It’s about achieving goals.
Sports, especially Football, can be divided into two primary ideas — the goal and the way.
The way or approach has changed over the decades and varied according to desires.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Over the last decade, the teams have tended to increase the pressure, most notably through high-pressing and attempting to regain possession higher up the pitch; thus, the popular tactics have put more emphasis on building from the back instead of playing long.
People have focused more on the philosophies of positional and functional Play.
Accordingly, the long ball approach has been mainly considered old-fashioned and a secondary playing style.
It makes some sense because long-ball approaches typically have a low success rate, not to mention the need for the appropriate tools for execution.
Yet some maintain this more archaic type of play and choose the players based on it.
At the same time, others intend to operate it at the top levels in a very modern way.
Certainly, Brentford and Thomas Frank are among the best teams globally, routinely employing the long ball approach with its various types, from set-pieces to open-play.
This tactical analysis piece will be an analysis of the pragmatism, tactics and types of long balls, and positional and qualitative superiorities.
The case study would be Brentford FC ’s open-play long balls and long kicks from their half.
Pragmatism’s short clarification
Generally speaking, pragmatism can be described as a practical approach that prioritises practicality over theory.
“Pragmatism is the philosophy of action, not theory.” — US philosopher John Dewey
The pragmatic approach in football historically refers to practicality and effectiveness over flair and entertainment, achieving goals with a more direct style, rather than pushing to play attractive football.
Accordingly, the long ball approach can be considered a pragmatic style of football, prioritising directness and efficiency and aiming to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses by quickly moving the ball forward.
In contrast, several years ago, the mass taste in football shifted towards embracing possession styles and approaches; yet, recently, that has gradually turned to trying to integrate adherence to style with effectiveness.
This is a real impact of pragmatism on modern football, balancing X-axis, Y-axis and tempo.
Well, between this and that, after statistics and data revolutionised football, a modern pragmatic school emerged that selectively chooses suitable players to effectively implement a certain system, controlling the game with a different method.
Here, Brentford with Rasmus Ankersen are pioneers of an inspiring narrative for many teams today, we can say that this is part of modern pragmatism in football.
The belief that pragmatism in football is solely focused on defensive organisation and launching speedy counter-attacks becomes traditional.
Instead, it has evolved to include the recruitment of low-priced players with specific attributes and training them effectively in the execution of long balls, set-piece routines, and various kinds of defending styles, such as high-pressing schemes — Brentford is a true-to-life model.
“I like flexibility, I think the best teams have more weapons.
When needed, we can go longer — and that’s very difficult to defend.” — Thomas Frank
Static
“The long ball strategy can be effective if executed correctly, but it’s important to have a balance and not rely solely on it.” — Jose Mourinho
The first kind of long balls could be static ones, mostly from goal kicks, in which the ball can’t be pressed, and the play is paused for seconds which makes the long ball more accurate compared to open-play long balls while both teams are usually in a compact shape.
Open-play long balls or dynamic ones are characterised by creating chaotic and disorganised situations.
In contrast, the predetermined action of play makes the second-ball structure more organised, similar to set pieces, and the opposition also exists in a predetermined form.
The proximity of players in a pre-determined area creates consecutive aerial and ground duels to try to control play.
This can be a form of qualitative superiority that can be exploited if you prepare more profitable players in some aspects like headers and physical players into the pressure zones against more vulnerable opponents are likely to have an advantage.
Teams usually position themselves vertically in three zones, for example, if the aim is to play the ball to the left half-space, usually they settle the width from the left wing to the central area.
Naturally, to have an effective manner of this type of long balls it is better to retain a goalkeeper who can play accurately, a target striker who can dominate aerial duels and flick on headers, fast players who can run onto loose balls and create chances and aggressive pressers who can win the second balls — Brentford have superior and influential players here to execute this form as Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt, and David Raya (who averaged 50.9 yards lengths of goal kicks with 85% per cent, according to Opta, with 7.66 goal kicks per 90)
Typically, Raya aims to play the ball to Ivan Toney in the left half-space, as shown in the graphic below.
Meanwhile, others are compact by occupying the centre and left-wing corridors, gaining positional superiority, ready for any possible lay-offs or flick-ons — Toney won 3.77 aerials per game.
In the previous scene, Ivan Toney’s position in the half-space prompted the centre-back to step up, forcing the other centre-back and full-back to cover him, which allowed Henry and Mbeumo to be free, a positional advantage.
It is known that the player in the half-space can play 360° in a less crowded zone than the central area, which maximises the chance of making sudden vertical and diagonal runs and minimises the chance of opposition counter-attacks by using the touchline to defend in a smaller area.
This was precisely what was applied in their goal against Chelsea, as shown in the three graphics below.
Here, the initial positioning of Toney is essential to gain the advantage.
Once Raya launches the ball to the aim in the half-space, Toney moves from the wing to the predetermined aim to maximise his chance of winning the aerial duel; jumping from a dynamic state is better.
Mbeumo moves to receive the flick-on; meanwhile, the midfielders are ready for the second ball.
Chelsea’s defence becomes messy; meanwhile, Janelt moved vertically as the third man to receive Toney’s through ball.
Then, he scores.
There is also another variation from the static mode when facing high pressure, which involves camouflaging by playing from the back while maintaining the existing short build-up.
The high-pressing team surely has to leave large spaces behind, understanding that there is no offside here from the goal kick.
This situation creates many 1v1 and large spaces for running.
In the graphics below, while Wolves press high, Raya intends to play a long ball to Toney on the left side, where he is in a 1v1 duel with Kilman.
Once the ball missed their heads, Toney succeeded in gaining the dynamic advantage.
It ended up in the net after a brilliant pass from Ivan to Mbeumo, who did a double movement to manipulate his defender.
Not all long balls are so precise as to achieve the immediate goal, even if they all want this, but sometimes teams play it to earn larger spaces and regain possession from a higher zone on the pitch.
A well-known example is playing the ball higher to the side for a player with an open body orientation to try to gain a throw-in or win the second ball and restart the possession from the opposition half.
Dynamic
“The long ball is a weapon, a way to change the point of attack quickly and catch the opposition off-guard.” — Tony Pulis
Under these principles, the play is in opposition to the previous one; the ball carrier can be pressed, and the team can find it challenging to settle in an organised structure.
The main purpose here is to win the second ball and continue the attack.
Commonly, pressing triggers are used here to provoke the opposition to move higher and then direct the ball towards the goal, which is part of the dynamic element.
There is quite a distinction between winning a second ball in a compact situation and winning the second ball in an open space.
Usually, Brentford are effective and risk losing the ball in order to be direct and win the second ball to reach the goal in the least possible way.
Thomas Frank said before that they always want to play the long ball accurately, win the second ball, and then create a situation of numerical advantage in the box, waiting for the cross.
Here, against Bournemouth, Raya’s pass to Mee provokes both players to press him and the rest of the team to step further back a little.
After Ben Mee played the long ball into his side, Bournemouth’s fullback, who intended to press Brentford’s wing-back, then stepped back to receive the ball, making it harder than if he had stuck to his initial positioning.
At the same time, Toney engages, and the centre-back follows him, which opens a big space that can be exploited.
Below, Dasilva recognises the space and then moved to it and received the ball in a large space behind.
Brentford created a favourable situation around the box here below, a 3v2, while Dasilva crossed the ball to the deep-lying runner Janelt, who scored the goal.
This situation can be observed frequently at Brentford, who also occasionally employ similar tactics by varying their runs and drawing opponents out to restart possession higher or go direct.
Conclusion
The article discusses the concept of pragmatism in modern football and how it has evolved the long-ball approach.
Brentford is cited as an example of a team that has effectively implemented a long-ball approach through the recruitment of suitable players with specific attributes and effective training.
“Football is a simple game, but it’s difficult to play simple.” – Johan Cruyff
