What does it consist of?
What it means to defend in the middle block, it means that we give the initiative to the rival when the ball is released so that they can generate that superiority and can leave that first line more easily and it means placing our team between the progression or start zone and the rival's finishing zone.
With this system we are going to let the opponent easily start the play, and we will direct their attack towards the area where we are interested. Since we will be compact and we will not let the rival receive in intermediate areas. Although playing this way also has some consequences, because we leave some space behind us, which we have to watch, since the opponent can hurt us by attacking those spaces, because if the opponent does not find a way through the middle because we are closing the interior spaces well, what they will look for will be to open the ball outwards and move to find our back.
What should we do?
When the opponent has possession of the ball we have to look at whether that ball line is covered or freed.
- If it is covered, we must maintain the area in which we are located
- But if a rival player has the ball and has an open passing line, which means he has time and space to act, the defensive line and the block must be outlined and gaining a safety distance so that they cannot beat us back.
Middle block exercise
Task to work on the withdrawal in the middle block in the defensive phase.
The task will begin with a 4v4 possession + wild card in a delimited central area, to which only the wild card will have access.
If the team on the outside managed to connect with the wild card, they would attack the big goal. If, on the other hand, the defending team managed to intercept the pass or gain possession of the ball through a steal, it would also attack the big goal.
When either team starts to defend the big goal, the only premise they will have in this function will be to retreat to the area delimited and marked as a retreat zone. In this way, we will ensure that footballers internalize the maximum height to which they can sink when performing defensive tasks.
