Interceptions - The Art of Modern Defending

[Pompey_Dan]

I'd like to share this article I originally published on my blog - I'd be interested in your thoughts & observations...

“GET INTO 'EM!” - a cry from the stands all too familiar to English fans weaned on the game during the seventies, eighties and early nineties. And how many of us have looked to the “get stuck in” touchline shout when a game of Football Manager isn't going our way? But should we really consider tackling as the principal art of defending?

As the game has developed with teams like Barcelona hitting so many passes, and at pace, modern defending has had to become more ‘ball-focused’ – that is to say the very best defensive units look to close down space and force their opponents into making a difficult pass. They do so knowing that the increased the likelihood of a miss placed pass will lead to an interception and, thereby, a turn-around in possession.

The use of covering defenders has also become more prevalent. Should an opponent look to run at their marker a good defender will show them outside or onto their weaker foot, holding them at bay until support arrives.

All this is a far cry from the age of the enforcer and a predilection for man-to-man marking. Former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley once said “It’s no use winning the ball if you end up on your backside” – he knew of all the likely outcomes following a tackle ultimately only one could benefit his players.

If a player goes to ground then there is the risk that his challenge will be mis-timed, failing to win the ball or conceding a foul – either way the opposition retain possession. Even if the defender’s challenge is good, and the ball is won, there is still a chance that it will run free to another opposition player.

So if we were to study the immediate outcomes following a tackle in a game Football Manager what would we find?

You can see from the charts above that in a game between Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers around 45% of tackles led to possession being won, the rest of the time the ball ended up at the feet of an opponent or out of play.

Compare this to the outcome following interceptions in the same game and we find that the defending team gained possession in over 73% of these occasions - a significant increase, and if we study another game (Tottenham versus Manchester City below) we find little deviation in the results.

And when we factor in the number of times a challenge resulted in a foul and a free-kick (or penalty!) for the opposition the figures of possession gained are even lower, with the ball being won cleanly on thirty-two percent of occasions (see below).

Now consider that all of the data above excludes missed tackles and missed interceptions, it depicts the outcomes of successful tackles and interceptions only. On average the four teams completed 96% of their interceptions but just two thirds of their tackles - this means less than 30% of all attempted tackles resulted in the defending team gaining possession!

So how do we set-up our Football Manager teams to defend in a more modern, ball-focused manner? Defenders who can read the game are a must have and this requires high mental attributes - particularly anticipation, concentration and positioning. Then there are the tools of modern defending we can employ - pressing high up the pitch, covering defenders, zonal marking, a more rigid philosophy and cautious tackling. Conversely, you may want to avoid very high back lines, pressing central defenders and heavy tackling.

Once your team becomes proficient in the art of intercepting the ball it will prove invaluable in turning defence to attack...

In the example below the opposition find themselves in possession of the ball just inside their own half. Our full-back has moved forward to put pressure on the ball player and block any potential pass to the left flank. This leaves our opponent with only one viable option - the ball inside - but as we can see this is easily picked up by Elias who has been tracking back. With the ball won Elias has several passing options, three of which allow him to start an attacking move immediately.

It may take a little while to get things right but the statistics show that if you aim to play a possession based game you would do well to consider your defensive approach.

 

[Draigh]

Nice article. It may be interesting to note, though, that the ability to play this game is highly dependent on the quality of your team and of the opposition. I remember a Zonalmarking article around New Year's about this very subject, and the interesting thing was that the best interceptors (Rayo Vallecano) also happened to be last in the league, because they were constantly exposed by balls played over the top.

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Nice article. It may be interesting to note, though, that the ability to play this game is highly dependent on the quality of your team and of the opposition. I remember a Zonalmarking article around New Year's about this very subject, and the interesting thing was that the best interceptors (Rayo Vallecano) also happened to be last in the league, because they were constantly exposed by balls played over the top.

As with the majority of tactics the better the personnel, the better the end product.

It was an excellent article by zonal marking (Rayo Vallecano: the best interceptors in Europe | Zonal Marking) that did indeed expose Rayo's weakness against balls sent in behind the defenders, but it also extolled the virtues of interceptions over tackling - iirc Mr *** even wrote that Rayo (13th place at the time of writing) was one of the teams to have conceded the fewest shots. For those who are interested FourFourTwo magazine also recently published a piece discussing this more modern method of defending which is worth a read.

Whilst a high defensive line comes with it's drawbacks, this can be managed in part by selecting the right type of defender - those with decent pace and high mental attributes. If your team are effective at using possession onc you've e regained it then your opponents oportunities to hit back will be limited - playing this way my Sporting side conceded only 5 goals in 30 games with a tackle success rate of barely over 50% - with few tackles resulting in a positive turnaround of possession more and more people I talk to on forum sites are considering an interception based approach.

 

[Death Ball]

I totally agree. It's been some time that I am of the opinion that a tactic that works defensively is the one that makes interceptions. And it's one of the first results I ask of my team to show it goes well is that the centerbacks are never the leading tacklers but the leading interceptors.

I prefer that the ones who tackle most be the midfielders, since giving the ball to more deep enemy players or throw-ins farther from my goal aren't situations as dangerous as if they're done by the backline.

Which means I should make a number of changes to my current main Torino formation so the wingers are more commited to the defense so they take tackles away from the fullbacks and try make my fullbacks as focused on interceptions as my centrebacks.

 

[helloiamanewlow]

Really interesting post mate.

Training talented defenders to stay on feet seems like the first obvious step to me along with signing players with good anticipation. I seem to have some of these things in place already in my own team but thats because Maldini was my favourite defender (and he went to ground about 1 every 2 games or something ridiculously good like that, in fact AC Milan are an amazing breeding ground for these intelligent defenders).

The part about how to set up the defensive line was very helpful to me, thanks.

EDIT: to add my opinion to Death Ball's post, this is certainly one of the things that makes any high pressing team in real life effective as its more about pressuring the opponents and intercepting a pass than getting a tackle in on a player, with the added advantage that when you give free kicks away, they aren't in dangerous areas.

Add to this that (at least in real life) staying on your feet when tackling an opponent is much less likely to get your players a first time yellow card than going in to a slide tackle of any kind. It also usually takes repeated fouls when not slide tackling to get a yellow which just adds to the positives of intercepting the ball.

 

[Yago69]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how to get my players to play like that - apart from learning them to stay on their feet. Is it all about the players, or does it have something to do with the instructions too?

 

[Montanaro]

Is there anyway to see a team's/individual's interception stats?

 

[helloiamanewlow]

Is there anyway to see a team's/individual's interception stats?

During or at the end of a match go to analysis and it should be an option in the 'events' bit.

I'm not sure about whether getting a team report would work if your looking for over the whole season.

 

[helloiamanewlow]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how to get my players to play like that - apart from learning them to stay on their feet. Is it all about the players, or does it have something to do with the instructions too?

Personally I would make sure that your tackling is either 'normal' or 'easy'. The idea's in the opening post include:

pressing high up the pitch, covering defenders, zonal marking, a more rigid philosophy and cautious tackling. Conversely, you may want to avoid very high back lines, pressing central defenders and heavy tackling.

Thats the only part specifically about gameplay I could find but its all good solid advice that could help create a modern defence.

 

[Montanaro]

During or at the end of a match go to analysis and it should be an option in the 'events' bit.

I'm not sure about whether getting a team report would work if your looking for over the whole season.

yea, only interested in the season

 

[helloiamanewlow]

yea, only interested in the season

If you go to your league screen-stats-player stats-tackles/game you can see the tackles per game (averaged) over the season, but for a fairly decent amount of players.

Well, there is an overall interceptions made:

league screen-stats-player stats-interceptions made

thats the only thing I can find though

 

[Death Ball]

You know, looking to boost interceptions for the back line and leave tackles for the front line has also been working for me with a team that drops deep as my Torino side still is. The fullbacks still get a good amount of tackles and the wingers are far behind, though that's because I ddn't tweak their instructions.

My team plays more often counter or standard and is told to stand off opponents, some times adding the drop deeper shout, the distribution of tackles remains simillar to when I was in Serie B, where I played more offensive and more pressing due to being one of the big sides there. I didn't take note of interceptions, so there I can't tell what's the variation. I know this season the leading interceptors are the centrebacks, the rightback, defensive midfielders and then the leftback. And the centrebacks, while being high on tackles per game, are behind the fullbacks, who are behind the defensive midfielders.

And now I will start to increase the closing down for more advanced players to have them raise in tackles and let those behind to focus more on interceptions, see how it works.

In one of the games played more offensively, controlling and not standing off or dropping deeper, I found that the distributions of tackles and interceptions are better than the average during the season, as it is to be expected. Maximum tackler was the striker and the number of tackles went down as you go backward, similarly the amount of interceptions increase as you go backward, with the back four doing the most with between 4 (leftback) and 7 (rightback) intecreptions, with only the deep lying playmaker getting in that range (5).

That is obvious, that as you say, more pressing around all the pitch leads to a increase of the intercepting game; but when dropping deep you still can go some way into having your backline focus into interceptions, using the men in front to work on the tackling. Obviously the latter wouldn't be as much as playing an interception game, but a more refined form of the tackling one. The mission of the players in front of the back four wouldn't be as much as try to win the ball with tackles where a foul, a throw in or giving it to another would be less dangerous, but to induce the opposition to less accurate passes and crosses so the back four can work intercepting those rather than needing to tackle anybody.

Since I use the centrebacks with that purpose or to block shots negating the lines to the goal with a zonal marking, rigid and not marking tightly (with the idea of less attempts to tackle, more to work other aspects of the defense), there are a few drawbacks and dangers to this, as there are the times where the pàsser/crosser didn't receive the proper pressure and a good striker can have enough comfort for the first touch as to allow him a precise finish.

 

[Runc]

Has anyone tried using 2 covering CBs?

I'm planning on trying this once I wrap up my current season, but am guessing that they'd need a DM anchorman (both to act as stopper and to stop a gap opening up between defence and midfield).

 

[Death Ball]

I haven't yet tried it in FM12. I did in FM11 but the experiment lasted little after I reverted to one cover or two defend, I don't remember the reason.

I would think you're right about a DM to cover up space, at least depending on how forward the midfielders are expected to get during the match. With my no tight setup by DCs plus deep backline I've seen more than once problems with opposition being allowed too much space in front of the area, be it for a long shot or an accurate assist, so I would strongly recommend that.

 

[stothy862]

Would love to see someone try this in a tactic. I have always tried to make my tactics stand off then keep the ball but everyone on this forum seems to love to rush in!