Tactics / In possession
Width and depth
When your team has the ball, spread out. Wide players stretch the pitch across, a striker and a deep midfielder stretch it from front to back.
Why it works
Defenders can't cover a big area. The more you stretch them, the bigger the gaps between them, and the more time your players have on the ball.
What players do
- Wide players: touchline to touchline, so you can see the whole pitch.
- One player always high and one always deep, so there is a pass forward and a pass back.
- Get into positions where you can see the ball and the goal.
With young players
Young players bunch around the ball. Use a rule: one player in each half of the pitch at all times, or a "stay wide" zone down each side.
Drawn on a 105 × 68 m pitch. Orange attacks left to right; numbers are the usual shirt numbers for each position.