How to coach positional defending

There are plenty of different ways to set up a defensive style of play. You can mark individual players of the opposing team or you can perform collective man-marking like Atalanta do. You can use zonal marking or zonal man-marking. There is also the possibility to defend with a strictly positional approach. In Sweden, where Ive done my coaching badges, the term for this is positional defending. Im not 100% sure what to call this in English as Ive seen the terms ball-orientated and positionally-orientated defending. For the purpose of this tactical analysis of how to coach this particular style of defence, Ill use the term positional defending.

What is positional defending?

Positional defending, simply put, means a player defends in regards to where the ball and their teammates are. This is in stark contrast to man-orientated defending where you defend depending on the position of your direct opponent. Man-markings nature is of a reactive defensive style as you always adapt to the opponent. With positional defending you can make the attacking team adapt to you.

An example is if you want your team to deny the opponent the chance to play centrally between the lines of your team. A positional approach where you make your team compact both vertically and horizontally will force the opponent into wide areas. The defending team has therefore forced the attacking team to adapt their play to the defending team. Many young coaches prefers this rather than adapting to the attacking team like most does against Manchester City.

One coach who mostly uses a strictly positional defensive style is Antonio Conte. Maurizio Sarris Napoli mostly did too, and so does his Chelsea. From the World Cup this summer we saw Sweden reach the last eight thanks to superb positional defending. Now lets look at how we can coach it.

Tactical analysis: Coaching positional defending

I prefer a positional defensive system because of the advantages Ive described above. For me, the most important part of my defensive strategy is to block central areas and force opponents wide where its easier to press them. After all, the sideline is a great friend for a team when defending. When I start implementing my philosophy I will therefore work the principles of press and cover into my players. When one player presses the ball I want the players around him/her to cover. The classic 4 vs 2 rondo is therefore a perfect drill to start working on these concepts.

Players: 6. Four attacking players versus two defending players.
Space: 12 x 8 meters. Adjust to your own group.
Time: Around 15 minutes.

In this drill we have four attacking players on the sides of a rectangle. The attacking team tries to keep possession while the two defensive players try to win the ball. Work on pressing angles and cover to the pressing player to stop passes going through the two defenders. In the image above, the red number 1 presses the yellow number 1. He angles his run to cut off the pass to his left. Red player number 2 covers his pressing teammate while blocking the pass through the two of them. The only available pass is to yellow player number 2 which is within good access to press immediately.

When the defenders win the ball one of them switches with an attacking player. A