The purpose of this blog as a whole is to learn and explore ideas- hence the “scholar” part of the name. In this one I want to focus on exploring what Positional Play means and what it includes. There are numerous sites, videos, and articles that relate to it, but bringing it all together in an organized framework is challenging.
If you’re a US soccer fan, you’ve heard the intent for the US to play “proactive soccer.” Klinsman used this term a lot. It was rarely defined. If Positional Play soccer is defined by a single word, it is being “proactive.”
Teams that play positional play soccer first and foremost looks to impose their will on the other opponent. They want to make the other team play on their terms through subtle manipulation and forced decisions to get them to do what they want. Berhalter often says “use the ball to disorganize the opponent to create goal scoring opportunities.” Positional play is looking to use the control of space and movement to create opportunities.
The triangular movement between Cannon, Morris, and Roldan was beautifully in-sync on this play. I'd also like to shoutout Jordan Morris' off-ball movement - it created the gap for Roldan to run through. pic.twitter.com/ckkcEIMhbk
This is forcing the opponent to react and move them to create space and opportunity to attack
この動画では、相手を食いつかせて動かすことで、スペースを作っています。
“PSV always play very compact and well organised soccer. This means playing dominantly in a different sense of the word. I link the term dominant with offensive soccer and playing in the opponent team’s half. I also choose to play like this because we are always trying to excite the public. If you play offensive soccer, the fans are entertained. If you play passively, you are only occasionally dominant.”
Positional Play soccer IS Total Soccer. The three names that never seem left out in regards to positional play are Johan Cruyff, Louis van Gaal & Pep Guardiola. They each worked to use the ball to move and manipulate their opponents.
If you want to understand the foundation of Positional Play, a good place to start is Cruyff quotes about the game.
もしポジショナルプレーの基礎を学びたいのなら、最初にクライフの言葉を読むのが良いでしょう。
Louis van Gaal
Pep Guardiola
Each of these coaches work to use the ball to move the opponent and create space to attack. They have some foundational pieces that are essential and then tools in their toolbox. If these foundations are not working well, the tools or tactics within are unlikely to work.
・Possession. No one wants possession just to have possession, but Positional Play wants to make the opponent react and move. It wants jab and set up counter punches. To do that, it needs the ball.
“The objective is to move the opponent, not the ball.”
– Pep Guardiola
「ボールじゃない。相手を動かすんだ。」by ペップ・グアルディオラ
Triangles and Diamonds: As such, teams focusing possession will prioritize triangles and diamonds. The first thing I look for when watching a team play positional play, is does the ball holder have at least three options (including dribbling). If they do not, its a team error and not an individual error.
Bradley immediately creates a passing triangle around the attacker and moves with the pass to give him an option. McKennie should be giving Pulisic a lateral option here but gets caught ball watching.
Look at all the triangles being created here by McKennie in comparison.
三角形が作られている例と比較してみましょう。
Close safe passing: This also means that teams focusing on possession will need a careful balance between careful passing and risky passing. Risky passing creates great highlights but too many risky, uncompleted passes results in not having the ball and an inability to move the opponent to set up the punch. This frustrates a lot of fans as they see it as boring or possession without purpose. As long as the ball is moving crisply and its causing the opponent to move, its not without purpose. Instead I would encourage others to see probing possession passes as jabs. Everyone wants to see the roundhouse punch, but those need to be set up. The more careful passing are jabs to set those up.
・Zones: Teams focusing on positional play will focus on the use of space and zones over team “shape” or number systems. Below is Pep’s zonal schematic of the field. You’ll see positional play coaches move right backs to center midfielders (Walker for Pep), strikers back to the midfielders (False 9), wingers inside so they look forwards and even center backs up – all to better manage and control the space. They use close passing on one side to open up zones on the other. The idea is to pre-design the movement of players in space to create openings. Total Football is the concept where any player can play any position and interchange. Positional play focuses on using the zones to help identify both their movements and spacing regardless of their “position.” Then depending on the players skill sets and the type of advantage that is desired they can move the players round the field like chess pieces to seek different advantages.
“The main problem I had to solve when my players were in possession of the ball was the one of creating space: searching for, creating and occupying space in the different parts of the field and exploiting that space in an effective and positive way.”
Giovanni Trapattoni
「選手たちがボールを持っているときに、解決しなければいけない大きな問題は、スペースを作り出すことです。ピッチのあらゆる場所でスペースを探し、作り、使い、効果的な前進をするために利用します。」 by ジョバンニ・トラパットーニ
Staggering: Positional Play coaches will avoid shapes with straight lines. They want as many triangles as they can get. A common rule is that no player should be in the same vertical or horizontal line.
Movement: Lastly- this style of play requires lots of off the ball movement. Pep uses the zones to coordinate that movement, but the constant, coordinated movement is a key feature.
When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.
Once the the foundation is there, then we start to get into the tool belt of positional play. What mechanisms do teams use to be proactive and achieve superiority?
Numerical Superiority- This is the simplest and most basic. Numeric superiority is an attempt to get superior numbers. This starts in their own half when starting possession and they look for the third man. It is then using the triangles and diamonds to always have a passing option. Then it is an attempt to take advantage of overloads or sets up 2v1s or other combinations in different zones.
・Positional Superiority- where the team has is better positioned than the opposing team in order to achieve an objective. Another way to state it is that the team that has positioned its players so as to be able to receive and use the ball with time and space to gain an advantage. The basic concept is how can a team position their players in zones to control the spaces on the field and manipulate the opponent to get a scoring opportunity. This can include placing your wingers high and wide to pin and hold the full backs, placing a striker between to center-backs to create indecision on who should mark them. It can mean moving a full back into the centerspace to get an advantage of numbers.
・Qualitative Superiority- 1v1 where a player can beat their 1v1 match up with better quality.
・ 質的優位。１対１で勝つために、より優位な１対１を作ることです。
I use this video a lot because many of the concepts are easy to see. Here you can see how the players are positioned in wide areas, halfspace and centerspace. you can see how they are moving so that they are not in line vertically or horizontally. you can see where they have inverted Adams to increase numbers in the Centerspace. Lots of positional designs control the space and get advantages.
・Dynamic Superiority- where US takes advantage of movement through zones
I used this one already in another post but I am going to so again because frankly its easy and clear. Notice there is no obvious quality superority being used. The player is not beating them 1 v1. There is no numeric superority. Its 3v3. There is not positional superiority, as each man is marking 1v1.
Morris is the box zone, Cannon, the wide zone, and Roldan in the half space.モリスはペナルティーエリア内、キャノンはワイド、ロルダンはハーフスペースにいます。All the use is movement inside the zones. Morris goes to the wide zone. Cannon to the half space and Roldan to the box.全ての動きは内に入るため。モリスはワイドに移動し、キャノンはハーフスペース、ロルダンはペナルティエリアに入ります。That creates a nice opportunity on goal.チャンスが生まれます。
The triangular movement between Cannon, Morris, and Roldan was beautifully in-sync on this play. I'd also like to shoutout Jordan Morris' off-ball movement - it created the gap for Roldan to run through. pic.twitter.com/ckkcEIMhbk
So those are all the building blocks. The fun part then is the chess match that managers can do. They can put the pieces in the zones that maximize the quality superiority. They can try to get overloads and numeric superiority on one half the field, so so as to create space (positional superiority) on the other side. They can create movement across zones for dynamic superiority and try to get different 1v1 match ups. If a team marks too closely 1v1 so as to negate 1v1 disadvantages (quality superiority and dynamic superiority), they can use that movement to open up space for for other runners and free up a man.
Its a very complicated but fantastic system to watch and study.
ポジショナルプレーは非常に複雑なですが、勉強しがいがある素晴らしいシステムです。
Right now teams that I think run this system include Man City of course with Pep. Sarri will likely run this system for Juventus. Eric van Hag at Ajax and Thomas Tuchel at PSG. Atlanta United in the MLS and of course Greg Berhalter with the USMNT.
