The 5-3-2 low block you go to at 1-0 up
Soccer · Defence · 11 of your players
Eleven players arranged to make the middle of the penalty area the hardest place on the pitch to reach, with two forwards left out of the block on purpose.
Opens on a soccer pitch with the shape already drawn. Free, no signup.
How the block is arranged
Five across the back, but not in a straight line. The middle centre back stands on the penalty mark, eleven metres from his own goal, and the line bows forward from there: the two centre backs either side of him a metre or so higher, the wing backs higher again, level with the edge of the penalty area and about seven metres in off each touchline. That curve is deliberate. It puts the most bodies where a cross is most dangerous and it makes the pass in behind arrive at an angle rather than straight down the middle.
Three midfielders sit roughly fourteen metres in front of that line, spaced so they can each cover one of the two channels between defenders. And two strikers are left near the halfway line, thirty metres from the block, out of the defending altogether.
When to set up like this
This is a game-state shape, not a philosophy. You go to it with a lead to hold, against a side who are better than you, or when you have lost a player and need the remaining ten to cover less ground each. Eight defenders in about a third of the pitch means every cross has a head near it and every shot has a body in front of it.
Understand what you are giving away. The opposition will have the ball in front of you for long spells and they will pass it sideways in comfort; that is the deal. What you must not give away is the two strikers. The moment they drop in to help, you are an eleven-man block with no way out, every clearance comes straight back, and the block gets pushed onto its own six-yard line.
What to drill
- The wing back's decision. Draw the ball into the wide area and step the wing back out to it while the outside centre back covers behind. Animate that pair — it is the only moment the five stops being a five.
- Nobody dives in. Mark the three midfielders' zones and keep them there while you drag the ball across. Delay is the job.
- The out ball. From a clearance, draw one striker holding and the other running the channel. Two runs and you have a counter attack instead of a corner against you.
Put this block on the pitch, set it at the height your keeper is happy with, and draw the break you want when the ball finally comes loose.
Also known as
- low block
- back five
- defending a lead
- counter attack
Shapes to look at next
3-5-2
Formation · 11 players
Three centre backs, wing backs pushed high and wide onto the touchlines, a midfield three inside them and a front two. Overloads the middle and asks the wing backs to cover the whole flank.
Read the setup
4-2-3-1
Formation · 11 players
Back four, a double pivot screening in front of them, three attacking midfielders and a lone striker. The modern default: solid through the middle with a number ten between the lines.
Read the setup
4-3-3
Formation · 11 players
Back four, a single pivot with two eights ahead of them, and a front three holding the width. The wingers sit on the touchlines so the full backs have the space to overlap.
Read the setup
4-4-2
Formation · 11 players
The classic two banks of four with a front pair. Drawn as a mid block defending the goal at the top: back four on the edge of the penalty area, midfield four across the middle third, strikers up on the halfway line.
Read the setup
Attacking corner (right)
Set piece · 19 players
A right-side corner: taker on the flag, runners at the near and far post, a target on the penalty spot, a short-corner option and three held back for rest defence. Ten outfield players — the keeper is in the other half, off screen. The nine defenders show a zonal set-up to attack against.
Read the setup
Defending a corner (zonal)
Set piece · 17 players
Zonal corner defence: keeper on his line, bodies on both posts, four across the six-yard line, two on the penalty spot, one on the edge of the box and one out to press the taker. All eleven of ours, against six attackers.
Read the setup
Put the 5-3-2 low block on a pitch
It opens with the shape already drawn. Move the players your team does differently, drag the runs, and send your squad a link that animates.
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