Don’t Always Play Out From The Back

In soccer, playing out from the back is quite common these days. So common for teams in many cases that they continue to do it even if the opposing team expects it and high presses them. Most goal keepers nowadays have to be comfortable with the ball at their feet. The reason for this of course, is the importance of keeping possession, rather than simply kicking the ball long. But sometimes this is done to a fault, and to the detriment of the team.

Don’t get me wrong, I love good possession soccer. I love when a team controls the game and can effortlessly play the ball around the park. The tiki taka team of Spain from 2008-2012 was in my opinion the pinnacle of the sport. I dislike teams that simply hoof the ball long and hope to win the ball off the knockdown, and can only accept a team I support doing it if they need a goal and have only minutes left to score. But that doesn’t mean I want teams to try to keep possession in situations where clearing the ball is the smart option.

Sometimes keeping possession and trying to play through the opposing press when you are close to your goal is the right choice. When there is enough space, not an immediate danger if you lose the ball, and your players have the ball control and passing ability to do it, playing out of the back allows your team to keep possession while advancing the ball up field. But the problem with this is the risk vs the reward.

When you are playing out of the back, if you make one mistake, or the opposing team nicks a pass, they can immediately generate a very good chance to score. One misplaced pass or intercepted ball, and the opposing team could have an odd man rush right at your goal. But even if you succeed in playing out of the back, which requires multiple players controlling the ball and executing passes without getting intercepted, you still are in your own half. In short, one mistake and the opposing team has a better chance to score than your team does even if they execute multiple passes.

Midfielders are the players who are expected to have the best ball control and passing ability, and for good reason. The middle of the field is where keeping possession is the most important. The area near your goal is where you need to put out fires and avert danger. The area near your opponent’s goal is where you need to put away chances. Neither area is where you want to slow the pace and keep the ball for longer periods of time.

In soccer, goals are rare. Therefore, it is incredibly important to minimize the amount of chances your opponent has to score on you and maximize the amount of chances you have to score on your opponent. If an action leads to more scoring chances for your opponent than for your team, it might be wise to limit it. One misplaced pass or nick of the ball when playing from the back leads to a decent scoring opportunity for your opponent. In contrast, it takes multiple well executed passes to create a scoring opportunity for your team when playing from the back.

Obviously there are other benefits of playing from the back besides scoring opportunities. When you play out of the back rather than clearing the ball, you keep possession more often. The more you have the ball, the more likely you are to win. Soccer is a sport where statistics aren’t as indicative of how well a team plays than other sports. Possession and chances only ultimately mean something when they lead to goals, which are rare. Therefore, it’s difficult to show statistics on possession and territory that objectively show which is better. But real chances to score are what define games. And if you really pay attention, you’ll see more big chances to score are given away by trying to pass out of danger than big chances are created by passing through it.

I made a point earlier that playing through pressure can sometimes be beneficial, and I want to repeat it. And teams should learn to be comfortable on the ball and passing it. But watching your team give up an unnecessary goal when trying to play through pressure should annoy anyone. There are situations when it is ok to forgo possession for safety. Players must learn to know when these situations arise. When one goal, one pass, can decide the result of a game, teams must know when to release the ball. Otherwise, they’ll give away goals, and games, that they never needed to.