Going Vertical

Our focus this week is on building out from the back.

In the past, we’ve used goal kicks to practice this. We will definitely review this, however, I’d also like to add a new concept in for the girls.

We play on a small 9v9 field with constant pressure from our opponents. 

When our opponents do not constantly press us, we can easily pass through them. 

When they do, we can struggle because we take too much time on the ball.

Since most teams will press us, we need to be more vertical. 

Vertical means our passes are more forward than sideways, or horizontal. Often, horizontal passes lead to a loss of possession and the our opponents going the other way in a dangerous area. 

Instead, be mindful with the horizontal pass. Is it to relieve pressure? Am I relieving pressure for myself or my team? Too often it’s the former. We pass horizontally into an opponent’s press and immediately our teammate is in trouble. 

We can use the diagonal pass to immediately break our opponents line and go vertical:

Let’s say we are in possession of the ball (blue team) and our opponent’s are deciding who will press the ball (red team). If the 7 presses the ball, a quick pass to a guarded 6 and a one touch to our left midfielder (3), easily results in us attacking their back line.

So, we will say they have a coordinated press, or at least their right winger (7) looks over their shoulder and sees our 3 wide open behind her. 

Instead, she backs toward marking our player and her striker, 9, commits to the press. Now, we are man to man. This creates a high press opportunity for the defense and a chance for us to be more vertical and go forward:

9 cuts off the angle to our left center midfielder (6), so we can choose to pass to the keeper or maybe relieve our individual pressure and pass to our right center back (5). The problem is their left winger (11) will jam our 5 right away and possibly win the ball back in a very dangerous position. So, how can we play more vertically?

Our 8 drops enough so our 4 can pass the ball to her. Their 6 will come with her since this is a pressing team. 4 passes to 8.

Now, here’s where 8’s intelligence will shine. Lots of pressure on her, it would be easy (not smart) to try to turn in the middle of the field. However, there’s a good chance if she does that, 6 will steal the ball:

What if our 8 scans and sees a gap in the middle of the field between their 6 and 8? That means we could have a clear passing lane forward. 

If 9 loses her man (fakes one way without the ball and moves another way), she could fill in that gap and receive the ball through a one or two touch pass from 8:

And for the final part of the buildout, our 6 runs past her man (who will be ball watching) and receives a layoff for the third man run:

This is the culmination of the past four weeks of practice. If we can get better and better every week at this, no one will want to press us.