HOW NOT TO CONCEDE EQUALISERS IN THE LAST FEW MINUTES - PART 1
1. The most popular approach to wind down the clock and hang on to a result is to adopt a Contain strategy together with a combination of team instructions, such as Drop (much) Deeper, Stay On Feet, narrower etc (also waste time - retain possession).
But actually such changes may be counter-productive. Also note that you sometimes dont necessarily need to be that defensive. It may even be making it more likely that the opposition will score if you do that. Dont forget that "retain possession" in combination to those other instructions equates to dithering on the ball, so if your team is not technically up to it or can be out muscled by the opposition, it may be a recipe for disaster. So it would be better to employ the clear ball to flanks instruction instead, provided you have wingers/ifs.
2. Before I move on to discuss the matter further I want to share another TIP: On top of the above team instructions Going very rigid and the additional instructions: stick to positions and be more disciplined are extremely effective.
3. The main thing to understand when adopting an extremely defensive mentality is that it invites pressure. The opposition is allowed to advance at will quite deep in your half before they are met with any resistance (drop (much) deeper/ close down (much) less/ stay on feet exacerbate this). So, this approach should be far from your mind if you have had the upper-hand for the vast majority of the match, or if the opposition happens to be a significantly weaker team that have been defending up until this point. If you have been able to control the match and peg the other team back, why would you drop back and finally give them enough space to create chances?! In this situation, a slightly reduced mentality (ie from attacking to standard) and a modified approach geared towards keeping the ball can more than suffice. Not only is this likely to be a more practical way of thwarting the opposition under the circumstances, but it's also likely to represent less of a change compared with your starting tactic. You should bear in mind that sudden changes in mentality are problematic. So, if you started the match with a positive approach involving an Attacking or Control strategy, your team may struggle more when suddenly switching to a Contain strategy, much more so than if you were going from Standard to Contain, for example.
4. Also bear in mind that not only is the team being asked to do something drastically different, but it's also inviting unnecessary pressure on top of that. This logic would naturally suggest only slight modification when you're defending against a weaker team. So, possibly a Standard mentality, alongside instruction such as Get Stuck In or Retain Possession. This would ensure that your team eases off slightly and comfortably holds onto the ball, allowing you to still control the game and at the same time be more than stable enough defensively, even if its at the expense of attacking intent. The logic in not dropping back more than that is that if the weaker opposition haven't been able to be particularly threatening throughout the game, then they're going to struggle just as much to do so now, even when getting more players forward. No need to back off and gift them the space on a plate that they've not been able to find otherwise.
5. Of course it's different if you are the smaller team attempting to maintain a flattering scoreline against better opposition, or if you have been outplayed and outfought (in which case as early as possible in the match look to substitute in stronger/more aggressive players and have the team tackle and press more and harder and close space -esp midfield space- better and in this respect tweaking your formation may also help). If you still have struggled to contain a team over the course of a match, it's inevitable that when they turn up the pressure you'll be even more overrun than you were before the final minutes.
THIS is when you should drop back and shut-up-shop (but do it carefully, gradually and only for the last 5-10 minutes). There is little to no chance of suddenly pressuring the opposition in ways that you've been unable to previously, so better to get men behind the ball, maintain the team's shape and try to weather the storm by being as difficult as possible to break down. So, a Contain or Defensive strategy, supplemented by instructions such as Drop (much) Deeper,Close down (much) less, Stay On Feet, and Narrower is advisable.
5. An alternative way of approaching this stage of a match is to be counter-attacking. Generally speaking, this method will only be as effective as your team is at counter-attacking in general. So, if you haven't built a tactic around counter-attacking and been successful with it, this approach is most likely not your best option now when such an approach would need to be at its most effective. In general I dont like counter tactics and cant seem to make them work.
There's a very interesting series of articles by CLEON in his website (SI SPORTS CENTRE) and on the SI FORUMS on the art of counter attacking football that you should read if you want to learn how to set up counter attacking football.
Anyway, a Standard, Counter or Defensive mentality (depending on how far you're deviating from your starting tactic, as well as your team's performance on the day), in addition to the team instructions of Drop Deeper, and Clear Ball To Flanks and Pass Into Space, in order to encourage longer balls that play your wingers into space which can be especially effective if the other team has adopted a desperate 4-2-4 shape.
6. Another thing to do is to be reactive to what the opposition does in another way: you must in any case always have the opposition formation on screen during matches to monitor in match formational changes. Usually when the opposition is chasing matches it needs to win, it changes formation to extremely attacking permutations such as 424. This presents a golden opportunity for you to take control of the most crucial area: the midfield. So change your own formation to pack the midfield so that the opposition's two players there will be inundated by your players.
Also note that when opposition teams try to break you down they do so trying to exploit width and space on the shoulder of your defenders (as explained in a separate post below). So look at your left defender and right defender (turn both of them into full backs and have them on defend with instructions to hold position).