Externalities of unstoppable directness

"who are our unstoppable guys… We have to use that as a weapon"

Liverpool’s recent second half against Villareal reminded me of a concept which more frequently circulated around my mind when watching de Zerbi’s Sassuolo: Ball magnetism to create space on the opposite flank, and what profiles can synthesise with unstoppable guys. The substitution of Luis Díaz gave Liverpool an ‘unstoppable guy’ on the left flank, a player with consistent willingness to engage his opposing defender in 1v1 duels, and typically succeed (My rather warped definition which appeals to particular biases, rather than Pep’s directly). Similarly, to Jérémie Boga this would draw an opposition reaction, typically of reticence towards directly engaging before support arrived to compact the space around him and limit potential avenues of progression. This doubling would frequently lead to a sacrificing of space coverage in behind, meaning the avenue of dribbling which is free is backwards, seemingly a victory for the defenders, nullifying the direct threat posed by Díaz.

However, whilst this is correct, plans are typically built upon anticipatable opposition reactions and if-then circumstances. Sure, plan A is isolate Díaz and allow him to run directly at the opposition full back, likely going on the outside after faking in, because embedded within the concept of plan A is the idea that the opponent will have good central compactness to prevent inwards infiltration which is the threat created by an inverted unstoppable guy, meaning plan A is actually directly infiltrate the half-space and likely perform a half-space to half-space switch to expose lack of horizontal coverage in deep areas. Plan B then becomes dribble on the outside whilst the defender closes the inside angle while retreating, attempting to prevent direct engagement and wait for support. To allow for inversion, Andrew Robertson could overlap, creating a conundrum from the defender, likely to continue prioritising the direct threat of Díaz and allowing the wider pass for a cross. In 2v2 situations provided when support is designed, typically through defending in a block, one player will jockey the dribbler backwards whilst the other tracks the over/underlapping run, which creates the predicament of plan whatever. The point is to exemplify that many threats we take as axiomatic and process unconsciously, and therefore are attempted to be nullified almost unthinkingly, but which nonetheless require nullification which limits adaptability elsewhere, which then makes preparing around opposition plans which introduce more than say ‘basic’ levels of threat difficult pertinent, despitethose ‘basic’ threats are typically the most directly dangerous.

Slightly tangential, but so the plan concept is more circular, Robertson over/underlapping is designed to reignite plan A of moving inside, which if not on, reignites plan B of outside via passing, which if not on, moves to plan C – to be discussed below.

When territorial advancement is achieved through the unstoppable guy, now doubled upon with a complementary full back run to draw the defence even deeper, is when backwards movement can predictably ensue. And since, reaching this point against a team like Villareal who play a mid-to-low block is predictable, whilst they have exhausted much of their defensive arsenal via commitment to handle Diaz and Robertson’s threat, having a plan on how to use this backwards movement is key. The primary value which has been created by Díaz thus far is then a threat of potential produced by his willingness to engage directly which has allowed for territorial advancement and opposition compaction to close off space for him and his Robertson. If defenders engage early, they risk a high probability of defeat, and from that a good chance being created, hence the reticence, which consolidates play into more predictable circumstances for Díaz to attack further.

So, after that, the complementary half-space profile (Trent) can receive in space. This is because the opposition have committed horizontally to Díaz through ball-sided commitment and vertically to him and Robertson to cover for both of their potential runs. This is done because play is deep and compact and thus granting space in and around the box, where a player is still directly dangerous because micro-second slips can lead to a goal is not recommended, hence the value in progression, because it leads to more reactive defending characterised by greater compactness, thus ceding space; the paradigm of needing to limit space and time almost instantaneously requires deep compaction and heavy commitment to the players occupying the box remains.

In this instance, Diaz looks to shoot rather than pass to Trent, who is perhaps too narrow to cross, but the potential is there. The connection moreover is perhaps too weak, which would allow Villareal to react and nullify accordingly. Additionally, Salah’s narrower positioning to a direct box threat, rather than wide to support Trent’s reception is limits the potential danger of the pass. But the underlying potential for something Trent-oriented through space created to the anticipatable Villareal reaction was present.

At 52:39 he received a deep diagonal from Trent, using width again to isolate a defender and advance territorially, cut inside, was unable to provoke a reaction or direct disorder, but provoked a ball-sided reaction to his presence (among others). Foyth stands off and allows progression whilst Robertson underlaps, the ball is played to Thiago and here is the circumstance. Keita connects, allowing Trent to go wider granting him time + space with enough centrality to be directly dangerous, playing a crisp cross around the 6-yard box.

In essence, the thought was using this predictable ball-sided, deepening of play reaction to complement the skillset of a player with a good half-space cross. Abstractly, unstoppable guy and half-space crosser. Concretely, Díaz and Trent. This can be seen elsewhere with the half-space to half-space switch after provoking commitment (more in the model of plan A of the winger committing the defender, initiating a transition), overload the defender with an overlap and then in the case of Sassuolo with Boga to Berardi, a long-range threat ready to shoot whilst the overlap threatened drilled cross to anticipatory Ciccio Caputo. Similar dynamics in another way are seen at Manchester City with their left-side overload, stretching of the pitch so that Cancelo is the near half-space player and de Bruyne is the far-sided half-space player, generating threat in and around the box after progression and forced opposition commitment. Essentailly, watching well built teams maximise the abilities of their respective profiles and have them interact in a complementary manner is enjoyable because processes are fluid and of the highest quality.

Overall, the value of Díaz’s directness as a chaos creator which requires opposition retreating to consolidate should not be underestimated. Such confidence, directness and proficiency in a winger consistently receiving in space because of the wide unstoppable guy paradigm of central compactness being prioritised is something I love because it can be consistency used. Watching him more since he has arrived at Liverpool has been a joy, and I think he acts an exemplar for many wingers because of the confidence which he engages the opposition and strikes fear into their hearts. The best solution to this type of player is to get tight quickly to prevent them turning and generating pace to dribble at the defender which is likely to generate a transition or gain territory to direct dangerous zones where horizontal transitions (such as the one covered here), are more common and perilous because time becomes an even more valuable resource because of what you can do with small amounts afforded. Hence creating tactical conditions where they receive in space is crucial for the possession team, such as having the unstoppable guy hold width and creating strong connections, have some pinning/stretching movement which allows them to drop and receive with a forward body orientation. In essence, Díaz has initiative, confidence, drive and directness combined with the technical ability to justify the traits, which is something an unstoppable guy enjoyer such as myself cannot resist.