In Attack though, if the back line has pushed up to midway, the CMs form 2 pivotal points between the mid way and the opponents goal square. Trust me, a lot of teams will collapse further in defence giving you heaps of room to accept a pass back, take your time and either shoot, run, switch or whatever. I found this also playing Brindi, I always had heaps of space in the mid in that CM role.

The back line--- The core of our defence. I am not an expert on the back line, so please come up with more pointers, but from what I've read and what I see when we play, the main thing we need to concentrate on is holding the players off. So many times I think we dive in on a tackle forgetting that we have everything to lose, and the attacker has nothing. We should think more like a wall and just make sure that no matter what happens they do not pass us. Sure, we need to pressure them to force a pass-back, but I think the target for defence is to be a road-block, so they need to pass back and try again. And the key mentality is to mark the player FIRST, worry about the ball second. If the right back and CM, AND the Centre back and even the sweeper get drawn right, the left back CANNOT stray past the mid line, and neither can the other CM. I found playing against brindi that Michael Edmonson (when he was acting as a traitor) was ALWAYS completely open on the far post. Even with pressure on the ball, one relatively good cross would be almost completely unchallenged. Mike want to pipe in here and tell us who he thinks should be covering him in that instance. I would have thought the left back, with the CM holding the top of the box.

The Sweeper and Goalie? You guys know what to do.... :)

Actually, it's probably worth someone who understands those roles to explain them to us all, so we better understand your magic.

Enough for the first post,
Andy

26 Posts

Hello

It is me Grasshopper.
I have no comment to make other than just do it.
My real interest lies in trying to navigate this amazing website which glorifies our standing in the football community.

Well done Andy.

YOurs in cricket and corruption
Inzaman

5 Posts

Hmmm.. Email to support who got me going real quick. Registration email was getting snaffled by the ISP and not making it to me. They made a fix and I'm, up and running.

Traitor here. Or boss... Who gave me that nick name?

There was a really good cross and I was half step behind where i needed to be, and the ball sailed past my outstreached foot by 6 inches right in front of the opposite post and none one near. Sigh... The one that got away.

Yep, far to much space and no-one marking up on the outside. Not that I actually want to mention that.

I would agree that I should have been covered by the left back as I was at the time playing the outside right midfield (in 4 4 2 config) . I might have caused some confusion as when I went on, I thought I was centre right which should be covered by left CM but I somehow ended up on the outside right. I was actually happier playing there.

The main thing I found advantagous though was knowing the defenders and having a good idea what they would/could do in a given situation.