Inside Sport

Packing the box and not defending out wide, why?


https://forum.insidesport.com.au/Topic2098941.aspx

By Eastern Glory - 15 Jan 2015 2:58 PM

I've notice that a lot of teams facing stronger/better opposition are defending only in the middle of the pitch and in their 18 yard box when being attacked. For example, both Oman and Palestine allowed Australia and Japan respectively to control the flanks during build up play and only really made attempts to regain the ball in the centre of the pitch.

I understand that it's a desperate tactic, but why persist with it when it continues to fail and allows more chances to be created for the opposition?
By Decentric - 19 Jan 2015 5:47 PM

melbourne_terrace wrote:
Eastern Glory wrote:
I've notice that a lot of teams facing stronger/better opposition are defending only in the middle of the pitch and in their 18 yard box when being attacked. For example, both Oman and Palestine allowed Australia and Japan respectively to control the flanks during build up play and only really made attempts to regain the ball in the centre of the pitch.

I understand that it's a desperate tactic, but why persist with it when it continues to fail and allows more chances to be created for the opposition?


Because otherwise you are defending more space which leads to you getting stretched even further and will cause more problems than it's worth. There is no point playing wide and pressing high if you are never going to control possession or tempo as you'll just exhaust players chasing the ball for most of the game. If you can defend the middle of the pitch, it makes it harder for the opposition to control the game and are forced to create opportunities from wide areas which are easier to defend than those from the middle of the pitch. This can frustrates the opposition and causes them to over commit forward allowing for opportunities to break on the counter.


Well explained , mate.=d>

I'd have gone into a lot more detail, with a lot of waffle.](*,)

Good, succinct response, MT.