WHAT, WHEN AND WHY? PASSING THE BALL TO MOVE THE OPPONENT!

The Freds are currently learning strategies for breaking lines in the final third: the movement, the timing, and the reason for both.

Football is all about identifying space on the pitch and quickly exploiting it. But good teams can make it difficult by defending in numbers and reducing the available playing space in the core. As a consequence, attacking teams have to create the space they want to exploit!

Teams do this by passing the ball to move the opponent.

I'll say that again because it's MASSIVE!

The ball is passed to move the opponent!

If we can move opponents, we can create opportunities in key areas.

Switching the focal point of attack from left to right, or right to left, can sometimes present opportunities. But often, a little more creativity is required.

The right back invites the winger to come short to receive. The right winger hugs the touchline and comes deep, drawing the defender away from the targeted space and detached from the core.

The supporting midfielder switches off until the winger has the ball under control and is in a position to pass. When the time is right, the midfielder comes alive to exchange passes and release the winger in the targeted area.

If the midfielder supports before the winger is ready to pass, the opposing midfielder will have time to react to the movement. The timing is important.

Having drawn the defender out of position, the right back may choose to hit the centre forward directly, provided the midfield players have been careful not to invade the pathway. The receiving centre forward can then set the winger free.

Alternatively, if the winger decides to travel into the core, it should be to link up with the centre forward who, in turn, can deliver the ball into the targeted zone for an overlapping midfielder or even right back.

If congested ( remember, we're looking to exploit space ), the right back can use the central midfielder or sweeper ( or goalkeeper in extremes ) to switch the play from right to left, where the same pattern can be used. The right back would then return to the centre to mark, as the left back has in the diagram above.