Defensive Trade-Offs

In football tactics, achieving appropriate balance can be more important than defensive perfection

Football tactical decisions are often about trade-offs. No eleven players can fill every space on the pitch, so you must decide how high your team defends, how narrow or wide, compact or lose in configuration. With an eye to how you want to transition when the ball is recovered or turned over.

Celtic's defensive line, under Brendan Rodgers, is among the highest in the league and indeed one of the highest in the Champions League. In the league, ON AVERAGE, it is over 50 metres – practically the halfway line.

The idea is to limit the space the opposition can build up in.

They then allayed that with aggressive pressing. Celtic were one of the most aggressive pressing sides in the Champions League, both in terms of volume of pressure and quality as measured by regains.

The trade-off is that Celtic are vulnerable to counterattacks. Should the press be unsuccessful either in failing to regain the ball or even in slowing the opposition's build-up, then the opponent has vast space behind the defence into which they can counter.

Even within the SPFL, this approach carries risk. No other side possesses the pace of Celtic’s forward line, nor do many sides possess creative passers that can consistently exploit such a setup.

To illustrate, here is a view that attempts to show how well teams defend their box.