Show Them Outside

Just as the Arsenal-Monaco game gave us a couple of examples of bad defending, so too did the Liverpool-City game. Both Liverpool goals were a result of City defenders failing to show a Liverpool player in shooting position to the outside. Both were fantastic shots, to be sure, but could have been prevented, or at least made much more difficult.

First, let's make sure we understand what 'outside' means. In the final third, it means showing them toward the red shaded areas of the pitch in the diagram below:

'Showing' means overplaying the opponent to one side. If you're directly in front of him, you're not showing him outside. You need to be slightly to the inside position, taking away that route to goal. You don't simply give him the outside route, of course, but you make it almost impossible for him to take the inside route.

The guilty party for the Jordan Henderson goal was Fernandinho. In the first frame, as Henderson receives the ball and faces up to goal (but is not yet ready to shoot), Fernandinho is in decent position.

He needs to get a bit closer to Henderson by a step or two, but unfortunately for him, he is running at top speed and doesn't have his momentum under control. Henderson will use this speed and momentum against him by cutting the ball back to his right:

Fernandinho has already lost the battle at this point. He has allowed Henderson inside, into a good shooting angle, on his stronger foot, and with no teammate close enough to help.

Fernandinho is nowhere near by the time Henderson shoots. 1-0 Liverpool.

The second goal is worse, because City had two players in position to deal with Coutinho: Nasri pressing, with Zabaleta covering. It looks clear from where he is looking, where his hips are facing, and the touch he is taking that Coutinho has no interest in carrying the ball wide. He wants to cut into a more central, much more dangerous position.

And both Nasri and Zabaleta let him do it.

2-1 Liverpool, and most likely the end of City's title hopes.

So, why do well-trained, highly paid professionals make these basic errors?

Because they usually get away with them. Shots from these positions usually don't go in. So players defend like this a few times, get away with it, and repeat it, right up to the point where they don't get away with it.

You'v got to be thinking at all times when defending, and the first thought should always be: what is the danger here? In both of these cases, the danger was allowing a player in a relatively wide position to come inside into a dangerous shooting position.

For those who didn't see the game or the goals, here are the highlights:

http://www.soccerhighlightstoday.com/2015/03/video-liverpool-2-1-manchester-city.html