Half-wing, zone 14, xG, counter-pressing, inverted winger: learning the terminology of tactical geeks

What does counterpressing, xG, half-flank, build-up mean?

The “Championship” occasionally publishes tactical analyzes of matches or teams and coaches. Fans of texts from tactical geeks already know what all these complex newfangled terms like xG and half-flank mean, but readers who decide to read the analysis for the first time risk getting confused. Especially for fearless people who want to understand tactics, we are releasing a dictionary of tactical terms. From this day on, we will insert a link to this material into our analyzes to make it easier for novice readers to navigate complex terms and special words.

First/second/final thirds

. Let's start with an easy one: dividing the field into equal parts with two horizontal lines, we get three sections. The first section, which is closer to the goal of the team in question, is the “first” or “own third”. The second section is the “second third” (center of the field), the third is the “third” or “final third,” respectively.

Half flank

. Everything is simple here - if we divide the field not by the usual three vertical lines, but by five, then we will get two flanks on the edges and a center, and half-flanks between them. But why in texts about tactics do they divide the field into 5 parts, and not into 3, as in the old fashioned way?

This one is a little more complicated. The half-wings are a key area on the football field because they are easier to break into than the center, and the half-wings are closer to the goal than the wings. This is where the full-back and centre-back responsibilities meet in four-at-the-back formations, which are still much more popular than three-centre-back formations. Often, an attacker, winger or center, when moving to the half-flank, becomes free for a short period of time - the opposing defenders simply do not have time to pass him to each other. Moreover, full-backs who connect high naturally leave not only the flanks open, but also the half-flanks.

Even in the second third, using the half-flank is a good idea: against any formation, it is through this zone that it is more profitable to break the pressure or pass the “bus”.

Zone 14.

If you divide the field into 18 equal squares as shown in the picture, then zone 14 is located in front of the penalty area in the center. According to statistical analysts, the most successful teams of the late 90s and early 2000s (Manchester United and the French national team) made best use of zone 14. The fact is that in zone 14 the player with the ball has the largest and best choice of further decisions, whether then pass the ball into the penalty area or shoot from a rather dangerous position. Successful teams know how to get the ball into the 14 zone and use it wisely.

xG (xGA, xPTS, NPxG, etc.).

Expected goals, that is, expected goals, is a metric that determines the quality of a certain shot. In fact, the decimal that is assigned to each shot is the chance of scoring from that position and situation. The chance is calculated based on many factors: the distance to the goal, the number of opposing players in the path of the ball, the part of the body that was hit, and many others. These criteria vary in different analytical companies, but the essence is the same.

The xG system has objective disadvantages: attacks that do not end in hits are not taken into account; the skill of a particular football player is not taken into account in any way (on the other hand, this is how you can calculate a player who is okay with finishing); the numbers often look strange when you compare the system chance with the broadcast moment. In short, over a short distance (match, month), xG cannot be used as the only argument in a dispute, for example, who looked better in a particular game.

Everything is clear with derivative indicators. Expected goals allowed - xGA, expected points scored - xPTS, expected goals excluding penalties - NPxG, expected assists (that is, xG of a teammate after a pass) - xA.

Clear moment, or Big Chance

- a dangerous moment that the eye defines as “sure” or “should have landed”, and the player who did not score this moment is scolded for a day or two after the game. This correlates with expected goals approximately like this: 0.3 xG and more is a clear highlight.

PPDA.

A metric that determines the intensity of pressure. It stands for Passes allowed Per Defensive Action, that is, “allowed passes for defensive action” (i.e. for each tackle, interception, and so on). Probably the most popular metric at the moment for measuring pressure, but, of course, it has several disadvantages, for example:

* some teams, even under high pressure, do not try to take the ball away from the opponent themselves, but force him to make a mistake;

* PPDA does not take into account whether a team is leading or losing, which is why, for example, Liverpool, which often took the lead at the very beginning of the match in the fall of 2022, had a noticeable drop in PPDA compared to the previous season.

Again, over the long term this is a good indicator, but trying to compare the intensity of pressing from one game to the next is a bad idea.

Build-up

– a team’s exit from its goal to attack. Typically, the build-up involves a goalkeeper, defenders and one or two defensive midfielders, and players from other positions (outside midfielders, number ten, etc.) can also come to help build attacks. The conversation about the build-up can end if the ball goes into the second third or half of the opponent’s field (depending on how high the opponent is pressing) - at this moment we observe the structure of the team’s attack.

In the example above, Arsenal’s build-up: 3+1 (three players in the first line and one in the second), as well as an attacking player who has dropped below.

Hybrid scheme

- an arrangement that can easily change not just during the game, but even during one episode. Vivid examples are the hybrid 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 of France at the 2018 World Cup or Allegri's Juventus, 5-3-2 and 5-4-1 in some CSKA matches under Goncharenko (for example, the first game against " Roma" in the Champions League season 2018/19). In most cases, switching between hybrid scheme modes is controlled by one player: in France and Juve this player is Matuidi, for CSKA in that match against Roma it was Vlasic.

Terms describing pressure.

Pressing – putting pressure on the team in possession of the ball.
Well, or the degree of pressure applied - there are teams that calmly allow the opponent to bring the ball to their third and then begin to try to take the ball away. Low block
, also known as a “bus”, is a type of pressing where a team meets the opponent very low, starting the pressure behind the halfway line or even just in their third.

Middle block

– a type of pressing when the team meets the opponent starting from the second third.

High block

– a type of pressure when a team meets an opponent in his own third.

Triggers

– certain events on the field that activate pressing. For example, if the opponent makes a back pass, the team that used the middle block can switch to high pressing to the defenders or even to the goalkeeper. There are a lot of triggers, the main ones are: transmission (one or more) back; passing to a weak player; a series of passes across the field without advancing the ball; pass to the flank. Pressing a pass to the flank is also called a flank trap: several players rush at the ball carrier on the flank, cutting off all possible options for him - as in the picture below.

Counterpressing (or gegenpressing)

— pressing the opponent immediately after the attacking side loses the ball.
This technique is important for any team, including the top ones, such as Guardiola’s Manchester City or Klopp’s Liverpool. The point is that the opponent, having taken the ball, does not yet have time to reorganize in such a way as to successfully control the ball. Getting the ball back is much easier if the opponent is disorganized. And after that, you can catch your opponent on a counterattack - because, again, he lost his organization, trying to move from defense to attack and losing the ball in the process. It is important to note: counter-pressing is not a separate type or type of pressing (despite the fact that it has much in common with pressing), because it is aimed at returning the ball not during the opponent’s possession, but during the transition from one’s possession to the opponent’s possession. Compactness and breaks between lines.
If the distance between the horizontal lines (defense, midfield and attack) and between the players inside these lines is small, then the team is compact. Compactness minimizes the gaps between the lines, that is, the space that appears in the opponent’s defense and which is poorly controlled by him. In general, compactness is a positive quality, but in this case the team becomes vulnerable to quick transfers to the flanks. But top teams, such as Simeone's Atlético, are able to move quickly from one side to the other, maintaining a compact formation.

Zone overloads

– creation by the attacking team of a numerical advantage (or at least equality, if there is a positional/qualitative/dynamic advantage) in one of the zones on the field against the opponent. For example, in the picture below, Arsenal has an advantage in the allocated zone, 2-on-1, this can also be called an overload. A little later, one more player from each team will come to this zone, and the advantage will become 3-on-2.

They overload either with the goal of breaking down the opponent's defense due to an advantage, or with the goal of drawing as many opponent players as possible into a certain zone, thereby defusing another and quickly delivering the ball there.

As a rule, it is the flanks and half-flanks that are overloaded, but the center of the field and even entire horizontal lines can be overloaded (for example, 5 players in attack against 4 players in defense create a 5-on-4 situation).

Isolation

- 1-in-1 situations. They are created due to overloads: if the attacking team overloaded one flank and quickly transferred the ball to the other (transferred for isolation), then on the other flank the player of the attacking team with the ball will be face to face with the defending player. If the player with the ball is technical enough, then he has a qualitative advantage over his opponent (and will probably be able to beat him). For example, Guardiola used this in Bayern with Ribery, Robben and Costa on the flanks and still uses it in Manchester City with Sane, Sterling and Mahrez.

Overloading the defensive line with attacking players also often creates 1-on-1 situations in which a more powerful/technical/fast striker will have an advantage over the opponent - in general, such situations can also be called isolations, but this term is mainly used in 1-on situations -1 on the flanks.

Build-up and play-offs

Build-up

(Build up, literally “building”) and
pay-off
(Pay off, literally “reckoning”) are two fundamental pillars of storytelling. If we compare history with a material body, then the build-up and play-off are like elementary particles that make up both the entire story as a whole and its individual parts.

A build-up is when the author raises the expectations of the audience. Play-offs - when he justifies them. Or he cheats.

At the story level, we call the build-up the “set-up” and the play-off the “climax and resolution.” But the technique itself works not only at the plot level, but also at lower levels, so we cannot always identify the build-up with the plot, and the play-off with the climax and denouement. Build-up and play-offs are possible even at the level of one phrase, or even one phrase. For example, almost all aphorisms have become aphorisms precisely because they have a build-up that arouses the audience’s desire to find out what will happen next, and a play-off that satisfies this desire. For example, the famous “I came, I saw, I conquered” is a vivid example of a build-up and play-off, which, moreover, coincides with the “Rule of Three”. Yes, the Arson, Murder, and Running a Red Light trope is also a good example of a build-up and a play-off.

And it's not just this trope. For example, a trope such as Chekhov’s Gun and all its subtropes is built entirely on the build-up (the “gun” itself) and the play-off (the moment when it “shoots”). Aversion, subversion, inversion of any trope are also based on the fact that first the author makes a build-up of the trope (now I’ll play you this trope, familiar to you, as he promises), and then deceives expectations in the playoffs.

In short, this is the universal of storytelling. It is so universal that there is no need for examples here, because they are literally everywhere.