Introduction to Attacking in Football
When it involves opening up defenses in football today, the perfect players have the power to make things occur in tight spaces and equally to take advantage of the room afforded when greater spaces appear. This is the evidence of the next evaluation featuring UEFA Technical Observer Rafa Benítez, dropped at you by FedEx. Benítez, working with the UEFA performance evaluation unit, explores examples from several league-phase fixtures from this season’s Champions League, showing teams attacking each small and huge spaces – and he explains the several technical qualities that every approach requires.
Attacking Tight Spaces
The first video shows Barcelona up against the man-to-man set-up of Bayern during their 4-1 home win in October. As Benítez says, the important thing think about dislodging the defense is the "opposite movements" of Raphinha and Fermín López, with the previous dropping deep and the latter running behind before teeing up a goal for Robert Lewandowski. “It’s not nearly keeping the ball and being patient [but having] the movement of the offensive players,” observes Benítez.
Another example incorporates a Liverpool goal of their 2-0 home win against Real Madrid and Benítez highlights the importance of Alexis Mac Allister’s constant scanning within the lead-up to scoring. "Mac Allister on a regular basis is the one scanning around, trying to search out spaces between players and find the angles," says Benítez who notes also the precision of the Argentinian’s one-two with Conor Bradley, praising the close control and quick finish that follow.
The importance of movement to attract out defenders is obvious on this third clip, taken from Arsenal’s 5-1 win at Sporting by which, as Benítez discusses, Declan Rice steps into the best channel and draws out Sporting’s left-sided centre-back, Gonçalo Inácio, in order to open up space for Bukayo Saka. "Declan Rice is attracting the centre-back who’s then following him and there is an enormous space," says Benítez who lauds the intelligence and speed of Saka’s run in behind to establish Kai Havertz.
Attacking Big Spaces
For this second a part of the evaluation, Benítez begins by a Raphinha goal against Bayern which follows a fast switch of play – a rehearsed move, as he explains within the video. As mentioned already in the primary section, Barcelona had profited from runs in behind defenders on this game and here is an alternate option as Marc Casadó escapes the congestion by delivering a crossfield pass. "Straight away, Lewandowski is pointing to the opposite side," Benítez says. "He knows they’ve players wide that may very well be an option."
In this initial evaluation of Barcelona’s performance that night, we analyzed their threat from deep runs. Here Benítez returns to the primary example highlighted then as Barcelona beat the Bayern press with a pass as much as Lewandowski before then sending Raphinha running behind to open the scoring. Benítez praises the clever movement of Pedri and the switch between Fermín López and Raphinha. "That creates confusion between the defenders and it gives them overtime to receive the ball [Fermín] or to make the movement running behind the defenders [Raphinha]."
The focus now turns to transitions as we see Leipzig, of their home game with Juventus, capitalize on a ball up the pitch to Loïs Openda who supplies Benjamin Šeško to attain. For Benítez the important thing things listed here are "the run of Šeško and the vision of Openda and the standard of the pass".
Finally, it’s back to Barcelona vs Bayern for an additional example of the necessity for high-quality passes to enhance clever movement. Benítez singles out Pedri first for his ball out from defense to Yamal. "Instead of playing the simple pass back he’s already on the lookout for a player forward," he says. "It’s a greater option because they know the transition needs to be quick." What follows is just as quick as Yamal similarly eschews the simple pass and appears for an additional penetrating ball. "We speak about top-class players and [how] they put their head up and he’s on the lookout for the player who’s running behind defenders, on this case Raphinha," adds Benítez.
Tips for the Training Ground
The examples above underline the importance of with the ability to perform at speed and from a training perspective, this begs the query of tips on how to help young players develop the power to do this. According to Gunnar Pettersson, a talent ID expert with Swedish Football Association, "a key trait in today’s top attacking players is with the ability to control the ball and control the situation in tight spaces. The game is so fast now so we want to develop players who can manage that speed."
To coach this, players must play in small spaces. They must give you the option to regulate the ball and make decisions in small spaces and, at the identical time, give you the option to mix with other players – with someone showing to feet and another person getting in behind, for instance. When it involves transitions, Football Association of Norway expert Thomas Brantsæter suggested that "to practise counterattacking, why not start training drills with a loose ball and contesting possession? That’s a real-game scenario."
He reiterated the purpose about players needing to give you the option to take care of each of the scenarios presented above, saying: "We are seeing increasingly more complete footballers who’re great at 1v1s in big spaces but may play within the smaller spaces. We need players who’re each fast and have technical ability to mix in small spaces. These players haven’t got just one solution. They have the tools to show their opponents where it hurts them most."
Conclusion
In conclusion, attacking in football requires a mix of technical skills, movement, and decision-making. Players have to give you the option to regulate the ball in tight spaces and make quick decisions to take advantage of the defense. They also have to give you the option to acknowledge and utilize big spaces to create scoring opportunities. By analyzing the examples provided by Rafa Benítez and incorporating the guidelines from the training ground, young players can develop the talents and skills vital to grow to be effective attackers in the sport of football.
