{"id":1353,"date":"2022-11-16T19:44:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T19:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/16\/which-defensive-formation-works-best-for-players-andonovski-equalizer-soccer\/"},"modified":"2022-11-16T19:44:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T19:44:58","slug":"which-defensive-formation-works-best-for-players-andonovski-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/16\/which-defensive-formation-works-best-for-players-andonovski-equalizer-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"Which defensive formation works best for players, Andonovski? \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<div id=\"mvp-post-feat-img\" class=\"left relative\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/EQZ-Podcast-3-1000x600.png\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"1000\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"600\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-post-feat-img--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"mvp-feat-caption\">Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In this four-part series, we at <em>The Equalizer<\/em> are going deep into the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/category\/uswnt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. women\u2019s national team\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> style of play, tactics and selections, analyzing what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not, and how head coach Vlatko Andonovski might try to fix remaining issues before the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>In Part One, <a href=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/2022\/11\/15\/uswnt-nine-months-out-will-defensive-personnel-ertz-void-be-solved-by-world-cup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"66831\"><strong>we explored the defensive setup and personnel<\/strong>.<\/a> In Part Two, we will look at how the U.S. defends from the front, knock-on effects on the rest of the team and what can be improved.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The defense: from 2015 to 2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In 2015 and 2019, the U.S. won World Cups with very different defensive styles. The 2015 side was to some extent a continuation of Pia Sundhage\u2019s work, with Jill Ellis maintaining the 4-4-2 mid-block. That meant the U.S. only started pressing around the halfway line. Two holding midfielders \u2014 Morgan Gautrat and Lauren Holiday \u2014 protected the center backs, while the wingers put in a real defensive effort to track back and help the fullbacks.<\/p>\n<p>The 2019 triumph saw a shift away from the 4-4-2. Ellis \u2014 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/2020\/04\/20\/kickin-back-with-jill-ellis-debut-podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"50846\">taking inspiration from Jurgen Klopp\u2019s Liverpool team<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 implemented a 4-3-3 with a narrow front three, in which:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The striker, Alex Morgan, dropped back to mark the opponent\u2019s base midfielder.<\/li>\n<li>The wingers were in position to close down center backs from the outside when the opportunity was there.<\/li>\n<li>There was more emphasis than before on pressing high and nullifying build-up through the middle.<\/li>\n<li>If the opponent found space wide, an energetic midfield trio of Rose Lavelle\u2013Julie Ertz\u2013Sam Mewis shifted to apply pressure on the touchline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is a basic overview of what it looked like:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ellis-press-2019-1024x579.jpg\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ellis-press-2019-1024x579.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The defense: from Jill to Vlatko<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>\u201cWe\u2019ve gotta stick to who we are. We\u2019ve gotta be aggressive, we\u2019ve got to be intense. We cannot allow [the opponent] to dictate the pace of the game, the tempo of the game. We\u2019ve got to defend on our front foot,\u201d Vlatko Andonovski said, before the U.S. bronze medal game at the Olympics. <\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"equalizer-paywall\">\n<div class=\"paywall-block\">\n<p>\n      Access the best women\u2019s soccer coverage all year long\n  <\/p>\n<p>\n     Start your FREE, 7-day trial of The Equalizer Extra for industry-leading reporting and insight on the USWNT, NWSL and beyond.\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--mvp-post-tags--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--posts-nav-link--><\/p>\n<div class=\"mvp-org-wrap\" itemprop=\"publisher\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Organization\">\n<div class=\"mvp-org-logo\" itemprop=\"logo\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/equalizerWhite-1.png\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/equalizerWhite-1.png\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-org-logo--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Equalizer Soccer\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-org-wrap-->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/2022\/11\/16\/uswnt-nine-months-out-2023-womens-world-cup-defensive-formation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports In this four-part series, we at The Equalizer are going deep into the U.S. women\u2019s national team\u2019s style of play, tactics and selections, analyzing what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not, and how head coach Vlatko Andonovski might try to fix remaining issues before the 2023 World Cup. In Part One, we explored the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-home"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}