How To Fake Transitions In A 2-2 Structure Like Fabian Hürzeler & Sebastian Hoeneß – Tactical Theory

Not long ago, Pep Guardiola said that football is no longer about the positional approach in the modern world.

It is about rhythm, he added before pointing to the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth, who he believes are currently playing this modern brand of football.

By referring to Bournemouth and Brighton, Guardiola seems to be suggesting that the most important aspect of football in this current era is not dominating or controlling possession but rather transition.

It is fair to say that teams like Bournemouth and Brighton are among the best in the Premier League in terms of transition.

Both teams are really good at creating the transition, either with their pressing or their build-up.

Yes, build-up.

Before we get to the second aspect, it is not rocket science to understand that the team that wants to have more transition moments needs to have less possession.

Take Bournemouths figures, for example.

They currently sit in the bottom half of the table in terms of possession, averaging just 47% per game this season—below the likes of Brentford, Southampton or Wolves, who have fewer points.

Under Andoni Iraola tactics, Bournemouth are happy to play without possession, as they are more focused in the transition moments.

They allow the opposition to have more possession so that Bournemouth can press them to win the ball back and then attack in the transition phase.

Only Chelsea and Liverpool have shot from fast-break more than Bournemouth this season.

No team in the league is better than Bournemouth at disrupting the opponents build-up (they have the best or the fewest opponent passes completed in the build-up and the fewest opponent unsuccessful passes, lost dribbles, or bad touches near their goals).

However, not many teams are as good at pressing as Bournemouth, and more generally, not many coaches are willing to take the risk of pressing the opposition as Iraola did.

It can be high-risk, high-reward, or high-risk, low-reward, and many coaches dont want the latter.

Therefore, many coaches try to find a solution to create the transition without sacrificing their possession numbers.

They do this by developing their teams build-up situation to create a fake transition.

Fabian Hürzelers Style Of Play

Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler often uses a unique build-up method to create fake transitions.

For context, Brightons impressive possession rate of 51.8% this season means they have only lost possession 12 times in their 29 Premier League games.

Then, Hürzeler relies on his teams in-possession structure to execute transition moments while maintaining possession.

On this occasion, he used a 2-2 structure in the first phase of the build-up, consisting of two centre-backs and two central midfielders.

Interestingly, Hürzeler has been using this 2-2 formation since his time at St. Pauli.

However, his approach at St. Pauli was slightly different.

Instead of two centre-backs and two central midfielders, he us