5 v 2

Colgate/Rhinos Analysis

Here are three screen grabs, one of the Rhinos when, having taken over possession, arrange themselves to initiate an attack from the defensive third.  The Colgate side was a little more circumspect defensively than they would be against college-level opposition, using a lower line of confrontation.  The second one is the same basic situation, reversed, and we can see some subtle differences in the quality of execution.  Lastly, we see a capture of a situation wherein the many little details that make up the game get a bit less attention than they should, and Colgate loses the ball.



What is notable for youth players is that both teams, from vastly different levels of the game, approach this moment of the game in roughly the same fashion.  Those young players hoping to get to the highly competitive collegiate level or beyond need to be comfortable and familiar with this arrangement whether they play in the group of five (or so) organizing the attack or in front of that group (wingers/strikers/attacking center mids/etc).  Seeing too, how the pros execute versus how the Division I guys do is a stark comparison, but all the players are excellent soccer players.  The devil truly is in the details.

Here's the photographic evidence (forgive the picture quality, we had to reload the video on the computer from disc after the machine crashed from the cold!):

The Rhinos first team set up a conservative, but efficient and well-organized shape in the back.  The ball is being passed by the center back (yellow arrow) to take advantage of the college boys lack of defensive shape (red circles).  The right winger is on an island, and the other five are going to have to hustle to help him out.  Which means tired players quicker than necessary.  The Rhinos, on the other hand, have stretched the field out (dashed red arrow) well and have the time and space to play a long ball if need be, so the Colgate back line must drop a bit to keep the ball from going over their heads. The Rhinos enjoyed about a 70% possession rate in this, the second half, in part due to Colgate's fatigue, but also very much due to this sort of excellent spacing, good, quick ball movement, and safe technical execution.

Here's the other side of the coin.  Colgate, having advanced the ball to a holding mid who was probably a little wider than he ought to be, and has now dropped it back (yellow arrow).  The shape of this 5v2 is clearly different from the Rhinos version above, as is the defensive shape of the Rhinos.  The player who forced Arpey (the CM for Colgate) to play backward is hustling back centrally to stay tight as the team shifts to the far side, where after the subsequent pass, Colgate loses the ball out of bounds at the red X.  Because both the CMs for Colgate are facing the back line, are too near defenders and/or hiding behind defenders, they are not good options, so the play must go to the right back, where the move is closed down and the ball lost at midfield.  


Other options players might seek here:  The far CM needs to get one side or the other of the Rhinos FWD, so that he can be passed to by the Center Back.  Arpey could follow his pass deep, dropping into the space between the two CBs and simply gathering the ball again while facing forward.  The left Center Back is also an option here, and that would either invite the Rhinos forward, creating space in the midfield, or allow the backs to look long up field for a forward.  Note too that the Colgate forwards are only 20 yards from the holding mids; the Rhinos are able to hold a higher line, and further compress the midfield.

This is a good example of high pressure defending by the Rhinos.   They have squeezed the Colgate side into a tight spot, as we can see from the very short distances between the maroon players.  Additionally, the amateurs are all staring at the ball; even if one of the three supporting players got the ball, he's no idea whats next because all their heads are turned toward the ball.  Furthermore, the GK, who gets the next pass, is also staring at the ball, is flat-footed and inside the goalmouth.  Were he to stop a bit closer to the ball, and open up to face the field, when the pass does come back, he'd do better than what he opted for in this instance: a touch and a long ball out, which went perhaps 35 yards up the middle of the field where the Rhinos won it (and why wouldn't they, half the Colgate players are in the corner!) and began another long stretch of possession. 


This is a result of a professional team being that much sharper and aggressive, but it is also due, too, to the failures of the Colgate players to execute good spacing, and positioning themselves to see more of the field.  The ball movement becomes too slow, too predictable, and they take away their own options by being sloppy in these areas.