Jan Vertonghen, John Stones and Sergio Ramos are a joy to watch. They have incredible levels of technical ability, a superb passing range, and generally have the ingredients to play anywhere outfield, as shown by their usage in a variety positions by their respective clubs and national teams.
These players are centre-backs, and as such defending is their main duty. But what they have is a switch of creativity allowing their sides to build out from the back. This process allows the side in possession to soak up pressure from high-press sides, as well as draw out forwards in a low block side to create that much-needed space.
These players usually arent centre-backs at the start of their career. Theyre often full-backs or midfielders, as evidenced by their attacking knowledge and intelligence on the ball. Managers such as Marcelo Bielsa, Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola are masters of this position change, as their styles of football benefit from it massively.
With a majority of amateur, semi-professional and professional sides playing out from the back, the ability to dribble and pass alongside basic defending duties is a must. In this episode of the How to scout series, well dive into what these defenders (or playmakers) do, and how to scout a young ball-playing defender.
Breaking the first line of play
Lines of play is a simple yet complex theory in football. Simply put, a 4-4-2 system has 3 lines of play, a 4-2-3-1 has four lines of play. Each additional number in a formation signifies an additional line of play.
For a defender to break a line of play, it means he or she has dribbled or passed their way through the oppositions lines of play. This disrupts the oppositions shape as someone has to close down the defender on the ball. The skill to do so is something ball-playing defenders excel at. They are capable of drawing in opposition players to then beat them by passing or dribbling around them, offering their team a numerical advantage in the build-up play.
In the image above, we can see how West Ham have pressed Spurs well, blocking off any passing lanes. Vertonghen took the task of dribbling the ball past West Hams first line of play, he then fires a fantastic diagonal ball to the marauding Serge Aurier. This ability is absolutely vital to the ball-playing defender as they are essentially the first playmaker in the side, depending on how comfortable with the ball their goalkeeper is.
