Hi guys. Welcome to Soccerspective. My name is Latif and today I’m trying to explain how
Liverpool's defense line uses offside traps. Before starting video, I want to say that,
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Liverpool are a team that their defense line takes position so far away from their own penalty box.
And also they use offside trap to decrease the space which the opponent team can make game.
Usually, defense line takes position closer to midfield with a distance that
is enough to cover opponent’s one player, if this player takes position in between
Liverpool’s defense and midfield lines. So they can cover this player quickly.
First of all, if forward and midfield players don’t press to opponent players effectively,
opponent players would have enough time to pass the ball to forward players and because
now Liverpool’s defense line takes position far away from penalty box, forward players would have
enough space to run defense line’s behind and when they would take the ball, they can be in a 1 vs 1
position against Liverpool’s goalkeeper.
Because Liverpool defense line takes position so far away from their own penalty box,
when opponent’s one forward player could escape to defense line’s behind, Liverpool
defenders can catch him until opponent’s player goes to scoring goal against the goalkeeper.
To do that, when they try to keep the defense line as a line, also they have to accord their body
shape to run behind to catch opponent’s forward player. If they can’t do that, when opponent’s
forward player could escape defense line’s behind, he could be all alone against the goalkeeper.
For example in this situation, Manchester City’s player Sterling tries to escape
defense line’s behind. And Liverpool’s one of the stoppers Matip matches with him.
He sees Sterling’s movement and as you see his body shape is ready to run behind.
So when the ball went to Sterling, Matip could take position closer to Sterling.
Sterling is a faster player than Matip and Matip couldn’t cover Sterling so closely like before
but he didn’t let Sterling to go score a goal. Sterling just used
the ball to pass to Jesus who supports Sterling from back.
The player who is closer to the ball can’t accord his position to the defense line very well and
can’t focus on offside rule. Because he also has to meet the opponent’s player who has the ball.
So rest of the defense line accord their positions to this player.
And because of that, if this player takes position closer to midfield a little bit than the rest of
the defenders, other defenders have to take position closer to midfield a little bit too.
With that positioning, they can reduce the space that opponent players can use.
For example, in this situation one of the stoppers of Liverpool,
Van Dijk meets opponent’s player who has the ball. And takes position closer to him to meet him.
This time, other stopper Konate and right back Alexander-Arnold takes position according to
Van Dijk. Konate takes position a little bit closer to forward and Alexander-Arnold doesn’t
run behind so fast. So this time, opponent’s all players which can be dangerous remain offside.
If this player takes position a little bit closer to their own penalty box
more than the rest of the defenders, this time because of the offside rule,
other defenders try to be more careful and be ready to run behind
because this player, without knowing, increases the space that
opponent players can use. And because of that, applying the offside rule is more difficult.
So because of that, now opponent players can escape defense line’s behind more comfortably.
So because opponent players can escape more comfortably, defenders have to be ready to
catch them and start running nearly at the same time with opponent players.
We can understand better with this situation. In this situation,
Liverpool’s left back takes position closer to the ball than the rest of the team defenders.
Because first of all, he matches with opponent’s one player one by one.
And because opponent threats his space directly, he focuses on to cover opponent’s player so much.
This time, he can’t focus on to offside rule. And because of that, he takes position a little bit
closer to their own penalty box. So this time, because opponent players have more space than
usual, Liverpool’s defenders take position ready to follow opponent’s forward players
if they try to escape defense line’s behind. And if we remember, in this situation,
Sterling tried to escape and Matip covered him. Also I have to say that, if one defender follows
opponent’s forward player who tries to escape defense line’s behind, when defender crosses the
defense line, stops running and keeps taking position in the defense line. So they don’t
break defense line and opponent’s players can’t escape from defense line’s behind comfortably
because they can be caught to offside easily. Thanks for watching this video guys. I hope
this video can be beneficial for you. Have a nice day and may football be with you.