Concept 7 – The Free Man

“The principle idea of positional play is that players pass the ball to each other in close spaces to be able to pass to a wide open man.”

Key Ideas:

1. Finding the free man (a team mate who is able to receive unmarked with time and space).
2. Recognising which opponent is pressing who and which team mate becomes free ?
3. Creating superiority (numerical, positional, qualitative).
4. Exploiting space.
5. Team mates recognising when to stay still or arrive in the space.
6. Creating overloads.
7. Dribbling to attract pressure and free team mates.
8. Affecting and unbalancing the opposition.
9. Attacking the next line of pressure.