The system

The 2-3-5 Build-Up

Two against two at the back, three against four in midfield. How pushing both full backs inside forces the front two to pick their poison.

It went out as a film on instagram and facebook .

1. 01

   Why Your Back Four Cannot Play Out

   Empty board, title only.

2. 02

   The Problem

   A textbook 4-3-3 against a 4-4-2 mid block. Goal kick.

3. 03

   Their two strikers, our two centre-backs. Even. Even means they can press and never be wrong.

4. 04

   OUTNUMBERED TWICE

   And their four midfielders against our three. There is no free man anywhere on the board. This is the flat 4-3-3's problem in two numbers.

5. 05

   OUTNUMBERED TWICE

   And their four midfielders against our three. There is no free man anywhere on the board. This is the flat 4-3-3's problem in two numbers.

6. 06

   They press. The strikers take a centre-back each and the midfield four steps up behind them. The ball goes to the left centre-back with nothing in front of him.

7. 07

   The only pass is the one they want: wide, to the full-back, with the touchline already doing half their work.

8. 08

   Inside is covered, forward is covered, the line is behind him. No kick on this phase: the trap closes without the ball moving.

9. 09

   THIS IS WHY TEAMS GO LONG

   Turnover in our own third. Everything after this is about never arriving here.

10. 10

    The Rotation

    Back to the start, no press yet. The two arrows are the whole change: the full-backs are not going forward, they are going inside.

11. 11

    Both full-backs invert and stand beside the six. Ball still: the movement is the event.

12. 12

    The centre-backs split to the edges of the box, the eights climb into the half-spaces, the wingers stand on the touchline and stay there.

13. 13

    TWO. THREE. FIVE.

    Zero movement. The bands are what arrives.

14. 14

    ONE MAN IN EVERY LANE

    Five channels, five men, one each. Their back four cannot double up on anybody without leaving somebody completely alone. Width is held by standing still, not by running.

15. 15

    THREE BETWEEN THE LINES

    Two inverted full-backs and the six, in the strip between their strikers and their midfield four.

16. 16

    TWO, AND THE KEEPER MAKES THREE

    Yes, it is 2 v 2 at the back. With the keeper playing it is 3 v 2, and the free man has been moved up a line to somewhere he is worth more.

17. 17

    Their Two Cannot Cover Three

    Two strikers have two jobs and can only do one. Press the back two, or screen the middle three. The next ten phases are what happens either way.

18. 18

    OPTION ONE. They press the two. Ball to the left centre-back, and their whole block slides to it. Watch their far-side midfielder come inside.

19. 19

    Both strikers are now behind the ball. The six receives facing forward, past the first line, with nobody within ten metres of him.

20. 20

    Their four becomes a three the moment one of them steps. No kick: the step is the event.

21. 21

    PRESS ONE, LOSE THE NEXT

    Into the half-space he just left, received by a man already facing their goal.

22. 22

    SO THEY SCREEN INSTEAD

    OPTION TWO. Rewind. The strikers do not press: they drop onto the six and screen the middle three. Ball off the board across the cut so the rewind does not fire a kick.

23. 23

    Same start, different answer from them.

24. 24

    THEN NOBODY IS ON THE BALL

    A screen is not a press. The centre-back simply drives. A carried ball is what forces a defender to commit, and this is the phase most teams never take.

25. 25

    And the carry starts a chain: the inverted left-back vacates the space the centre-back is driving into and climbs into the half-space. Never two men on the same square metre. Their block slides across with it.

26. 26

    The same man, forced out by a carry instead of by a pass. He cannot hold his line and let a centre-back walk into the middle third.

27. 27

    SAME DOOR. DIFFERENT KEY.

    The same half-space, open again. Press or screen, their midfield four has to break, and when it breaks the eight is behind it. That is the whole system in one sentence.

28. 28

    The Third Man

    HE CANNOT TURN

    Their right centre-back follows him in, tight to his back. The eight is facing his own goal. Most build-ups die exactly here.

29. 29

    HE DOES NOT HAVE TO

    Lay it back to the six. The eight's job was to drag a centre-back thirty metres out of the back four, and it is already done.

30. 30

    The third man is the one who touched neither of the first two passes. The far winger has been standing still for the whole film waiting for this, and their block is on the wrong side of the pitch.

31. 31

    ONE AGAINST ONE

    Their back four cannot slide across, because our left winger has not moved all film and their right-back cannot leave him. The faint line is the pin. That is what the line of five is actually for.

32. 32

    Outside, at the full-back, with no cover behind him.

33. 33

    Byline, and pulled back. Three arriving, all running forward at defenders running backwards.

34. 34

    GOAL

    Seven passes from the goalkeeper, and not one of them forward into pressure.

35. 35

    Ball in the left half-space, eight on it.

36. 36

    YOU LOSE IT

    Intercepted. In a 4-3-3 this is the moment eight men turn and sprint seventy metres, and arrive too late anyway.

37. 37

    NOBODY DROPS

    The three do not retreat, they collapse. Press the ball, cover the pass inside, balance the switch. Ball still: the shape is the event.

38. 38

    They are already there because they never went anywhere. That is the whole trade: you accept two at the back so that three are permanently standing where the ball is going to be lost.

39. 39

    BALL WON

    No sprint back, no recovery run, no shape to rebuild.

40. 40

    AND WE NEVER LEFT THE SHAPE

    Straight back into the same 2-3-5, facing the right way, against a back four that had already committed forward.

41. 41

    What It Costs

    Be honest about the price. The counter-press misses, one pass goes through the three, and they are running at two.

42. 42

    TWO AGAINST TWO. THE OTHER WAY.

    The same two numbers the film opened on, now pointing at us. This is a real risk. It is accepted, not hidden, and it is the price of every free man the last sixty seconds bought.

43. 43

    THE KEEPER IS THE THIRD DEFENDER

    Which is why he stood at the edge of his box for the whole film and not on his line. Two at the back is only survivable behind a keeper who defends the halfway line.

44. 44

    Swept up outside the area.