DRIBBLING INTO MIDFIELD

You see a lot of defenders, both central as well as outside that play “safe”. It starts with how they receive the ball, often not “open” (body facing forward) and taking 3-4 steps forward quickly. They receive the ball “closed” and therefore often with the goal to play backwards; Or when they do have some space, they take one step forward, then stop, and play wide/back again. This is often because dribbling into the midfield is something a lot of coaches don’t like beacuse if yo lose the ball you might be vulnerable. But if you have players that can and dare to do this (one is often linked to the other) you can make a huge difference creating a numerical advantage in the midfield but also disorganize the opponent. Forwards are also usually not the best defenders and they also don’t like to defend that much. Playing back and wide can somtimes be a good (the best) option in case you need to “play around” the opponent, but then it has to happen quickly and once you created that exra space you need to take initiative. 

A central defender taking initiative is something that can make a hge difference in going from being presse (if you play wide and back the whole time, the forwards of the opponent will press easier knowing you will do that) and creating an attack on the half of the opponent. You can see this in the clips below where taking initiative under a press ends up in an attack and chances. It’s a mindset. A central defender not only needs to have good ball control and pass, he also needs to scan constantly before he gets the ball. Where is the space to dribble towards, how mch space do I have, is my opponent very fast and does he defend, who is open, do they play high with space behind defense? Again, most coaches prefer you don’t take any risk and even want to build up through the outside. As Dutch Lions FC we don’t, we want to use our central defenders in build up and take initiative. 

Even a top defender like Virgil van Dijk mentioned that Arne Slot changed his mindset. He was so used to playing “safe” and Slot wanted him to play vertical and take initiative constantly. Of corse it helps if you have players like Gravenbergh in the middle that understand the positional play and come open at the right moment, but you can also create this and “condition” your teammates telling them what you want when.