Strikers

Because they are furthest forward in attack, striker has traditionally been considered a 'glamour' position. But in-between the chances at goal, a striker has to do an awful lot of moving, supporting, chasing, and, yes, defending.

Let's start with that. Strikers not only must defend, they must defend with purpose. A single striker in among two or three defenders playing the ball back and forth is probably not going to win the ball; but they can dictate which way the opposition plays, making life easier for everyone behind them. This is easy to do: simply shut down one of the options a defender has, and make it obvious to everyone you are doing it. Look at the situation below:

Player 1 in red, the right winger, can pressure the ball. But by running straight at the player, he gives him the option of playing right or left. This leaves the center striker, Player 2, guessing. But if Player 1 takes an angle, as indicated by the arrow, Yellow Player 2 can no longer play to Yellow Player 3. Red Player 2 should be able to anticipate this, and can either cut off the forward option to Player 5, or try to intercept the square ball to Player 1.

Keep in mind that this is often going to feel like work for no reward. A good, well-coached team will be able to bypass the striker, by simple virtue of having more players in that area of the pitch. But a striker who consistently shuts down options prevents the opposition from dictating play. Hard work in this area of the pitch will also inevitably lead to turnovers and chances at goal.

Strikers also must be willing to work very hard off the ball when we have possession. By virtue of being pressed high against the opposition's back line, and the opposition generally concentrating more players in this area, strikers are often outnumbered and are easily marked, especially if they are just standing and waiting for the ball to come to them. It is critically important that you do not 'hide' when your teammates are fighting and challenging for the ball. If you are standing behind a defender, we can't get the ball to your feet. Unless you are already completely unmarked, you should either be moving into a position to receive the ball at your feet, or looking to stretch the field and get in behind the back four (while staying onside).

While the two wingers and center striker have some different responsibilities, they should be looking to interchange and swap positions regularly. This serves two purposes: it makes you harder to mark, and it allows for flat runs in behind the back four. These runs are generally better than runs straight at goal. It is very difficult to connect a straight run with a straight ball, without either being offside, or the ball running all the way to the goalkeeper. See the image below:

It can work, but the timing, the run, and the ball have to be perfect, and the goalkeeper has to be caught unaware. Teams who try to make this run and play this ball over and over again become very predictable and easy to defend. You can victimize bad teams like this, but good ones will be largely untroubled.

Flat, crossing runs present a different proposition. The striker can build up full speed without straying offside. You also force defenders to make decisions about whether to run with you or pass you off to another defender. These runs and balls also keep the goalkeeper from intervening. See below:

The wide strikers - wingers - will generally attack more down the touchlines. Wingers have the freedom to dribble more than any other position, as long as it is dribbling with intent. You are trying to get around the outside of fullbacks and either run straight to goal (if no other defender steps up to challenge) or cross.

Mindset is important. Wingers cannot be timid. A winger who continually turns away from the 1v1 battle with a fullback is doing the opposition a favor. If you are faced up 1v1 with a defender who has no cover behind them, look to take them on. A winger who relentlessly runs at the fullback can help push the opposition deeper and deeper, giving us more space in which to play. You will not always be successful; a good defender will actually 'win' most of these battles. You still must commit to it. This is a low-risk area in which to lose the ball. Frequently, the best the defender will be able to do is play the ball out for a throw-in or corner. The times you do beat the defender will bring us chances and goals.

Wingers should also have the opportunity to combine with overlapping fullbacks. Also, when the ball is on the opposite side of the pitch, the weak-side winger should be looking to get on the end of a possible cross, but always from a wide position. In the event the cross is slightly over-hit, you should be there to contain it. If a cross ends up going all the across the face of goal and out of play for a throw-in on the other side, it is the fault of both wingers - the one who over-hit it, and the one who failed to contain it.

Finally, wingers - don't be offside. You only have to look in one direction to see where the defenders are. This is very easy. Do. Not. Be. Offside!

Finishing - scoring goals - is still how most strikers are judged, but we will not be successful if our strikers do not contribute in all these other ways. When chances come, good finishing is a result of composure, skill, and lots of practice. Right, now, Messi and Ronaldo are the most devastating finishers in the game, with the likes of Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez, and Robin van Persie not far behind (Fernando Torres is very, very far behind. Sorry, Sean).

Attacking Midfielders

Attacking midfielders in a 4-3-3 are tasked with significant attacking and defending responsibilities. They operate in the most crowded part of the pitch and must have the vision and composure to keep the ball moving to teammates under high pressure. In the attacking third of the pitch, they have to be creative and unpredictable in order to unlock organized defenses. They also serve as the first deeper-lying line of defense when we are being attacked.

It's important to recognize that an attacking midfielder is still a midfielder, not a striker - meaning there are important defensive responsibilities. The most important of these is not wining tackles but tracking runners. I can't emphasize this enough. It's wrong to think, "I can be reckless here; I have teammates behind me." Midfielders who dive into tackles and chase the ball leave the players behind them in numbers-down situations against good teams who pass and move. When you step to pressure an opponent with the ball and they pass it and move, you move with them - not after the ball. There are exceptions, of course, such as when the pass is very short, to a player you are very close to, or is mis-controlled. But good teams don't play this way, and chances are, you cannot outrun a soccer ball passed firmly.

All three midfielders - holding midfielder included - must be willing to play with positional fluidity, interchanging as the game demands. You may need to tuck in for an overlapping outside back, for example. A prime responsibility for attacking midfielders is supporting your teammates by showing for the ball whenever possible. Keep in mind that showing does not necessarily mean running all the way to them; it means getting into their line of vision and finding space to receive a pass. Below, you can see Player 3 has made a support run to show for the ball, getting out from behind the opponent in blue. Very basic - and very important.

 Attacking midfielders can also open space for teammates by making creative runs. If you play a ball wide to one of the wingers, then make an overlapping run around them, you've just put the opposition outside back in a difficult position. Do they track you, or step to the ball? There is an upside for us no matter what decision they make. The more often we put the opposition into these confusing situations, the more success we have as a team.

Another critical element for attacking midfielders is speed of play. This does not mean running at speed with the ball; it means making and executing decisions quickly. The middle of the pitch is crowded. If you take extra touches or linger on the ball while making a decision, you will get tackled and/or the strikers ahead of you will get marked. The ability to play one and two-touch soccer is vital. Moving and playing the ball quickly keeps the opposition unsettled. Dallying on the ball and getting tackled repeatedly disrupts any momentum and makes it difficult to sustain offensive pressure.

Attacking midfielders have to look to connect with the strikers in front of them. One of the strikers should always be showing for a pass, and one of them should be playing off the last defender and looking to stretch the pitch vertically. A final important point is that midfielders must be willing to make runs beyond the strikers. If they do not, the strikers never have an option ahead of them, and we become very easy to track and mark. If a striker shows for you and you play to their feet, and there are other support players available, look to overlap. This, again, puts opposition defenders in difficult positions. Does a defender leave the striker with the ball to track your run? If not, you'll be unmarked; and if so, the striker will have room to turn. It doesn't always work this well, of course, and overlapping always carries the risk of being out of position if we lose the ball. But the attacking third of the pitch is where we take risks. We will not score goals if we don't.

There are fantastic creative midfielders around today: Fabregas, Xavi and Iniesta at Barca, David Silva at Manchester City, Eden Hazard at Chelsea, Luka Modric at Real Madrid, and Juan Mata at Manchester United, among many others. Check out some of Iniesta's best work:

Fullbacks/Outside Backs

Outside backs are responsible for defending the wide areas of the pitch in the defensive third. They will also need to help out centrally when the ball is on the other outside back's side of the pitch. Nobody does more 1v1 defending than outside backs; proper form and technique is crucial. Outside backs must accept that teams are going to test them, and should see it as a fun challenge.

Positionally, outside backs play slightly higher up the pitch than central defenders. One of the most important guidelines for outside backs is to never be deeper than the central defenders. This is because central defenders, who are defending players running directly to goal, need to have the freedom to stop retreating towards their own goal and let an opposition player run into an offside position. An outside back sitting too deep ruins this. Since outside backs are defending players in wider positions further from goal, they shouldn't need this last resort. If they get beat, one of the central defenders should be able to slide over and offer cover.

Remember to 'show' the attacker into areas you want them to go. Generally, this means inside when higher up the pitch (the middle third, which is very crowded) and outside when in the defensive third, away from our goal. We never want to allow a wide player to cut inside into a shooting position near our goal. This option must be taken away. Remember that even if the attacker wants to go wide, and you are showing them that way, they still have limited space in which to work, and you can use the touchline to your advantage. When isolated 1v1, it's also important to remember that you don't always need to cleanly win a tackle. Sometimes it's fine to give away a throw in by poking a ball out of play, or even a corner by blocking a cross. It's always better to give away a corner than to allow a cross into the box. Corners give us time to get into good defensive shape. You should also consider it a 'win' if the attacker turns away from goal and plays a negative ball, even if they keep possession. This slows down the attack and, again, lets everyone else get into good defensive shape. We want to avoid letting the opposition attack us at speed, so anytime we force them to slow the pace, we have increased our chances of defending successfully.

At the U13 level and above, outside backs should think of making attacking runs both with and without the ball as a part of their role. An outside back who overlaps the midfielder ahead of them causes confusion among the opposition. Defenders expect to defend strikers. Midfielders expect to defend midfielders. Strikers don't really expect to defend, but when they do, they only expect to defend against defenders playing the ball in their own half. When an outside back overlaps or carries the ball into the opposition half, it sets off a chain reaction of confusion - usually because the opposition strikers have failed to defend (see pic below). Most strikers either aren't great at defending or don't take it very seriously, since they are doing it in a low-risk area, far from their goal. Outside backs can take advantage of this. Running past the half-hearted defensive efforts of a striker forces opposition midfielders, who are already occupied with your midfielders, to deal with you, presenting our team with a numerical advantage. Well-coached teams will adjust, but you can still take advantage of momentary confusion to connect with midfielders and strikers.

Outside backs new to this sometimes freeze up when they find themselves with the ball at their feet, 35 yards from goal, and a mass of players in front of them. Remember that in this situation, the opposition is more concerned than you are. Their goal is under threat. Try to keep moving forward or play the ball forward. There is not much point in taking the risk to overlap or carry the ball well into the other team's half, only to stop and play a safe 7-yard pass to a teammate right next to you. When you overlap or dribble, do it to attack. You are going to lose the ball sometimes; you will have teammates behind you who will try to slow down the subsequent counter-attack so you can recover. This is a risk that is worth taking.

Finally, remember that when the ball is on the other side of the field, you have to prioritize the danger to our goal. Look at the graphic below. There is no reason for the left back (in yellow) to still be marking a player so far from both the ball and our goal, when there are bodies much closer to goal who need to be marked.

 Pinch inside. If the other team plays a miraculous 60-yard ball all the away across the pitch to the wide player on your side, you'll have time (when the ball is in the air) to shift back out there and defend. But that's a ball you won't see until you are in college - and it really isn't that dangerous anyway, because the player it's going to isn't directly threatening our goal.

Watch a few minutes of Bayern Munich right back Philipp Lahm:

Holding Midfielder

The holding midfielder is, along with the goalkeeper, one of the two most important positions on the pitch. It is also frequently misunderstood. A holding midfielder can and should join the attack, while attacking midfielders absolutely will help defend. The key difference is that the holding midfielder must be disciplined enough not to chase the ball in the middle third of the pitch, but instead adopt a 'screening' position in front of and between the two central defenders. This takes patience. The holding midfielder will do a great deal of work side-to-side, shifting as the opposition passes the ball in front of him/her, only looking to challenge or tackle when the opportunity presents. The key defensive duty is to prevent balls being played to the feet of a central striker, and prevent players dribbling straight at the back four. The holding midfielder should think of him/herself - with some pride - as a 'destroyer,' working relentlessly to break up attacks on goal.


The picture below is a simplified representation. The holding midfielder is not marking the center striker, but preventing the ball being played directly into him/her, while being ready to step forward and pressure the player with the ball if they carry it closer.

The key to this situation is knowing when to sit deep, and when to step and pressure the ball. This is different for every situation, but in general, look to pressure when:

a) the player with the ball gets into an advanced area, close enough to consider shooting
b) the player with the ball takes a bad touch

Remain patient when:

a) you see someone else is about to close down the player with the ball
b) we are numbers-down defensively and need to slow down the counter-attack


There are unique attacking opportunities afforded to the holding midfielder. This is the player the center backs should look to play to first, so it is important to make checking runs and show for the ball. A quick, short run can give you time and space to receive the ball and turn, with plenty of options ahead of you. If we do this correctly, you'll have at least five players in advanced positions. A holding midfielder can pass simply, or, when options are limited, look to carry the ball into more threatening areas. Especially when playing against an opponent sitting deep, this can help free teammates by forcing an opponent to step out of a defensive shell and challenge, thus opening they space they vacated.

The holding midfielder can also be an effective attacker by arriving late at the top of the box when the ball is being crossed. While strikers and attacking midfielders will likely be the ones making runs into the box (and drawing most of the attention of the opposition), arriving late leads to shooting opportunities when balls are half-cleared. The 98 Navy Girls scored goals like this from the holding midfield position in both the State Cup semifinal and final this season. Watch this example from Claude Makelele, the player who defined the role in the modern game while playing for Chelsea:

Because the holding midfielder will often be 'between the lines' of the back four and the two attacking midfielders, communication with both sets of teammates is crucial. The holding midfielder will more often GIVE information to the attacking midfielders, who are in front of him/her, and RECEIVE it from the central defenders, who are behind. This is simply because the deeper a player is, the more of the game they can see. When the holding midfielder sees an opportunity to overlap the attacking midfielders and join the attack - as they should from time to time - they should communicate this (a simple shout of "switch with me!" should do it), so that one of the attacking midfielders can cover for them in the event we lose possession.

In addition to Claude Makelele, some great examples of holding midfielders in recent years are Javier Mascherano of first River Plate and then Liverpool (he now plays as a central defender for Barcelona); Fernandinho of Manchester City; Sergio Busquets of Barcelona; Javi Martinez of Bayern; and in the women's game, Shannon Box.

The attitude of a holding midfielder is critical. Playing this position can be demanding, but it is not 'punishment.' On the contrary, you should understand and embrace the fact that you are in the ideal position to dominate the flow of the game, as the professional players listed above do.

Claude Makelele is the player most closely identified with the position. Listen to him explain it in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63WojjZy7QE

Central Defenders

More so than any other position, central defenders have to think of themselves as a partnership. Communication and understanding between the two is critical. Central defenders primarily defend central areas, in front of goal - obviously the most vulnerable part of the pitch. One of the two will always be the DEEPEST player - the one closest to our goalkeeper. This should shift depending on where the ball is. The defender closer to the ball will be pressing higher and providing cover for the outside back or midfielder who is attempting to tackle; the other central defender will sit deeper. The deeper player not only provides cover in this case, but has the option to step up and allow an unmarked opposing player to run into an offside position (this is why outside backs should never be the last - deepest - player). The picture below shows the left back (player 1) pressing/challenging a player in a wide position. The left-sided central defender (player 2) is providing cover, while the right-sided central defender (player 3) is slightly deeper, while staying connected to his/her partner.

Because central defenders set the defensive line, it is important that they defend neither too deep nor too high. The line will vary from moment to moment, game to game, based on the strength or speed of opponents, pitch or weather conditions, and amount of pressure we may be facing. Resist the temptation, when under heavy pressure, to simply drop deep. This only invites more pressure. Think about compressing space in front of you, forcing the opposition play in a narrow, crowded strip across the pitch.

When the ball is in our defensive third and we are under pressure, central defenders must work to maintain 'connection' with each other. If you get pulled too far apart, you will be unable to cover for each other, and will allow too many channels to goal. When in doubt, tuck in close together and defend from inside to out.

When a central defender steps into a tackle or an aerial challenge, their partner MUST ALWAYS tuck in behind and cover them. If a central defender knows their partner is always doing this for them, they can tackle and challenge more aggressively.

Especially against an opponent sitting deep and playing defensively, central defenders can initiate attacks by carrying the ball into the opponents' half and drawing an opponent out before passing. If the situation is right, an extended dribbling run can cause chaos and help break down a team 'parking the bus'. More often, central defenders will initiate attacks by passing. The first option is to find a midfielder  - often the holding midfielder - in space, but if that option isn't available, they should look to retain possession by connecting with the other defenders. Long balls out of the back should be considered a last resort, but don't be afraid to play it long if you feel pressured.

Winning tackles is of course an important part of the job, but a central defender should be looking to read the game, anticipate passes, and cut them out before they can reach their target (see the video at the bottom of Alessandro Nesta demonstrating this).

Central defenders are team leaders, and must communicate accordingly. Especially important is communication with the holding midfielder, since the role of that player is to 'screen' the back four, and not allow balls into the feet of a central striker. Especially when that striker plays 'between the lines' (behind the holding mid, ahead of the central defenders), it is difficult for the holding midfielder to see or track him/her. They need a shout to let them know where they need to be.

Finally, it is critical that central defenders exhibit confidence and poise with the ball at their feet. No other position is likely to have as much time and space on the ball. Our central defenders will set the tone early in every game that we are comfortable on the ball, and will look to retain possession.