SEASON 2 : Tactics Page;  Episode 8: Patterns of play brought to life (Down both flanks and Direct)

Soccerblog 3 Minutes

“Not having to constantly remind everyone what’s required is an important part of being successful”: Jupp Heynckes

Wow, it’s been 8 episodes already?!! This season is flying by and we’ve still got lots more to get into… So, let’s do what we normally do n see if we can get an 8 second goal in, shall we?

Today we say goodbye to direct passing as we finish with another one of my perferred pattern of play: Down Both Flanks and Direct. Amazingly, this is one of those systems that seem to be going extinct in football today as traditional ‘Wingers’ are now being converted to ‘Wingbacks’, and Traditionsl Strikers are now being played out wide as ‘Wide Forwards’. Thank goodness these parameters have nothing to do with our game as you can still set up your team in this system (granted you have the right players, ofcourse).

D.B.F and Direct is all about strectching the opposition, using speedy and tricky attacking players to isolate defenders 1-v-1 as well as having good ball players within your midfield and defence who can spray it around for fun! The key emphasis is on the attackers as these are the players who will idealy be getting the most goal involvements while using this system. The type of attacking players needed for this system are excellent dribblers with exceptional pace. The only exception would be the centre forward who can be more of a ‘Target Man’ in the mold of a player like an Edin Džeko as his arieal threat will be lethal with the number of crosses that will be played into the box. However, players of Dzeko’s elk will slow down the pace of your attack, so it’s better to settle for a more shorter yet fast F(C) like a Gabriel Jesus, for example.

The team we will be looking at for illustration purposes will be the Bayern Munich team who played against Dortmund in the DFB Pokal final in 2012

Here is an image of Bayern Munich setting up in a 4-2-3-1B formation
Straight out the gate, we see Bayern’s ‘Wingers’ operating high and wide and are already in attack mode
A series of images illustrating the speed at which this system’s possession occurs. David Alaba (Green circle) has the ball at the DM(L) position and is looking to play a clipped ball forward towards his F(C)
Mario Gomez (red circle) goes up for the header and passes it to Kroos (yellow circle) who will then take a touch and pass it out towards Robben (purple circle) out in the AM(R) position
Robben receives the ball and is now implementing the direct aspect of the system by running at the Dortmund DM(L)
In SM, you see a lot of chances occuring via a defender passing to an attacker. Here is an illustration of said pass. Badstuber (green circle) is looking to play a crossfield pass towards Robben
Robben receives the ball and is yet again looking to take on his defender. Had this been T.T.M and Direct, the wide player would’ve looked to make an ‘out to in’ run while the ball was in flight heading towards him
The final 2 images will showcase the importance of having attack minded fullbacks for this system. Phillip Lahm (green cirlce) has the ball on the right flank. Rather than look to play a simple pass he decides to take on the defender in an ttempt to get around him.
In any D.B.F pattern of play the Fullbacks are undoubetebly a crucial factor within possession as they will be constantly fed the ball in order to support their ‘Winger’/’Wide Forward’, so their ability on the ball should be considered. Also notice that Lahm’s intent to take on his opponent allows Bayern to flood the box with attakers who are looking for the ball to be crossed in.

Another one…. Another one….. Feeling like DJ Khaled (tehehe). Enjoying this series? Why not leave a comment down below and share your thoughts for all of  your fellow Soccermanagerites to see. Up next, we take a look at Down Both Flanks and Mixed as it’ll be a very interesting prospect to differentiate between these 2 patterns of play. Catch you on the next one, lads!✌️

An example of a team implementing a D.B.F and Direct style of play with proper personnel in Soccermanager

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