FM12: Interceptions – The Art of Modern Defending

“GET INTO ‘EM!” – a cry from the stands all too familiar to English fans weaned on the game during the seventies, eighties and early nineties. And how many of us have looked to the “get stuck in” touchline shout when a game of Football Manager isn’t going our way? But should we really consider tackling as the principal art of defending?

As the game has developed with teams like Barcelona hitting so many passes, and at pace, modern defending has had to become more ‘ball-focused’ – that is to say the very best defensive units look to close down space and force their opponents into making a difficult pass. They do so knowing that the increased the likelihood of a miss placed pass will lead to an interception and, thereby, a turn-around in possession.

The use of covering defenders has also become more prevalent. Should an opponent look to run at their marker a good defender will show them outside or onto their weaker foot, holding them at bay until support arrives.

All this is a far cry from the age of the enforcer and a predilection for man-to-man marking. Former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley once said “It’s no use winning the ball if you end up on your backside” – he knew of all the likely outcomes following a tackle ultimately only one could benefit his players.

If a player goes to ground then there is the risk that his challenge will be mis-timed, failing to win the ball or conceding a foul – either way the opposition retain possession. Even if the defender’s challenge is good, and the ball is won, there is still a chance that it will run free to another opposition player.

So if we were to study the immediate outcomes following a tackle in a game Football Manager what would we find?

You can see from the charts above that in a game between Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers around 45% of tackles led to possession being won, the rest of the time the ball ended up at the feet of an opponent or out of play.

Compare this to the outcome following interceptions in the same game and we find that the defending team gained possession in over 73% of these occasions – a significant increase, and if we study another game (Tottenham versus Manchester City below) we find little deviation in the results.

And when we factor in the number of times a challenge resulted in a foul and a free-kick (or penalty!) for the opposition the figures of possession gained are even lower, with the ball being won cleanly on between 30 and 37 percent of occasions (see below).

Now consider that all of the data above excludes missed tackles and missed interceptions, it depicts the outcomes of successful tackles and interceptions only. On average the four teams completed 96% of their interceptions but just a third of their tackles – this means less than 30% of all attempted tackles resulted in the defending team gaining possession!

So how do we set-up our Football Manager teams to defend in a more modern, ball-focused manner? Defenders who can read the game are a must have and this requires high mental attributes – particularly anticipation, concentration and positioning. Then there are the tools of modern defending we can employ – pressing high up the pitch, covering defenders, zonal marking, a more rigid philosophy and cautious tackling. Conversely, you may want to avoid very high back lines, pressing central defenders and heavy tackling.

It may take a little while to get things right but the statistics show that if you aim to play a possession based game you would do well to consider your defensive approach.