Building through the thirds

Our focus this week is on building through the thirds.

What are these “thirds”?

The field is divided in length into separate sections. Each section is important when we’re in possession and out of possession.

When we build out of the back, let’s say from a goal kick, we’re building up through our defensive third and entering into the midfield third.

It’s important that as we build the ball up, our team moves up as well. This includes the goalkeeper position as he is a vital field player, not just a player who uses his hands.

We’ve just entered the midfield third and our center midfielder (10) has found an open man in the left outside midfielder (3).

This happened throughout all three games we’ve played so far.

3 has a few options and needs to make a decision in the next few seconds as defenders will shift to close on him.

He can dribble up the field until pressure comes and release the ball to an open man, he can pass it back to our left center back (4), he can pass it up to our left inside forward (11), pass it back to (10), dribble and get the ball stolen, kick it up field, or try a pass with more difficulty across the field.

Our decision throughout the games is the one I’m going to address here.

11 would often stay where he was and the ball would come into his feet, or, 11 would make a run down the left sideline and 3 would pass him the ball.

Now, this is still a good buildup for us. We’ve passed the ball from the defensive third into the midfield third and are now trying to enter the attacking third.

But, where do you think the problems can come up in this scenario? During both games this weekend, what was 11’s decision when he received the ball into his feet? (It’s not just the players who play the 11 position. It was every player on the attacking line.)

11 is 1v4 here in the Game Center Space.

Our odds are growing worse that we can retain possession, and as a possession-based team, this is not ideal.

However, this positioning isn’t inherently “bad”. We’ve drawn a lot of defenders towards us and the opposition is on high alert.

But it’s the next decision that is crucial to our buildup.

That decision, nearly every time, was to continue to dribble down the sideline to try to get a cross into goal.

Look again at the above picture. Not only is 11 completely isolated on the left side, but even if he does miraculously dribble all four defenders and cross it (which actually happened a few times), our players are still trying to catch up and no one is there to receive it.

Goals from crosses are statistically unlikely. A study from 2015 said that a cross is scored on goal in open play 1 out of every 72 times. That’s 1.3%.

The best decision in this scenario is for 11 to pull the ball back, pass back to the 3 or the 10 and start switching the field of play. This allows our team to advance up the field, which means more passing options, more possession, and secures the gaps in case we relinquish possession of the ball.

The other issue is trying to send the through ball for the breakaway constantly. It wears us down and we can’t expect the boys to play and defend a constant counter attacking style. Nor do we want that because that’s not what we’re about.

We want to see our gas in the tank for quick bursts when we’ve built the ball up through the thirds and are in the attacking third. Or, out of possession stealing the ball high up the field and countering with numbers or positioning in our favor.

Playing through balls constantly opens up the middle of our field more and more. It’s rough on every player, especially the central midfielders. This hurt at the end of each half as we lost focus and became more and more tired.

The players above in the picture are more individualistic, losing the connection between the lines. This is what we don’t want.

We want technical players, smart players who don’t have to rely on athleticism. Relying on the latter only catches up to you as we advance in age.

Slow buildup play from side to side where all players can advance is what we want. We want connection between all players.

This, along with building out of the back through high press scenarios will be our exercises this week.

See you tonight.