Speaker A
The World Cup has been super exciting. I've been able to watch almost every single match except for maybe one just because I was traveling, but I was able to rewatch it after. However, the point of this video is because I want to show
Learn how to watch football matches like a tactical analyst by identifying formations, player roles, and game state adjustments.
Key Takeaways
- Watching football tactically requires patience and a structured approach to identify formations and roles.
- Player positioning and movement between lines reveal much about team strategy.
- Halftime and late-game adjustments are critical to understanding tactical shifts.
- Substitutions often signal tactical changes and should be analyzed carefully.
- Repeated patterns in build-up and defensive actions help decode a team’s game plan.
What the video covers
- The video explains a step-by-step process to watch football matches from a tactical perspective.
- Start by watching the first 10 minutes without overanalyzing to understand rhythm and tempo.
- Identify team structures, formations, and player roles both in and out of possession.
- Observe repeated tactical patterns such as build-up movements, pressing triggers, and attacking zones.
- Analyze halftime adjustments in shape, pressure, and player positioning.
- Consider the impact of game state and substitutions on tactics in the later stages.
- Evaluate if the initial game plan worked by the final 15 minutes.
- Use examples from the Netherlands vs Sweden match to illustrate defensive and attacking lines and player movements.
- Focus on how players move between defensive, midfield, and attacking lines during possession and transitions.
- Understand that each player has a specific role influenced by their profile and the coach’s tactical setup.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Watching Guide
- 00:44Identifying Team Structures and Formations
- 01:24Player Roles and Build Shapes
- 02:28Analyzing Substitutions and Tactical Adjustments
- 03:16Evaluating Game Plan Effectiveness
- 03:53Example: Netherlands Defensive and Midfield Lines
- 04:51Player Movements and Positional Behavior
- 06:24Sweden’s Defensive Setup and Tactical Changes
- 09:01Detailed Build-Up and Attacking Patterns
- 10:00Summary and Final Tactical Insights
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
you exactly how I watch those games so that I can keep learning from a tactical perspective. And I'm going to show you that process so you can also learn from that tactical perspective. So the first thing first, I want to show you I made
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this watching guide. And basically, the first 10 minutes, I need you to just watch the game. Don't overanalyze anything. You're just going to watch it.
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You're going to let the game play breathe. You're just going to watch the rhythm, tempo, what both teams are doing.
Speaker A
Of course, from there, you're going to be able to identify the structures. As you watch more and more matches, you're going to be able to identify this maybe in the first 2 minutes, the first 3 minutes.
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But, if it's your first time watching it this way from a tactical perspective, I want you that to then identify the structures. So look at what both teams are doing in and out of possession. Very really simple.
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What formation are they in? In possession, are they in a 3-2-5? Out of possession, are they in a 4-4-2?
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Very simple. Keep it very basic. After that, you're going to ask yourself, which players are holding the width?
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Which players are pinning the back line? Who's protecting? Uh, what build shape is it? A 3-2? A 2-1 build? Or is it something else? I'm going to explain what I mean by that in a second.
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And then, from minute 30 to 45, you should already have been able to see repeated patterns. So find the actions that keep repeating, build-up movements, pressing triggers, defensive shapes, uh, overloads, and where they attack. So what keeps happening again and again?
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And then from there, halftime, check the adjustments compared to the first half. Look for what changes in shape, pressure, risk level, player roles, positioning in and out of possession. Uh, what has changed? From minute 60 to 75, you read the game state. So basically,
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you're going to read what is happening. Is it Is the Is the score still 0-0? Is one team winning 2-0? Is one team winning 2-1? How does that How does that scoreline change the momentum?
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The tactical setup, the substitutes that come in, 'cause that's really important. So basically, you're seeing when a substitute comes in, it's usually because the coach wants to change something tactically, of course.
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So what type of player profile's coming in? If you don't know what a player profile is, basically meaning one player does something a little bit different than the other. For example, you get a winger that crosses a bit more than a
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winger that's very good at 1v1s, for example. And then the last thing from the minute 75 to 90, you can see overall, did the game plan work?
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Whatever tactical setup that team went in with initially, did it work? Ask if the game plan worked. Maybe the plan was right, but the final third execution was missing, or the opponent just defended key spaces well. How did
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they adjust halfway? Did it work? Did it not? Etcetera. So that's the first thing that I want to show you.
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So now I'm going to show you exactly what I mean by how teams are set up. So the very first thing I want to identify are the lines.
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Defensive line, midfield line, and attacking line. So first, let's look at Netherlands. This is Netherlands-Sweden.
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Left back, center back, center back, right back. We can see their clear structure. And then I want to look at the midfield line, attacking mid, defensive mid, attacking mid.
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And then want to look at the front three. Left winger, striker, right winger. Great. Once I identify the lines, I want to see the behaviors. How are they moving?
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Are they moving between lines? Meaning, for example, Dumfries is a defender and a defender usually is down here. But when they are in possession, Dumfries moves up. So we can see that he's at the same altitude as the
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midfielders. So, in that regard, I would say Dumfries is moving from defensive line to midfield line.
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And we're just looking at their positioning on the field right now in possession. We could see that right winger Malen out wide, tucks inside between center back and full back. We can see striker pinning the back line and we can see
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Cody out wide, maintaining width. So now I can also see, just from this still picture, we have uh Reijnders.
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I think that's how you say his name. Gravenberch pushing up high, keeping that V shape in the midfield. If you see my videos, we always talk about this.
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And then we have Frenkie holding the central space. Okay? Now, as the game progresses, this is where they score, by the way.
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Goalkeeper is also involved in that build. But now, if we take a look at Sweden, how they set up out of possession, keep it very simple.
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They are right now in a 4-3-3 structure. And I'm also identifying what players move between lines out of possession.
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So sometimes we have seen where teams go into a back five, 5-2-3 for example.
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Sometimes the winger drops all the way down. Or sometimes it might be the center mid that drops all the way down to be central.
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It varies by team, right? Here Netherlands tries to keep it, no. Instead, we're going to play long to the player that is pinning that back line right now in a 1v1.
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So then what happens next? Runners in behind, runners in front to support. Ball wide to Cody.
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Runners attacking the box and boom, goal. So that's one moment, right? So now let's look at another moment.
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Let's look at Sweden and how they build. This is literally right after the goal.
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Sweden has settled in into possession. And we can clearly see their attacking structure. 1-2-3 three in the back two center mids.
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And then I will say 1-2-3-4 and then you have Goikoechea or Victor pinning the back line.
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So here you can see left back pushed up. You can see that the right back stays to create that back line of three.
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And then you have the two holding mids. Now, if I continue, I can see Netherlands structure.
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And if you saw that run, I'm going to show you in a second, you have a back five.
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Initially, you had a midfield three, and then you had your front two. But what happens?
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This player jumps on the ball. So now, it turns into a 5-2-3, but initially, it was here. He was here.
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So what happens? Now I'm understanding that this player, Cody, has the role or the job of whenever we're out of possession, you tuck in to that midfield line.
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Ball gets to the center back, you're the player that jumps. Or the right center back or right back in this example, he has converted into a right center back to create that back line of three. So now, he's the player that jumps.
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If I continue playing the clip, I can see right there one movement. This player tries to make movement here.
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So once ball goes wide, that's my cue as this inside player to make that half space run.
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It does not happen. So then what happens next? Striker makes a central run into that space, and then a chance is created from there.
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If I look at another clip from uh Netherlands, again, what I'm looking for is can I identify how they build?
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Let me pause it right there. First thing I notice, left back, center back, center back, right back.
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I got my lone center mid right here, Frenkie. And then I got my two midfielders right here.
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And then I got my front three. One two three. So again Cody maintaining width.
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Brobbey pinning that back line. Malen coming inside between center back and full back. Dumfries is that wide option on the right. My two center backs are central.
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I have Frenkie holding that central space. And then Van de Ven, he's tucked in in the half space rather than out wide. Different job than what Dumfries is doing.
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Now, I'm going to look at what happens next. So, once ball goes wide, I can see that Gravenberch from here comes in here.
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Malen moves wide. No options there. Now, if I pause it here again, Sweden structure, one two three four.
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And then they got their one, two, three. And then I have Oops, didn't I mean to do that.
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One, two three. And then I have my front two over here. One two. So, Sweden structure 5-3-2 defensively.
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Netherlands is trying to play around. They aren't able to to get around. Run from Gravenberch in behind.
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So, what I noticed from this game, this is just one clear example. Netherlands is trying to play around.
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Can we get the ball into the wide areas? It's not on. It's not on. Let's try the other side with Cody maintaining that width, holding that width. Can we get it out there? Sometimes if it's on, they will look to attack the
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wide areas, which is what they did plenty of times in this game. But, if it's not on, then can I find those runs in behind deep from the midfield?
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In this case, Gravenberch and then if you saw in the beginning of the video, it was uh Reijnders right here.
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As soon as Van Dijk got on the ball. Right there. Now, of course, not every moment is going to be a moment for center back to play over the top. But, these runs still need to happen so that
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this pass may happen. Van Dijk is not even looking at him, so of course he's not going to play that. Now, if I look at Netherlands for example, out of possession, I can see that on the goal kicks, they
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always lined up very high, man-to-man, forcing Sweden to go long. Mind you, this is in the first maybe 7 minutes of the game that I I got all of this information. And then of course, as the game went on, it changed up a little
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bit, right? But I want to show you exactly what I'm seeing. Everything man-to-man, forcing Sweden to go long.
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Here's another clip. Man-to-man. Forcing Sweden to go long. Almost identical. Here's another one. Forcing Sweden to go long. One thing I did notice is that Bergvi, the striker, every time the ball would go back to the goalkeeper, he would leave his man, block off that
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passing lane to the center back, jump to the goalkeeper, and then go long. So, these little tiny behaviors is what I'm looking for. And the more that you watch these games, the more you're going to be identifying these little details.
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I want you to understand that every single player on that field has a certain role, and it all depends on the type of player they are, of course.
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And Bergvi's job right here, jump to the GK to the goalkeeper. Again, watch. Ball goes back.
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Immediately putting pressure on the goalkeeper. Forcing him long. So, I hope that helps. Now, with all of that information, I want you to try and view the World Cup slightly different, especially with those teams. So, when I'm watching,
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for example, the top teams that everybody wants to win, I'm watching all of these small details.
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And then you watch maybe the teams that are surprising you. And I'm watching all of these tiny details. And then from there, you can kind of understand their game plan. And when you understand their game plan, you start to see where they
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are very strong or where some of their weaknesses is. Which is why when I'm talking about it on video or on, you know, updating you guys on the stories, I see it. And you see it consistently.
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And then the more you watch, it's going to be super clear. So, that's my challenge for you for the rest of the World Cup. If you guys want access to the full tactical videos, I have the link in my bio. I'm going to
Speaker A
leave the link down in the description as well. But, I have match day frameworks that I've put together for you to be able to watch these games. And then of course, all of these tactical camera matches available for you to watch.
Speaker A
But, that's essentially how I watch the matches. Very easy. And then the more you watch it, you're going to see way more details, way more movements. But, always keep asking yourself those questions. What is this player doing? What is the team trying to
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solve? Who is moving where? Why are they moving? What are the structure of the lines? All of these questions. Just continuously ask yourself so that you can view the game from a tactical perspective. And then of course, learn
Speaker A
why and how these teams and these players are doing what they're doing. Hope you enjoyed that video.
Speaker A
I'll see you next time.
Topics:football tacticstactical analysisfootball formationsmatch analysisplayer rolesgame statebuild-up playpressing triggersfootball strategyNetherlands vs Sweden
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