Execution is the key.

Here we go.

Based on the assumption you will deploy 2 holding midfielders and a lone attacking midfielder what will be required of the outside backs in a 4-2-3-1 is largely predicated on what you ask of your outside midfielders.

Movement without the ball

1) Shared responsibility for the element of width between outside backs and outside midfielders.
2) Outside backs key their forward movement on the movements of their outside midfielder.
3) If the outside midfielder remains in the outside channel the outside back is in a support role.
4) The exception to #3 is if the overlapping run is available to the outside back.

Cues for the Overlap Combination Pass
a) The ball carrier can face the opponents goal
b) There is space between the ball carrier and the nearest defender.
c) There is space behind the defender to overlap into.

How to execute the Overlap Combination Pass
a) The outside back initiates the sequence by passing the ball to be played across his outside midfielders body while calling out "Hold!"
b) The outside midfielder engages the defender by taking touches on the ball in toward the center of the pitch.
c) The outside back bends his run to the outside and calls "NOW!" when he wants the ball passed to him.
d) The outside midfielder delivers the ball into near space for the outside midfielder to run on to.

This return pass is played either via a back foot push pass or using the outside surface of the lead foot and is delivered just forward of square and down the line.

5) If the outside midfielder makes a central diagonal run, the outside back then makes the outside flank run to maintain the element of width in the attack. This run may be instant or delayed and can lead the outside back all the way into the final third of the field for a cross or shot.


The outside backs on my teams assist on a lot of goals and score a lot of goals themselves.

Other Considerations

The outside backs must read two other cues to determine their movements forward.

6) The positioning of the opposing forwards

a) If the opposing forward withdraws with the forward run of the outside back there are no worries.
b) If the opposing forward remains high, do we have enough defenders back to deal with the threat of a quick counter attack against us?

7) What is the positioning of the opponents center midfielders?

Dependent on these reads we might push both outside backs forward.

If there are opposing forwards remaining high to contend with, we will push one forward with the other holding with the center backs.

Or we may release one outside back with the other moving into the hole centrally dependent on the opponents center midfielders.

Dependent on when the ball is played to the outside back he will have a few options for play to consider.

A) If the outside back wins possession of the ball or is the recipient of the SAFE PASS he should look to play to the feet of the target player checking back to the ball.

If the target is not available, then the safest diagonally forward pass should be made.
          a) Can this be a diagonally forward pass through the midfield to initiate a change of field?

Another option is to initiate a change of fields through the back line or as a last result through his Goalkeeper.

B)  If the outside back receives the ball in the middle third of the field can he drive a diagonal ball toward the opposite side of the field.

If this ball is on the ground it should be made to a second runner cutting diagonally from the opposite side of the pitch.  This player may well be the weak side outside mid or it could be a central midfielder.

If this ball is flighted it will be to the teams opposite outside midfielder OR if that player has made an inside diagonal run it will likely be to the teams other outside back making the flank run referenced above.

We do not want to make this last option a standard of play but it is good to use as a change up.  Remember the diagonal ball played across the field?  It is the first runner who we bypassed that makes a line or flag run out in front of the outside back / ball carrier.  Playing the ball line or dumping it forward into the channel is an option for play.

C) If the outside back receives the ball in the final third of the field he has a variety of options based on how he came to be in this situation.

The first option in the final third is always to shoot the ball.
The next option is to advance the ball to an area from where the shot can be taken
The third option is to pass the ball to a teammate who is open and can take a shot
          This may well be in the form of a cross, but doesn't have to be in the conventional sense.

If he has followed the outside midfielder (or another attacking player) forward in a support role he makes himself available for a drop pass and then makes the reads listed directly above to determine his course of action.

If he is arriving as the weak side width element he positions himself so he can make a run on goal going from the corner of the 18 through the corner of the 6 to the back post.  Corner, Corner, Post.

If he arrives in the final third as a weak side player in support of the weak side outside midfielder the back may need to make the inside diagonal run to the face of goal.

OR

The back may be asked to remain slightly withdrawn from the final third to sweep up the garbage. Both his own central midfielders and the opposing central midfielders are the read for this action.

Okay, I shared the basic information.  I hope it somehow finds its way into the proper hands / minds. 

Where to play someone

During a recent question and answer period concluding a coaching clinic I had mentioned the need for center midfielders to be 360 degree players.  This sparked further questions concerning where to play someone based on how they approach the game.

This is actually something I have studied quite a bit over the years. I don't have it down to an exact science, but I do feel there are certain indicators that can help point the way dependent somewhat on the training circumstances available to the player and his team.

A 360 degree player is one who is comfortable playing in any direction on the pitch. This ability obviously comes in handy for central midfielders.  However, in the ever increasing single forward / target forward systems of today this type of player is highly prized as a target forward as well.

My answer to questions about filling positions was to designate players by their strengths in play to a position that requires those strengths be accentuated to fulfill the expectations for the position

We had just spent a half hour or so discussing the need for players to play the way they face being a requirement for possession play. A specific question posed was "where to play the player who wants to turn and go to goal?" Well, obviously this player would not fare well as a central midfielder or as a target forward.  All too often he would be self-inflicting pressure by turning into defenders.  This is the type of player who will need to play facing the goal.  So, my response to the question was in the form of another question, where should a player who wants to face goal play?

The obvious answers are 1) as a defender and 2) possibly on the flank as a wing player. 

A rather animated discussion followed as one of the coaches spoke of a player who likes to turn and go to goal being his best goal scoring option.  It was as if the only place he could be played was as a forward or as an attacking mid. I replied with yet another question, why can't a defender score goals?

I went on to explain how on our spring teams defenders were regular contributors to the attack both as assisters and goal scorers.  You need an aggressive defender who is offensive minded to man the outside back positions in many of todays zonal systems.  The coach, after some reflection, commented that I had just described his "forward" who struggled to play the way he faced.

If you do not have the time to work with such a player to teach him how to and the benefits of playing back to goal and playing the way he faces, why not save everyone a lot of stress and allow the player to play as his instincts tell him to - facing the goal and with your approval to "get forward into the attack?"

The next question to surface was, "who do I play at forward, then?"  Again I countered with a question, what do you want in a target player?

Typically we want a target player to be big and strong. Capable of receiving under pressure, shielding the ball and playing the way he faces.  It's great to have speed, but not absolutely necessary.  Remember, a primary purpose of playing to a target player who then drops the ball back is to allow teammates to join the attack.  Do we really want a target player who always turns and attempts to go 1 v 3 or 1 v 4 against the opponents defense?  Of course not! 

The target player who can receive, shield and drop the ball back allows for teammates to join him in the attack creating more favorable conditions and increasing the chances for success in the attack. All we are talking about is two passes before turning and attacking goal at pace.  1) Play to the feet of the target player who 2) plays back to the feet of a midfielder.  The precious few seconds that sequence takes allows teammates, who are running at goal, to come forward enough to be active participants in the attack instead of being trailers in the attack.

We were shooed from the building at about this time. I would have liked to continued the discussion. Perhaps another day? For now, the proverbial light bulb seemed to go off in the coaches mind during the course of this discussion. I could see the wheels churning as he pondered changing the positional assignments of some players on his team.  I'm anxious to get back out to see the team to see what he has implemented.

Outside backs in the 1-4-2-3-1 and 1-4-1-4-1 formations

Previous articles in this series:

The Goalkeeper
The Linking Midfielder
The Center Midfielder
The Attacking Midfielder
The Central Midfield Triangle
The Center Backs
How the Center Backs and Linking Midfielder interact.


The technical considerations for the outside back positions center around speed - physical, pace of play and especially in decision making ability. The ability to run onto the able coupled with a high quality of first touch  and the ability to run with the ball / speed dribble. Outside backs must be able to cross the ball early and effectively along the ground and through the air. They also need to be able to finish around the net with a high degree of accuracy and pace.

Tactically outside backs must be defenders first.  They have a responsibility to cover the inside back nearest them and defend either at the outer edge of the 18 or on the flank in the defending third dependent on the teams philosophy for covering width in the final third.  Outside backs must be astute game watchers especially on the attack as they will be called upon to make frequent calculated runs up the field in support of the attack and as vital main contributors to the attack.

Physically we like otsider backs to be runners. Work rate is extremely important and arguably second only to that of central midfielders.  Endurance is key.  Speed of play is essential. Patient on defense and aggressive in the attack. 

Psychologically these players need to have to be disciplined on defense and risk takers in the attack. They are defenders of the goal, but also man the position most capable of forcing a defense from its preferred shape through their runs up the field and long early crosses to switch the point of attack. 

I recently conducted camp at Piqua High School and it came to pass that I coached the team in a preseason tournament as well.  For that tournament match I place, arguably, the teams two best players at the outside back positions and asked of them that they be very offensive minded.  I saw the look on their coaches faces when I did this - they were skeptical.  Piqua won that match 2-0 despite being down some players and facing a decent side.  Now, the success did not lie solely in playing these two at outside back, but their presence there did not hurt the team defensively and did create problems for the opposing side.  My point is simply this, we as coaches must be mindful of our ability to manipulate the opposing defense. We must be able to stress the opponents defense to identify and expose where it is weakest so that we might take full advantage. 

The rule of thumb for placing players in positions is to build a strong spine in your formation and fill outwards.  All I did with the Piqua team was to build a strong defensive spine and place the emphasis for attacking on the flanks... (hopefully) away from the opponents strength which I assumed would be their central players.  It worked.

Evolution in Soccer - the Linking Mid

In camp settings I strive to impress upon players and coaches alike that soccer is a living breathing entity. As such, the game is constantly changing. The easiest way to depict this is to note how the diamond stopper / sweeper system has faded away with the advent of zonal defending concepts.  Yet even as you read this the standard zonal systems are being solved - the game is further evolving.

Teams that played a zonal back four utilized the backs to execute changes of field and often did so with little pressure from opposing forwards. That is, until it was discovered that two, and at times one, opposing forward could disrupt this process. This especially holds true when the outside backs are played advanced in a bowl configuration.

In this regard we have witnessed a zonal back four and the then standard 4-4-2 formation devolve back to 4-3-3 and then evolve into hybrid 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-4-1 formations.  Triangle, diamond and box midfields have once again become the norm.  It is within the triangle and diamond midfields in particular that the Linking Midfielder role has been (re)established. 

The term "linking midfielder" might be new to you but I hardly think I have coined a new descriptive term.  This is a defensive mid or holding mid with a more specifically (and broader) role defined.  In many ways it is the re-emergence of the Stopper role.  Defensively the Linking Mid is charged with protecting the back line and the specifically the center backs.  The attacking role for the Linking Mid is as the name infers - to link the back four with the midfielders and forwards.  Distributing the ball, changing field and playing teammates in is a critical role for the position. So too is the ability to make foraging runs into the attack. 

My teams often refer to this position as the Michael Bradley role.  This is true when Bradley is deployed as the defensive or linking mid.  He "sits" in an advanced position between the center backs and is used to split the afore mentioned opposing forward(s) who would otherwise disrupt the backs ability to move the ball laterally across the back.  By doing so, the back line can continue to function in a forward bowl shape instead of being forced to withdraw the outside backs to provide the depth necessary to defeat the opposing forwards pressure. The linking mid creates a 5 vs 2 (or 3) situation in your favor. 

In some ways delegating 5 players to defeat one, two or three might seem a waste of resources, but the linking mid allows the outside backs to come forward and that is the key to creating numbers up situations for your team to exploit in the attack.

This is the key to understanding how soccer evolves - Deployment of resources seeks to create numbers up advantages.  The zonal four has had numerical advantages in defending for some time now.  This created a real need to get more players forward into the attack. The solution has been to use outside backs to come forward. This can create even numbers for attacking and even give the attackers a man advantage dependent on the manner and timing of deploying the outside back.

The next phase of evolution?  Given many teams are going to one traditional forward combining with a false nine I would suspect there could be a move to playing a back 3 instead of a back four.  This is not a huge leap if we consider the current bowl configuration of back lines which might be better depicted as 2-3-4-1 or 2-4-3-1 formations.  The strength remains down the spine of the pitch and I do not foresee that ever changing.  The goals are located along the central spine after all.