Ghost4928 Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 Title should be self-explanatory, but is there a fundamental difference playing with a high line vs a standard line with defenders stepping up? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cleon Posted March 5, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted March 5, 2023 There not the same thing at all. I wrote this a while back about what stepping up and dropping off do. I've seen a lot of confusion surrounding the defensive line and the new settings step up, drop off more. So here is a little something from an article I am writing; I use a high defensive line but in this scenario, we are slightly deeper than usual due to the shape of the opposition and how they set up. This impacts your own defensive line and can push it back. It’s worth noting that even with a high defensive line, it will look slightly different from game to game. So don’t expect high to always mean pushed up to the halfway line, lots of factors can alter the initial position. So here we can see the defensive line we are holding. The opposition player, Souza is going to drive forward or pass the ball. This is where your defensive line setting kicks into action. If you don’t use the step-up or drop-off more instructions then the defensive line will just behave like usual. But if you use the step-up instruction then in the image above, the players will be looking to step up at this point. As they know there is possible danger and you’ve instructed them to step up. So they’d look to reduce the space between the ball carrier/passer and play the attacking players offside. With the step-up team instruction, you are possibly conceding space behind your defensive line to reduce the space in front of them between the ball and themselves. If we were using the drop-off more instruction then they’ll be more cautious and if no one is pressing the ball immediately, then they’ll begin to drop deeper. So in this type of scenario, you’d conceded space in front of the defence to reduce the space behind them. This can be handy for cutting out those direct balls to the attackers or balls played over the top behind your defensive line. Rather than your defensive line remaining high and increasing the chance they’ll get turned and beat for pace you can minimise the risk of this as they retreat backwards. Allowing you to stay tight and compact. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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