Covering Passing Lanes

At the end of my last post, I mentioned Javi Garcia's role of cutting passing lanes. Since I left that comment way too vague, I figure I'll give an example of what I meant.

At this point in Braga's attacking play during Sunday's game, the player with the ball has no clear passing options. All of the lanes leading to his teammates are effectively covered by Benfica players. A simple defensive movement, shown by the arrows, will throw off the defensive balance and allow Braga to get into Benfica's box fairly easily. Maxi is going to run up to meet the player with the ball and Javi will shift over to cover the open space left by Maxi. This isn't necessarily Javi's fault since I think it's a tactical shift that he's been instructed to do, but we'll see the problem that arises.

Javi Garcia's original movement outside to cover Maxi opens the passing lane. Javi then overcompensates, cutting back in to protect the front of the box as we'll see in the next picture. Meanwhile, Lima, Braga's striker, makes a great run outside to open another passing lane through Javi's overcompensation. Though it's impossible to keep track of every player around you, in this case, keeping track of the striker is particularly important since he's the only player ahead of the ball.

So Javi moves in, Lima moves out, and a clear passing lane is there once again.

David Luiz' quickness allows him to cut off Lima's angle. Lima is still able to get the shot off that goes wide. Though no major damage was made as a result of this play, the fact that a goal scoring opportunity even happened was a factor of not effectively covering the passing lanes.

Javi Garcia a very talented player, certainly one of the best defensive midfielders playing in Portugal, and will likely get called up to the Spanish national team in the near future. He has a very important role on this team, I just think this is an example of how he can improve his positioning.

Looking forward to seeing the new and improved Portuguese national team tomorrow. I'll be chiming in with my thoughts on Paulo Bento's first game...