How to Defend as a Team

Before we dive into the specifics of how to defend as a team, let’s look at the thoughts behind any defensive team tactics first.

To put it simply: teams try to collectively make it as hard as possible for the opponents to advance into dangerous territory (around the 16-yard box) and/or give them as little time as possible to get a shot on goal.

Simultaneously, they try to create situations in which attackers make mistakes and the individual players can intercept passes or win the ball in a 1v1.

To understand how teams can do this, let’s take a look at some of the fundamentals of most defensive team tactics:

A. Defensive Spacing

Most teams play with 3 (defensive) lines. A “442” therefore consists of

1. Defenders (4)

2. Midfielders (4)

3. Strikers (2)

The distance between the 3 lines should never be more than 10-15 meters apart from each other.

Otherwise, the space between the lines can be exploited by your opponents, giving them space and time to dribble forward and advance into dangerous territory without much resistance.

Each defensive line covers a zone around them, with each player covering a fraction of the zone (≈ 2m radius).

In this zone, a player is marking his/her closest opponent and is responsible for intercepting any passes the opponents try to play through this zone.

B. Defensive Shape

And as you’ve probably already seen in hundreds of games, these lines don’t stay fixed in their fixed positions.

Based on the position of the ball and the movement of the opponents, defenders and their defensive lines need to adjust their positions.

The basic rule is that always the player closest to the ball advances toward the attacker who’s in possession of the ball.

Simultaneously, the rest of the players adjust their position accordingly to help their teammate - either by doubling up on the attacker or reducing the attacker’s options for passes or further dribbling.

And the closer the ball comes towards your own 16-yard box, the tighter the defensive lines become, up to the point where potentially nearly all of the team is positioning itself around the box to make it as hard as possible for the other team to get a shot on goal.

And of course also up the field, it happens often that the defensive lines overlap and players of different lines switch positions.

Don’t forget - football is still a dynamic game and in the heat of a game also the pros don’t think about defensive shapes.

But that’s because they’ve trained and internalized their responsibilities, positioning, and tactics to perfection.

And if you want to double down on your tactical understanding like a pro, check out our “Tactics Fundamentals” Course on the Train Effective app.

C. Pressing

But defending doesn’t just start in your own half. That’s when we speak of pressing.

In simple words, pressing is the act of putting your opponents under pressure in their own half while they have the ball (e.g. after a goal kick).

Effectively pressing opponents can limit their options, leading them to either slow down their attack or make quicker decisions, which increases the likelihood of them making mistakes.

Here’s how it works:

First, one of your attacking players (strikers, wingers, and CAM) starts pressing the opponent who’s currently in possession of the ball.

Simultaneously, the rest of your team covers the open opponents to limit the options of the player who currently has the ball.

In most cases, this leads to one of the following scenarios:

1) Ideal scenario: The player panics and/or loses the ball while trying to dribble, pass or kick away the ball. → Your team wins the ball. Great work!

P.S. This happens mostly to players with low confidence and/or bad technical skills.

2) Usual scenario: The player finds an uncovered player (worst case the GK) and passes the ball to him/her.

Now you and your teammates simply need to adjust their positions and repeat the process until you’ve won the ball.

3) “Bad” scenario: As you’ve often seen on TV, pressing doesn’t always work.
Experienced and technically skilled players/teams know how to deal with the pressure.

They keep finding unmarked players or use their skill to dribble past you and your teammates.

But this isn’t the end of the world, of course: your team simply has to fall back quickly enough and transition to your usual defensive lines and defend as described in the two chapters above.

Important:
Effective pressing lives and dies of three things: stamina, teamwork, and communication.

If just one of your teammates doesn’t follow the plan (e.g. because he’s out of breath) and there are no clear instructions on when and where to press, pressing mostly fails.

And there you have it.

These fundamental guidelines can help you level up your defending game and almost instantly show results.

However, if you’re aiming to become a world-class football player, just committing to these fundamentals might not be enough.

That’s why we have created dozens of tactical courses on the Train Effective App, together with leading tactic experts and Premier League analysts.

So head over to the Learn Tab now, select our Tactic Courses, and learn how to play your position like a PRO!

Stay Effective! 🔴
the Train Effective Team!