Sometimes you come up against a team who are quite obviously better than you are. It’s not time to panic; it’s time to prepare – follow our list of tips to ensure damage limitation and, who knows, you might just pull off an upset.
1. Keep a positive attitude
Sometimes the game is lost even before it is played. Don’t be the team that goes out expecting to get beaten.
Even though it might be difficult, you have to keep motivated enough to play to your best in the belief that you might get something from the game.
It’s not irrational to believe that, even facing a much better side, that it’s a possibility to get something from the game – who would have thought that Wigan would have won last year’s FA Cup, for instance?! Had they given up and assumed that Manchester City were going to beat them in the final then it would have been a totally different result.
Football, and 5-a-side in particular, is only partially about the ability of the individual players. Matches are, more often than not, won or lost through fitness, organisation, discipline, and desire. If you have more of this than the opposition then anything is possible.
Nobody can afford to give up and put their hands on their hips. Yes, that means you too Gormley.
2. Solidarity – no surrender!
If the opposition is better than you then it’s going to be an onslaught. They’re going to come at you, and keep putting you under pressure for the full length of the game. You’re all going to have to stand up and be counted.
If the opposition are a lot better than you then it’s going to be the footballing equivalent of the Alamo! (Little history lesson here for you: the Alamo was a famous battle where roughly 100 Texans barricaded themselves up in a fort and tried to hold off 1,500 Mexicans for the space of about 13 days!)
In the words of the commanding Alamo captain, William B. Travis:
“I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat.”
William B. Travis
Every one of your players is going to need the Alamo spirit because if just one starts to wave the white flag of surrender, it’s going to be all over very quickly. If there’s just one person who gives up or switches off then a good team are going to punish you severely for it.
Approached right, a tough game can be a good experience, you’ll discover who is really willing to roll up their sleeves and work for the team. The longer you hold out the more confidence you’ll get, and it will unite you.
(PS. for full disclosure, after a lengthy siege the 1,500 Mexicans ended up overwhelming the Alamo, killing all of the the troops stationed there – but let’s not let that ruin our metaphor!).
Conjure up some Alamo spirit to try and keep out the opposition. There’ll be time for counting the casualties afterwards…
3. Mark man for man
You can’t afford to give good players time on the ball or the opportunity to shoot at goal.
When you’re defending, everyone is going to have to work at picking up a man – if the opposition are allowed to double-up on you then you’ll get murdered.
Man-marking starts from the front. The nearest player picks up the player on the ball (assuming that you’re not already outnumbered) and the rest of the players make sure that they’re marking the players in behind him.
Distance from your opposite player is key. If you’re too tight then they’ll skip past you, but if you’re too far away you give them time to settle on the ball and work some space for a shot.
As a rule, when you’re within your defensive 1/3 of the pitch, everybody, whether marking the player in possession or not, should be touch-tight to the opposition. This means when you stretch out your arm you should be able to touch them with your fingertips.
It’s vital that everyone sticks with their player and, most importantly, that they block the shot. Yes, if you dive in trying to make a tackle you might win the ball and look like a hero, but good players can make you look like a mug for jumping in – instead you’re much better just jockeying them to stop the shot. All that, and more, is covered in our ultimate guide to 5-a-side defending.
4. Keep talking
You’re not going to be able to sustain your levels of effort and organisation without good communication. Talking comes best from the back, either the keeper or the last man as they have the clear picture of the action.
Someone will need to talk to let their teammates know if there’s ever an unmarked player. When you’re up against it, it is often a natural reaction for players to hang back and defend. That’s often appropriate, but not if it leaves one if their deep-lying players the space to pick shots off from distance.
A lot of the talking from the back will be to tell a player to push-on and close down a player further forward rather than just sitting back and marking space.
It’s good to talk. And sometimes it can be even better to do a bit of shouting!
5. Don’t forget about attacking
Under pressure it can be tempting for all players to come further and further into defence to try to win the ball.
You need to be careful that you don’t end up having all of your players defending so deep that when you win the ball there’s nobody upfront to try and hold it up. Otherwise, you’re relying on players spontaneously bursting into forward runs just to try to relieve some pressure.
Without any support, pushing forward can be an exhausting job. Players need to be smart enough when playing against a good defence not to just go on individual voyages which don’t lead anywhere. Try to hold the ball up, pass it around, take off some pressure.
6. Don’t lose your discipline
The pressure can get to you and this can end in giving away silly fouls, arguing with each other or the referee, losing concentration, or making rash decisions.
A prime example of poor discipline is trying too hard to make tackles, missing and letting your player past you. If a player is a good one, it’s often better to just jockey them so they can’t take a shot.
Oh no, his head’s gone. Don’t lose your discipline – nobody is going to thank you for it.
7. Rolling it out
Your goalkeeper is probably going to see a lot of the ball.
When the ball reaches his hands you might feel a sense of relief, but it’s not time to switch-off and have a rest. This is the time where you need to be on your toes and ready to give the keeper some options to pass to.
If you can’t provide some good outlets for the keeper to pass to then the ball is going to keep going to the opposition, which keeps the pressure on you.
For the keeper’s part, they need to be calm and focused when distributing the ball. Playing the ball into dangerous areas where it is intercepted by the opposition is a major source of goals conceded.
So, there you have it, 7 steps to not getting absolutely thrashed when playing better teams. Let us know how you get on in the comments below.
Also see: 5-a-side formations – helpful for getting much needed organisation of your team.
What is the best formation fo deffending
I need an article or any advice on how to play as a last man. It’s frustrating how the last man gets all the blame when a goal is conceded! Most often, i have to defend against 2-3 players as my teammates are lazy and don’t get back to defend. The hardest decision to make is whether to press on the attacker with the ball or position my self in-order to intercept the pass for the other attacker and that’s where i need help! I need to know how should i make up my decision and what should i do in these situations. The thing is, when i try to position myself to intercept the pass, the attacker with the ball gets an open space to shoot and if i press on him to get the ball, he has space to pass to his teammate! Help?
We covered the general role of the last man in this article but it didn’t cover that exact issue. We’ll look at it in a future post for you, but here are a couple of thoughts.
1) The obvious solution is to find some way of getting your teammates to come back to defend, but let’s work on the fact that they aren’t going to do this.
2) What you need to focus on is two things: delaying them, and pushing them wide so that their shot is more difficult. You need to maintain a position as long as possible where you can persuade them not to shoot, but also not to pass. At the first sign of a decision you need to react. If the player in possession pushes the ball wide, you pounce on him as the pass is no longer an option. If he passes then that’s the decision made – pounce on the other guy.
3) Don’t beat yourself up about this – the odds are firmly stacked against you and if you’re playing against decent players they should be able to finish you off every time with a man advantage. Best you can do is to try to make the shot difficult for them.
I would like to add that in these instances I tend to lure the opponent to pass towards a specific area, and prepare for that move. I agree that the odds are against you anyway, but you can only do so much.
Francis, I think that’s another great tip. Make the team pass it into an area that you’re comfortable (or at least less uncomfortable) in dealing with. One that I’ve tried to use myself in the past.
If I’m outnumbered I tend to try and isolate the worst player. So if the person on the ball is good make him pass it, or if they are weak make them take it on themselves. To make a person pass I stand a bit square and block his path so it’s easier for him to pass, then if he does you just run the other guy down and hope he misses. To make a person take it on you position yourself between him and his team mate to block out the pass. He’ll have to take it on and shoot and you’ll have to rely on the keeper to help you out here, or he’ll bottle it and try and pass through you and you can intercept.
If they are all good players, there’s not a lot you can do I have found.
One of the most infuriating things I notice at 5-a-side is people constantly playing long aerial balls (non-competitive rules) and continuing to do so when it’s clearly obvious that it’s failing. I’m only 5ft 7 and a bit of a speed demon yet I seem to be spending a good portion of the match going up for headers… :/
I can understand your frustration. That’s completely ridiculous and not the way it should be played at all. I wonder of your pace is making them think the hit and hope might work. If you’re up front maybe play less off the shoulder of defenders (there isn’t much space for through-balls anyway) and drop in looking for ball to feet. Alternatively, why not use your pace coming from deep – play as a defender / midfielder who gets forward. It’s a nightmare for the opposition to track these runs at pace and you’ll get chances on goal. Also, you’ve clearly got a better idea at build-up play so the whole team should improve. Let us know if you find a solution that works.
If the team need to stop playing long balls, I often compliment that the passes are good but the player needs to be capable of taking the ball down comfortably to control it. If you just tell people not to do long balls but they think their passes are fine then they may not realise just why it’s the wrong option. If you are forced to play like that whilst upfront, ask another player to come close so you can head or chest it down to them. Sometimes if you only manage to half control it but in their direction at least one of you can pick it up.