In this short article I will discuss some basic principles that top soccer players do to make an impact on the game using movement off the ball. I recently watched 5 international level soccer games where I had the task of writing down every time a player makes a deep run to get behind the defense, or a sudden change of direction to get open for a pass. I am observing a lot of key attacking moments happen around both actions. When a player makes a hard run into space, the defense always seems to get disturbed, if not very annoyed. Sudden changes of direction are also difficult to follow and using the art of misdirection is a great way to get open for a pass. Watching Spain’s and Valencia’s striker, Rodrigo, it was incredible how often he makes deep runs and changes direction quickly. Why would he do this?
The purpose of destabilizing the defense is to create space by causing misalignment between the defenders´ relative position between the goal and the attacker. . Compared to other physical activities, linear sprinting is the most frequent action involved in goal scoring actions (Faude et al). Other research has noted that zig-zag sprinting to evade defenders is a key component in creating scoring chances. This supports findings that most goals are scored against an unbalanced defense (Tenga et al., 2010a), and analyses indicating that high variability precedes goals and scoring chances (Frencken et al., 2012; Memmert et al., 2016). While a defenders’ focus is predominantly on tracking opponents and maintaining proximity, offensive players show greater freedom of movement to find and create space. When an offensive player is positioned or moves to the blind side of a defender, it forces the defender to prioritize his field of vision.
What else can deep runs do? Get numbers up. Creating numerical superiority is a common characteristic of successful attacks. An analysis of inter-team coordination during Germany’s championship success in the 2014 FIFA World Cup revealed they generated numerical uncertainty in areas of play closer to their opponents' goal (Santos et al., 2015). These perturbations or disruptions in the defense may explain why some of the most effective attacks are counter-attacks that occur immediately after recovering the ball and the defense is in a compromised position (Barreira et. al., 2014).
Detaching from defenders on an individual level, using variability and numerical superiority to cause confusion amongst defenders on a team level, and counter-attacks are all ways to exploit spaces in the opponent’s defense and generate goal-scoring opportunities. Btw, here is a video I made on how some of the best attacking players in the English Premier League move off the ball: