Positional play is a tactical method employed by a number
of top coaches, most famously Pep Guardiola.
But what exactly is it, and why does it work?
Originating in concepts developed in Total Football by Rinus Michels and Johann Cruyff,
positional play has become a guiding principle for many top sides. Hansi
Flick’s Bayern and Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea both use positional play principles, for example,
while Guardiola himself has cited Michael Laudrup’s Swansea team [2012-2014] and Paco
Jemez’s Rayo Vallecano [2012-2016] as two of the best examples.
Positional play is fundamentally a number of simple ideas which,
together, are extremely difficult to coach and implement correctly.
It requires players to learn a series of movements into and out of zones,
depending on where the ball, teammates, and opposition are. And the coaching of
positional play is a good place to start, because Pep Guardiola’s
famous divided training pitch shows one of the key building blocks for the method.
The training pitch is divided into zones using lines up and down, and across, the pitch.
This is so that players can learn their movements in and out of zones. There should never be more
than three players on the same horizonal line or two on the same vertical line – this is why,
for example, if a full-back cuts inside, the winger will push out, and vice versa.
Players should acquire an almost automatic sense for where to be and when
in relation to where the play is, where the ball is and where their teammates are.
This also encourages players to become comfortable with rotation, another fundamental principle of
positional play. Players need to be adept at switching in and out of zones, even when this
might put them, in terms of where they are on the pitch, in an area they’re not that familiar with.
Covering for a full back who surges forwards might require a central midfielder
to shift into that zone and assume greater defensive responsibility. This has echoes of
Total Football and is one of the reasons that positional play demands so much of a squad.
These two principles, zonal positioning in relation to teammates, the ball,
and space, and rotation are the way to achieve positional play’s main goal, which is superiority.
Superiority on the pitch in achieved in one of three main ways.
These are numerical, qualitative, and positional.
Numerical superiority is about having more of your players in one part of the pitch than the
opposition, allowing you to pass the ball around and past them. A good example of this is when
centre backs split wide if the goalkeeper is in possession, and a midfielder drops in. This
means that even against three defenders pressing the area, the team in possession has a free man.
Qualitative superiority is the attempt to get one of your good players in a
position to attack a defender who is not as good, perhaps slower, weaker,
or less technically able. This can be achieved by stretching the playing
area to isolate a far-sided defender against a quick winger, for example,
so that when a switch is made the winger can run at that defender before crossing or shooting.
Positional superiority is the effort to get players between or behind the
opposition lines of pressure or defence. This should allow your players to have
more time and space on the ball in order to pick a good pass and not lose possession.
This is achieved by players occupying specific zones both vertically and horizontally on the
pitch and it’s why Guardiola uses that grid-like training pitch.
In practice, this is why you see certain approaches shared by teams using this style.
For instance, the use of passing triangles or diamonds, and the 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 systems.
Both these formations make it easier to create passing triangles or diamonds,
and by getting players in the right zones and between the lines, these patterns make it easy to
move the ball through the opposition and generate a superiority between or behind the lines.
Another approach is the use of the third man, which is achieved by manipulating the
opposition’s position through passing and movement to generate space for a player to receive a pass.
A good example of this is a number of players quite close together, but on
different horizontal and vertical lines, who can play the ball to each other. This then draws
the opposition towards that area of the pitch, creating space elsewhere for a third-man run.
This is also why positional play teams often overload one flank,
before switching it very wide to the other flank.
When Lionel Messi was used by Guardiola as a false nine,
the effect was that either Messi was in space between the lines himself, achieving positional
superiority and often being the third man, or, if a centre back followed him, then space
opened closer to the opposition goal for another third man run, often from the wide attackers.
A lot of positional play is about manipulating the opponent through this sort of movement,
or by drawing the opponent in with close passing triangles,
but the aim is always to create a superiority somewhere on the pitch.
Positional play affects defence, too.
Teams that play this way often press and counter-press,
because it means they can have a number of players near the ball if possession is won back
and immediately restart the process of gaining superiority. Generally, the opposition will
have a number of players near the ball when it’s recovered, so counter-pressing can take
advantage of this by using the space on the pitch elsewhere if possession is successfully won back.
Positional play teams also often play quite a high line, looking to compress the playing
area in defence, before opening it up again in possession. These two concepts are, again,
borrowed from Total Football, where the manipulation of space was so important.
If you are trying to work out if a team is playing positionally,
then, here are the things to look out for:
There will be lots of rotation, with players appearing in unexpected areas
There will often be movements that are repeated,
like a midfielder dropping to make a back three, or full backs and wingers swapping in and out
There will be switches of play to players free in wide areas,
and lots of passing triangles or diamonds
The goalkeeper will be part of the build-up phases
And the team will press and counter-press, and very likely keep a high defensive line
That’s not an exhaustive list, these are all good indicators
that a team is using the principles of positional play.