Sunday, March 29, 2015

Basic Tactics: The positions

Now that we know the rules, let's expand our knowledge. I'm going to start talking about the different positions on a soccer team. In this article, we'll talk about how positions are defined, and very briefly describe each of the basic positions. Then, we'll expand in a series of articles that talk in greater depth about what each position does, what kind of attributes you need to play that position, etc.


In terms of tactics, a football pitch is generally divided into zones. The first division is vertically - the field is conceptualized as being made up of a left wing, a right wing, and a central zone. The second division is horizontal - the field is divided into defense, defensive midfield, central attacking midfield, and attack. These designations are relative to each team - my team's defensive zone is your team's attacking zone, my team's left wing is your team's right wing, etc.

The zones of the pitch. 


Based on these divisions, there are 15 different zones. Your position, and therefore what is expected of you, depends on which of the zones you tend to occupy during a match. The organization of a team - where players line up, what the expectations of those players are - is decided on by the team's manager, and is called the teams shape.

The diagram above, with red circles indicating each of the potential positions

Before we begin, remember that compared to other sports, soccer is a much more fluid sport in terms of position. Even though each player has a preferred position, you will generally expect to see players move all around the pitch as the game progresses. The amount of freedom to move around is something that is dictated by a side's tactics. In spite of this, you'll generally see a player stick to their positions - you won't see left-sided players move to the right side very often, for example. This fluidity also means that even within a position, you can expect a lot of different types of play. Two players might both be strikers, and play in the center of the front of their team, but have completely different styles of goal scoring, which need to be accounted for in their team's tactics.


Defense

You might know the old saying - offense wins games, defense wins championships. The players who play in the defensive zone are responsible for making sure their opponents can't score.

Goalkeeper
Probably the one position that everyone knows, because it's the position that is found in virtually every side. The goalkeeper is the very last line of defense - their job is to protect the goal when all else has failed. As we've discussed before, the only position allowed to use their hands. Depending on the team system, goalkeepers can be very conservative, sitting in their own goals and only protecting it, or very aggressive, moving out to help the defense. Frequently also serves as defensive coordinator, yelling out defensive instructions for the other defenders.

Center back/Central defender/Center-half
The primary defenders of the team. They line up in the center of the defensive zone (Hence the position names). Their job is to serve as defense against opposing forwards, who generally attack down the center of the pitch, since it's easier to score from straight-on than from an angle. While the other defensive positions can sometimes take on an offensive component, center backs are nearly always purely defensive. Most teams line up with either two or three center backs.

Sweeper
A largely defunct position, the sweeper traditionally played just behind two center backs, in front of the goalkeeper. Their job is to act as a safety - stop any attacks that get past the center backs. When played to its maximum potential, the sweeper can also be an attacking position; when their team is out of possession, they protect the center backs, and when in possession they can step forward into the midfield to help on attack. While it was a popular position for a time, tactical changes have made this position a rarity in the modern game.

Fullback
These guys line up on each side of the defensive zone. Traditionally a fullback was responsible only for defending against opposing wide players. The popular stereotype was that fullback is where you bury the least talented players - if you ran a little league team where everyone has to play, you put the worst players at fullback. Over the last twenty years or so, though, the position has evolved to take on a broader range of duties, in that players are responsible both for defending, but also now are asked to get forward and help on the attack. Some modern fullbacks are actually quite poor defenders but are excellent at making runs into the attacking third.

Midfield
In many ways the most important part of the pitch - in order to score, you need to get the ball past the midfield and into attack, and in order to stop the other team from scoring you need to keep it in the midfield. The largest part of the pitch, and usually where matches are won or lost.

Defensive midfielder
A player who lines up in the center of the defensive midfield is, appropriately enough, a defensive midfielder. Defensive midfielders tend to come in two flavors - purely defensive, acting as a screen on the ball and trying to prevent opposing players from getting too close, and more of a playmaker, where they try and make pinpoint passes up the pitch to teammates to start attacks. The very best DM players can do both of these things.

Wingback
A player who lines up in the wide zones of the defensive midfield is called a wingback - meant to be a mix between a defensive wide player (Fullback) and an attacking wide player (Winger). Usually teams play with either fullbacks or wingbacks, but not both. A fullback mixes attack and defense, with more focus on defense; a wingback does the same thing but focuses more on attack. Teams that use wingbacks tend to use them as their only wide players, which puts a lot of pressure on them to handle their entire side of the pitch.

Central midfielders
These guys line up in the dead center of the pitch. They are the workhorse of the team - compared to everyone else, these guys are the most likely to be running up the pitch to setup or help out on attack, or running down the pitch to get the ball back and protect their defense. Absolutely one of the most tireless positions in sports. Midfielders also probably present the most number of roles to a player - they can specialize in defense, in play making, in attacking and trying to score, etc. The defensive and attacking midfield spots can also start here and move forward or back.

Wide midfielders
A position that is fading in the modern game, wide midfielders line up on the left or right center of the pitch. Most teams now instead have their wide players play further up front. Workhorse players, just like their central counterparts, usually expected to get forward and provide width in attack and also track back and help on defense.

Attacking midfielders
Line up in the center of the pitch in the attacking midfield zone. This is a much more aggressive position and is frequently absolved from defensive duties. The most common type of attacking midfielder is the play maker - their job is to move around and try and find space to set up passes into dangerous areas for other attacking players to use to try and score. Occasionally you'll see an AM who likes to start deep, in the attacking midfield spot, in order to have extra space to sprint forward to try and score. A player in this spot is said to be playing "in the hole" behind the attackers. Probably the second-most romanticized position, behind the striker, many famous players have played in this spot, like Zindedine Zidane.

Winger
Wide attacking player. They start either in the wide attacking midfield or the wide attacking zones. Traditionally this type of player was more of a supporting type - they cling to the edge of the pitch and work the ball forward, then play long sideways passes (called crosses) into the front of the goal for the strikers. More and more, though, this is the position where the best attacking players like to line up. They start out wide, in the attacking zone, and then cut inside with the ball in order to go for the goal from an unusual angle. Many of the most prolific attacking players of today are wingers (Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale, Marco Reus, etc). 

Attack

Striker/Center Forward
These are your big money players. The glory boys, the ones who score goals. Even  if you don't know anything about the sport, you can probably name some famous strikers (Pele, Diego Maradona). For most strikers their job is easy: put the ball in the net. A few act as play makers, trying to get the ball to team mates running in from behind them. What makes the position interesting is the ways in which goals are scored - different players rely on different skills in front of the net.

For the next few articles I'll be alternating between other tactical basics, and articles about the structure of modern soccer. Once the basics are done, we'll do a deep dive into each of the above positions and talk about how they can vary from player to player.

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