Throughout a game many types of situations can occur, in which you can find yourself with possession of the ball and start the attack, or without possession of the ball and it is in this case that we are going to delve a little deeper, on which our players must take into account when they find themselves without the ball.
First, our players must know how to interpret whether they are near or far from the ball. In case they are close, they must start the pressure on the rival.
Pressure types
- Circulating pressure, what this allows is to cover the passing line with the sides, but it leaves the passing line free with players further away.
- Vertical pressure, this type of pressure is more direct and will force the rival to seek to play on the sides.
- Diagonal pressure, this is what will generate the rival to make a change of orientation of the game.
For this, the role of those players who are further from the ball is also important. Since these must reduce the spaces that may appear behind us or in our same line.
Because it is important?
If, when a player jumps under pressure, the other players have them disproportionately with a lot of distance, the rival will have a great facility to find the spaces and be able to filter the passes.
That is why it is important to have my team focused, giving importance to those players who do not jump under pressure, whose function is to reduce the spaces between the lines as much as possible, which will prevent the rival from being able to filter between the lines and if the rival decides to play a change of orientation to look for spaces, will give our team time to shift and organize on the field of play.
Zone defense
One of the most significant advantages of being compact in zonal defense is that it invariably suggests that the defending team, on winning the ball, will always have temporary numerical superiority. This, in turn, will be useful for them to avoid pressure after losing the opponent and then counterattack.
It should be noted that when defending in zones, teams with a symmetrical formation are relatively more defensive than those with an asymmetrical one. Having an asymmetrical formation means numerical superiority on one side as well as numerical inferiority on the other. Opponents often find a way to attack that side, thus exposing the frailties of the defending team.
As is evident, there is a lot of variation in zone defense. This occurs because teams vary in their systems of play, their use of trap pressure, their defensive philosophies and ideas, their choice of spaces to press and not to press, their choice of players to press and not to press, etc.