If you follow Benfica or any other European football team whose manager has a personality similar to Jorge Jesus', you've undoubtedly heard a lot of generalized jibber-jabber regarding technical and tactical aspects of the game. The 2-0 Benfica loss at the hands of Shalke 04 during this past Champions League fixture is a perfect game to discuss both the technical and tactical aspects of Benfica's defensive play with particular emphasis on Cesar Peixoto. This analysis has two hard morals:
- Cesar Peixoto has no business being the left back in Benfica's 4-1-3-2 system.
- Benfica's defensive contingency when faced with a counter-attack needs some revision.
The first goal doesn't require much discussion, showing Cesar Peixoto's technical inability to head away a ball that came right at him. It was a pretty basic defensive play that was botched and shows a complete lack of concentration and basic defensive skills.
Before I get into the second goal, let me just begin by stating that I believe Cesar Peixoto is a quality player. Was a quality player, I should say. There's no doubting he's past his prime, and what a way to show that than by placing him in one of the 3 most physically demanding positions on the field.
With Benfica's high pressure 4-1-3-2 (or 4-1-2-1-2, as you wish), the defensive midfielder, usually Javi Garcia, runs the most kms during a game serving as the bridge between the team's defensive and offensive play. After the defensive midfielder, the most physically demanding positions are the right and left backs. These players habitually incorporate themselves in the offensive scheme, often reaching the byline for a cross into the box.
The machine was a well oiled one last season with Maxi Pereira and Fabio Coentrao running up and down their respective flanks. This season has been a different story, more often than not Fabio playing the role of left winger with Cesar Peixoto taking the reigns at left back. This won't work against good teams. The beauty of having Fabio Coentrao playing LB is that he's much more durable, plus he's much more dangerous on the offensive side of the ball since he's coming up from the back, overlapping the left winger and generating creative plays. Playing LB on a team where the left side center back begins a lot of its offensive initiatives makes the physical demands even greater.
So, let's take a look at the goal and how Cesar Peixoto at this position is a liability, as well as the team-wide defensive flaw.
David Luiz started advancing with the ball, losing it to Raul...
Typically, in a situation where David Luiz loses the ball out of position, the defensive midfielder compensates and shifts to play side-by-side with Luisao, as indicated by the red arrow. David Luiz is on the ground and Cesar Peixoto is seen at the bottom of the screen. He's right where he should be at this point, being that he accompanied David Luiz' offensive initiative through Benfica's left flank.
The Shalke player at the top of the screen is a very important one, his run forward being represented by the white arrow. This player will be unaccompanied by the Benfica midfielder right next to him.
Raul continues with the ball, cutting toward the center of the pitch. Javi Garcia continues his run back to cover David Luiz and play next to Luisao. Cesar Peixoto, at the bottom of the screen, is already far behind where he should be expected to be. The Shalke player on the right flank has already passed him up and David Luiz up, though the Brazilian central defender was on the ground when the counter-attack began.
The main issue with this sort of defensive movement by Javi to cover the central-defender is that it leaves a HUGE hole right in front of the defensive line. In this particular case, Javi should be pressing the man with the ball rather than prioritizing defensive placement next to Luisao, especially since Raul is cutting into him with the ball. There is basically no defensive midfielder to give the defensive line some coverage, as we'll see here...
Javi is now close to being side-by-side with Luisao, and Raul has all the space in the world to navigate the play as he wishes. There is no Benfica player within 10 meters of him. The Shalke player running down their right flank is now far ahead of both Cesar Peixoto, who for all intents and purposes is completely out of the play, and David Luiz. Cesar should be accompanying the Shalke player while David Luiz cuts in to temporarily replace Javi Garcia in the defensive midfielder slot.
Remember the Shalke player from the first picture making his run up? There he is, along the left flank, unaccompanied by the Benfica right midfielder.
The dotted lines represent where the players should be. Cesar, playing left back, should be expected to recover his position and be where David Luiz is, covering the Shalke player along the right side of their attack. If Cesar does his job, David Luiz isn't forced to cover him and could have replaced Javi in front of the defensive line (though I'm pretty sure they don't have instructions to do this).
Maxi, playing right back, is almost glued to Luisao and practically invites the Shalke player to continue his run through the German team's left flank. If David Luiz were allowed to be somewhere in the middle in front of the defensive 4, it would limit Raul's options. It would also allow Maxi to more comfortably cover the passing lane on the right side of Benfica's defense by placing himself a few paces further to the right.
Checkmate. The pass goes to the player making his unaccompanied run down Shalke's left flank, who in turn crosses it low to Huntelaar (inexplicably getting rid of Luisao) for the easy score. Zone defense breaks down, no pressure on Raul by the non-existant defensive midfielder, no midfield help accompanying the Shalke player making the run all the way from his own half (I miss you Ramires). Easy goal.
And where was Cesar Peixoto? At the bottom of your screen...
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