Have a look at this article by the England national team player Doug Reed, recently posted by Four6Zero Blog which is run by another well known english futsal player like Rob Ursell, currently playing in the Cypriot league. Below there's just the first part of the report, click on the link at the bottom to enjoy the rest of the Doug Reed post!


FORMATION ROOTED IN FUTSAL

October 30th, 2012

Doug Reed is a current England futsal international who has played in Croatia, Cyprus and Spain, and a keen student of the small sided game. Follow him on twitter here https://twitter.com/DougReedFutsal

In my first post on four6zero, I would like to talk about a tactical formation with the following characteristics:

- Prioritizes possession to control the game
- Pass and move style including lots of movement off the ball
- Played without an attacker constantly remaining in depth
- Requires versatile players who are comfortable in all parts of the pitch
- Suited to intelligent players who can read the game and have exceptional passing abilities
- Is often associated with high pressing to regain possession
- Used by the Spanish national team to win a major championship

If you guessed the formation is the striker-less 4-6-0 this site is named after, I’m afraid your assumption would be incorrect. In fact, you wouldn’t even have the correct sport. These are the characteristics of the 4-0 formation used in futsal, the indoor 5-a-side game created in South America. Both systems are, however, based on the same principles and I aim to explain how they work.

In the 1980s a Brazilian known as Zego was coaching a middling team in the Spanish futsal league. He knew that to increase his chances of winning against the stronger teams his team had to dominate possession.

He decided to adapt the most popular attacking system of 3-1 which included a pivot (striker in football) to 4-0. By abandoning the use of a pivot, his team would gain a numerical advantage in deeper areas, which would allow him to achieve his objective.

In 4-0 the players are positioned in a line across the field in an arch formation with the wingers slightly higher than the two central players.

In football’s 4-6-0, you can draw parallel with Barcelona when Messi drops into the midfield, where Dani Alves, Jordi Alba, and Gerard Pique have already helped to create a substantial numerical mismatch for the opposing side.

Crucial to this setup are rotation of positions and rapid circulation of the ball with short passes. Players without the ball have the almost constant aim of opening a passing line for the player in possession, making sure he doesn’t only have one option.

These two systems have the following advantages:

They will create space either behind the defence or between the lines. By overloading the middle of the pitch the opposition are left with a decision. Do the defenders playing against no attackers move forward to help their outnumbered midfield? This will leave less cover and create space in behind the defence that can be taken advantage of with through balls met by deep penetrating runs by quick players. In football Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Messi provide these passes for Pedro, Alexis, Villa and… Messi! Alternatively, the last line of defence can remain deeper but this allows space in between the lines behind the midfield for players to receive and turn.
Secondly, the continuous movement of ball and players complicates the task of defending. The defence is forced to constantly shift and track the attackers’ movements, whether physically or visually. This makes it difficult to assign marking responsibilities, position themselves to provide cover or create defensive two-against-ones as well as requiring a huge physical effort.









Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com