Did We Really Need a Free Player in the Back Line?

You may think why there is no right or wrong in football. When we are talking about football the discussion should be about the suitability of the systems, not whether it’s right or not.

One of the preferences that the coaches agreed on is to have a free player in the back line, due to the urge of covering his teammates in this area.

And of course, we remember the sweeper position; the free player in behind the classic man marking center backs.

We'll be looking into this through Brighton's last game.

Where to find high-quality attacks?

Again with the coaches’ preferences, it would be better to trap your opponent in the wide areas, because it’s easier to win the ball back with the help of the touchline.

Graham Potter thinks in a more proactive way, so where I could find a high-quality transition? in the wide areas or in the areas closer to the opponent's goal?

That elaborated the way he is pressing his opponents :

• Two wingers are responsible for the opponent’s fullbacks
• Two strikers press the CBs and the 6 (2vs3)
• Two of the midfielders with the opponent’s midfielders
• Leaving the 6 free at the midfield
• 3 CBs at the back could be stepping up to follow their markers

We can say it's all about the priorities, Potter prefers to cut the ball inside his press, not around his press, but how can that affect his 3-back line?

The rule here is simple if the first line of the opponent’s build-up needed another player to press in a 3vs3, one of the midfielders stepped up to press and shadowed his initial man. Leicester’s CBs get wider attracting Brighton’s forwards.

2 strikers pressed the 2 CBs and the pivot, Gross with Tielemans.

Thomas(LB) had time to pass the ball to Barnes(LW), but Veltman drove him out to Maddison(CM).

We can see the back line defends the whole width of the pitch, again the defensive line drove them out.

Here are the two strikers cutting the passing lanes to Tielemans(CM) and the back pass, Caicedo(CM) marking Maddison(CM), March is ready to jump to the left back.

Brighton recovered the ball and scored their second goal from a transition.

Can Leicester skip the press?

Just after the goal, Leicester tried to exploit that defensive line directly; pushed Justin(RB) higher to form a front 4.

One thing Rodgers forgot to think about, is how could you choose the direct play without support for the 2nd ball?

Trossard went back to Justin and managed to deal with the direct ball.

Even though Brighton's CBs had great front-footed qualities, they have good covering behaviors.

Leicester had to search for another way to break that block; third-man combinations and lay-offs were very good ideas trying to draw your opponents to a target player and then play to another one.

Thomas launched a vertical pass to Daka(ST) who flicked the ball to Barnes(LW), here Veltman is in a good position providing cover for Dunk who jumped to Daka.

Another example, is the 3 midfielders shifted their positions to the right slots, Soumare as a RB, Teilemans and Maddison shifted as well, Justin(RB) pushed higher.

Iheanacho(RW) dropped to midfield, Brighton did a fast shift, Webster(LCB) went to Justin(RB), and Mac Allister(DM) with Iheanacho.

After laying off the ball to Soumare who could find Iheanacho in the space, Mac Allister managed to win the duel and cut the ball.

The 1vs1 and the covering behaviors were the winning points for Brighton. In my personal belief, it could be successful if it is tried again. But Leicester did something else.

Change the battlefield

In the second half, Rodgers changed the structure of Leicester. Castagne instead of Barnes, Castagne played as a wingback. Now Leicester focusing on collecting the 2nd balls.

Actually, that’s helped Brighton, now Brighton’s defense has only 2 players to care about. With Mwepu starting initially with the pivot of Leicester that half, now he can jump to press with Gross behind him. March can shadow Castagne(LWB) and once he is out of his hand Veltman(RCB) stepped up to force him back.

Leicester sent a long ball, Castagne is out of play, and Veltman can be involved.

Tielemans got the 2nd ball and passed it to Justin(RWB).

Caicedo(CM) covered Trossard(W) and followed Justin, Mac Allister the free one followed Iheanacho with Webster’s attention to the ball. The 3 CBs are in a safe zone again.

The last one here, they tried to reach the front line directly.

With the great aerial abilities of Brighton’s defense. Leicester lost their opportunity to get an advantage of Brighton’s defensive line.

And a safe ball for Brighton.

Maybe against another team, Graham Potter would go another way, like we see he is using Estupiñán against Fulham and Leeds, which offers him different qualities in the defensive line.

From what we can see here, Graham Potter sets his priorities, maybe he puts his defense in a 1vs1 situation and maybe he managed to deal with a variety of opponents. But the risk he takes provides him with greater advantages making him a Class A coach.