Holding a high defensive line is a modern, sophisticated way to play, and it comes with major benefits. Playing high allows us to compress space and keep more of our players close to the ball when defending. It means the other team have to slow or stop forward runs to avoid being offside. And it means we 'sucker' teams into playing balls into the space behind our defenders - balls which almost always go all the way to our goalkeepers. As a system, holding a high line stops a lot of attacks before they can even begin, and it works about 90% of the time.
The problem is that the other 10% often results in a goal.
The 00 Navy girls have conceded just two goals in seven games this season. That's a great defensive record. But both goals we have allowed have cost us wins: the first to the South Carolina team during TFC Friendlies, and the second last weekend to GUSA Navy. The goals were almost identical - a ball played into space behind the defensive line, finished off by a fast striker. This is a problem that needs to be addressed now, because this team is increasingly coming up against teams who are bigger, stronger, and faster than we are. This wasn't such an issue not so long ago, but looking at recent games - GUSA, ACS Sandhills, SCUMP (SC) at the CESA Tournament - it's increasingly obvious that, a couple of players aside, we are a small team. That's okay - you'll all grow and get bigger, but right now, we're at a physical disadvantage against a lot of opponents, and playing a high line allows them the space to exploit it.
The 97 Navy boys scored 8 goals in 3 games at The Ultimate Cup, but we won only one of them, because we conceded 7. Of the 7 goals, 3 were directly or indirectly conceded from corners (an ongoing issue we'll be working on). Most of the others were a result of the opponent exploiting the space behind our back four. It's important to understand that this is not the fault of only the defenders. When strikers or midfielders don't put pressure on the player with the ball, that player will have time to pick the kind of pass that can beat even an organized line. No matter what the system, we have to defend as a unit, starting from the front (the strikers) all the way back to the goalkeeper.
Defending with a high line takes almost perfect timing and coordination with all players, and it takes a LOT of practice. Our problem is that 1) we don't train every day, and 2) Most of our training sessions are in small spaces that don't allow us to work on full-field tactics.
The high line puts too much pressure on our goalkeepers, who so far this season have been spending more time outside their penalty box than inside it. I would like them to be able to focus on their main job, which is saving shots, rather than being forced to play as an extra defender. It also puts too much pressure on referees and linesmen, who ARE going to miss offside calls every game.
Both teams are going to change. We're still going to press high up the pitch when we have the ball. But when we lose possession, unless we win it back very quickly, the defensive line - as defined by the two central defenders - is going to drop deeper into our half - much deeper. We'll keep retreating as long as we're being attacked, finally holding for good around the top of the penalty area. We're going to force teams to play through and around us with skill and strategy, rather than by simply kicking the ball and running after it.
The picture below shows that the higher the defensive line is, the more space there is to play in behind it:
A deeper line compresses this space, and requires a player to produce a much more difficult pass.
Note that even though in the second picture the opponent is closer to our goal, the situation is less dangerous, because there is far less open space in behind our defenders.
Defending with a deeper line means more work. We wont get 'bailed out' by teams getting caught offside
multiple times, or playing long balls all the way to our keepers. But we also won't get burned by one simple ball.
We will still pick our times to press high; we're just not going to rely on it as our only defensive approach.
We'll work on this in training (as weather allows) in coming weeks - but it really is as simple as the central defenders dropping deeper when we lose the ball.
In addition to playing deeper, both teams have to commit to working harder to prevent teams from attacking us straight down the middle - a topic for another day.
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