Discussion: Defense adaptability and Sweeper [WIP]

[Kawee]

This quite a long post, filled with amateur paint drawings so bear with me. Also, English is not my first language, so do excuse my poor English at times.

***Note to Moderators***
I reserved the spaces below so I can continue my thread. Each post is limited to 4 images, and so I reserved all this space because I don't know how many posts I'll need. If there are any spares, and I will tell you if there are any, then do feel free to delete them. Thank you.
Also, not sure if this is the right forum for it. Perhaps the Tactics & Training is more appropriate?

Introduction
I've always been the biggest fan solid defense both IRL and in FM, despite being an Arsenal fan (I know I know, but you can't help who you fall in love with. Blame that Ian Wright, he was the one who seduced me.) I grew up watching tapes of the famous five of the old Arsenal defense, rather than cartoons. But I also fell in love with the sweeper system. It hurts me to see that sweeper is no longer in used, although my love for it did reap big rewards when I backed Greece for the Euro 2004 with a tenner (should have put more money into them if I knew.)

In FM, there are two things that really bother me.
1. Defense inabilities to adapt to the forever changing situations and attacks
2. The sweeper

For the first point, we see it happens all the time in our game. For example, Against narrow formations such as the 4-1-2-1-2, the full-backs of the back-4 stand marking ghosts. Midfielders constantly fail to track opponents runs, or the cover/stopper combination fails to work.

The latter brings about the sweeper. I tried using the sweeper hoping that it'll form an actual cover/stopper combination, but the sweeper still fails to do it's job, "Sweeping-up" and my defense still constantly gets beaten with through balls. And they also emply the offside traps, when I don't want them to because it can so easily be beaten by a good through ball.

So in this thread, I would just like to show you what my vision of the sweeper should be like. With it, I will also try to show what I hope the defense should be able to do as it tries to adapt to the attacks. Once again, do excuse the simplistic drawings since I have very low limitations in drawing skills.

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Key:
Red = Defenders
Blue = Attackers
Black = The Ball
-----> = Where the defenders run to
-----> = Where the attackers run to
-----> = The passing

A) As an easy example, a back-4 sweeper defense against a three man attack:

Diagram #1


This is what it should look like. Notice how the sweeper is standing. He is mainly guarding the 18 yard box, but he's tilted to the left because the ball is coming from the left-side of the defense. The following are what he's looking after:
- The front post if a cross comes in
- intercept the through ball into the middle
- charge in if the full-back is beaten by a dribble
- Run across to cover the right-back if a cross-field pass is made
This is simple enough to understand.

B) Sweeper Against 4-4-2

***[The Problems]***

Example 1: Leaving the leading striker unmarked


Diagram #2


As you can see in this example, The supporting striker (ST 1) and the two wingers are marked by the CB and the full backs, respectively. Right now, he's providing cover for the LB and the CB, and also looking to intercept any through ball and crosses. If the sweeper continues to do his job of providing the cover, then he leaves the leading striker (ST 2) unmarked. By staying deeper to provide cover he's also playing the striker onside. I need not explain how this is a problem. If he chooses to go mark the leading striker, then we've just lost our sweeper. Some people may say that that's the sweeper job to mark anyone who wasn't being marked. But I think that's a last resort. It should only happen in an emergency. In normal circumstances, every attacker should be marked and the sweeper free to provide cover.

Example 2: Leaving the supporting striker unmarked


Diagram #3


In this example, the CB is marking the leading striker (ST 2), and the full-backs are marking the wingers. The sweeper doing his job by providing cover and also to intercept any crosses or through balls. However, leaving the supporting striker (ST 1) to so much space is a recipe for death, especially against players capable of triple threats like Rooney or Arshavin. With so much space, they can so easily run at you, pick out a killer pass, or take a clear long shot. Once again, should the sweeper picks up the supporting striker, then we'll lose our sweeper.

So these are two possible problems with the sweeper system against a two strikers and two wingers. In the next post (due to image limits) I will try to outline how defensive rotation should work in order to counter this.

[Kawee]

In the OP, we saw how the sweeper system could could have trouble facing the two strikers and two wingers approach. In the first example, the leading striker was left unmarked, and in the second example, the supporting striker was left unmarked.

***The Solutions (through defensive rotation)***

Solution to Example 1: leaving the leading striker unmarked


Diagram #4


Through Defensive rotation, you can see that the RB has left his marker (the blue left-winger), and ran back to mark the leading striker instead. Why? Two reasons:
1. The leading striker is closer to the ball so he is the more immediate danger
2. The leading striker is closer to the goal so he is also the bigger danger

Now, we have the three most dangerous men in attack marked, and a sweeper to cover each of them. The winger on the far side is the one unmarked because he poses the least threat. It's all about risk calculations. However, that doesn't mean the defense should not be wary of this danger.

What if the right-winger with the ball is a Cristiano Ronaldo and he makes a perfect cross-field pass? Suddenly, the left-winger is a most dangerous man because he has the ball and also plenty of space and time. Once again, the defense needs to rotate and shift their defensive structure to meet the immediate danger:

Diagram #5


As you can see here, the defense has shifted to the immediate danger. They had to move quickly, since they only had the time while the ball was moving in the air to get into position. Let's assume they were all fast enough to move into position.

As you can see, none of the defenders actually had to move very far. They only adjusted to the immediate danger while keeping their shape.

The things to notice:
- The two full-backs switch roles as the ball moved across field. The RB now goes to challenge the LW with the ball, and the LB tuck in to mark ST 1.
- The sweeper moved to replace the RB by marking ST 2 and the CB replace the SW as the sweeper.

The second point is important. Because of the pace of modern football games, there are times when defenders have to rotate not just their position, but their roles. The SW had to become a marker because he was closest to ST 2 and the CB, having no one to mark, replace the SW as the sweeper. This allows the defense to rotate and keep their shape in the shortest amount of time and running the least amount of distance.

Another very important thing to notice is the sweeper's (in this case, CB) position. Why is he there?

The reason he's there is because he's providing cover to the two guys marking the two STs. The sweeper must realize that the two strikers are the two most dangerous men so they must provide cover against these two in the case that they can get away from their marker. Also, if the RB can force the LW to just a cross, then the sweeper (remember, in this case it's the CB) must pick up the RW who is sure to run into the box, as shown in the diagram below:

Diagram #6


As you can see, the LB and the SW stuck with their man, and the CB picked up the RW's run into the box. All three players in the box are marked. Are there mismatches? Of course there are. A Clichy will struggle to win an aerial challenge against someone like Berbatov. But at least with this type of defensive rotation, we know that there's always someone challenging for the ball, and there's no such thing as a free header, free shot, or free anything for the attackers.

However, what if the RB couldn't force the LW down the line? What if, our RB was an 18 year old Academy graduate, and he was beaten early, after the cross-field pass was made by a left-winger like Robben? A player of Robben's calibre can't be given so much space and time. With the time given, he can dribble into the box and causing all sorts of trouble, he can pick out a sweet pass or cross, or take a clear unchallenged shot at goal. We can't afford this. So how should defensive rotation deal with this?

First, look back at the diagram #6 before looking at this next diagram.

Diagram #7


First of all, take a look at the diagram #6 once again so you can understand this one.

In this diagram, we show how defensive rotation ought to work when the RB has been beaten by the LW after the cross-field pass has been made. The important things to look at are:

- The RB is beaten. I put a cross on him to show that he's out of the equation
- If left unattended, the LW will have too much space and time and will most likely do something hurtful
- Therefore the SW leaves his marker, ST 2, and goes to challenge the LW.
- The CB who was the sweeper then moves to replace SW to mark ST 2.

Why should this happen?
Simple, its all about responding to immediate danger. With the RB beaten and out of the equation, keep in mind that the defense is being outnumbered 3vs4. The LW with the ball, if given time and space is the most dangerous man so the SW has to move to challenge him. This leaves the ST 2 unmarked, so the CB moves to mark him. The two STs must be marked because they're closest to goal and therefore pose the biggest threats. Since the defense is outnumbered 3vs4, one of the attacker will be left unmarked. From the defensive point of view, that unmarked person must be the LW because he's the furthest away, and therefore pose the least threat.

[Kawee]

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