You are here: Home → Sports → Soccer → 2023 11 07 → Article 708317

Soccer News of Tuesday, 7 November 2023

Source: www.sportsbrief.com

Ange Postecoglou: How to beat offside trap after Tottenham’s daring high line approach vs Chelsea

« Prev

Next »

Comments (0)

Listen to Article

The photo used to illustrate the story The photo used to illustrate the story

Sometime last year in Qatar, Herve Renard masterminded one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history when he led Saudi Arabia to a huge 2-1 win over Argentina.

Not many expected that the Middle East minnows would defeat a team that hadn't lost any of their last 36 games and had you-know-who in their ranks.

A lot of narratives were floated for that win, but one tactical attribute that Renard executed to perfection was playing the high line despite having, with due respect, 'inferior' players.

Ange Postecoglou repeated a similar tactic on November 6 against Chelsea without much success. Only his use of it was crazier and more audacious - he did so with only eight men on the pitch.

The 'high line' is a defensive tactic that teams often employ to reduce the space in which the opposition can play in the other half.



Using the high line as a defensive tactic

It involves the entire defence stepping up the pitch, almost near the halfway line or, as Postecoglou showed, on the halfway line itself.

It is a brazen tactic that seeks to nullify the opposition's threat to play around or through the defence, thereby forcing them to play over. Playing over or through comes with its risks because if the opponent doesn't time their runs and passes to perfection, the flag will always go up for offside, as it did seven times for Chelsea in North London.

One way to trap players offside is by the use of body positioning, as Total Football Analysis explains. A defender ought to be alert when stepping forward before the pass is played.

On September 3 this year, Gabriel Magalhaes' last-ditch body movement left Alejandro Garnacho in an offside position, thus ruling out Manchester United's second goal against Arsenal.

A defending player also needs to have his body turned at least 45 degrees towards his own goal to give him a chance for a foot race should the attacking side beat the offside trap.

The other way to combat the high line is by having pacy defenders who can close down attackers should they get through. That explains why Pep Guardiola always has Kyle Walker as his last man when Manchester City are up defending corners.



Chelsea's wastefulness in front of goal

Postecoglou almost survived with his approach against Mauricio Pochettino, partly due to Chelsea's profligacy in front of goal. For instance, Nicolas Jackson scored three goals, but he still underperformed in terms of his expected goals (xG).

Had Spurs been playing against a more astute attack like Liverpool's, the score could easily have been eight or nine.

Sticking with Chelsea's wastefulness, it shouldn't be lost on us how Guglielmo Vicario kept his side in the game until the 75th minute.

It, therefore, bodes well for a team playing the high line to have a goalkeeper who is ready to take risks of coming out of his area to meet the attempted through balls. The Italian was on hand to thwart Jackson, Marc Cucurella, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Raheem Sterling on multiple occasions.

How to beat the high line

So, how do you beat the high line and offside trap? On paper, you just negate every trap mentioned above. The attacking players need to time their runs to perfection to get in behind the defence.

It also helps to have quick players on the prowl. Pochettino sensed the opportunity and decided to throw in Mudryk in a team that already had the pace of Jackson and Sterling. Once the perfect pass was played, either of the three made a beeline for the Spurs goal, with the Senegalese striker getting his first Chelsea hat-trick.

Back to the Renard case study, Argentina might have had the ingenuity of Lionel Messi or Angel Di Maria but lacked pacy wingers to really stretch the Saudi Arabian defence.



If this fails, the attacking team can have late runners in the area. When the defence line is almost on par with the attackers, players can come in from deep, totally unmarked and get behind the defence. Chelsea tried this with Cucurella, who was through on goal but failed to beat Vicario.

At the end of the day, it takes heart to play the high line and Postecoglou couldn't have summed it up more perfectly when he said:

"It is just who we are, mate. It is who we will be for as long as I am here," he said, as quoted by the Evening Standard.

Some days it works, some days it doesn't. You just have to take risks.