When Atletico Madrid uses 3 stoppers, if they use Hermoso in left stopper role, they can use the left wing more effectively. Because Hermoso can support attacks well. When he supports attacks, the other stoppers take position in centre. The right stopper closes to the centre stopper. When Hermoso goes forward with the ball from left half-space, he pulls the opponent’s right winger. Because he is in the half-space. When he is in half-space, he poses danger for the opponent’s right winger. So the opponent’s right winger has to cover him or Hermoso can be dangerous for the opponent.
When he pulls the opponent’s right winger, Carrasco closes to the touchline in the left wing. And the opponent’s right back follows him. When the opponent’s right back follows him, the distance between the opponent’s right back and right stopper increases. So it means half-space becomes bigger. And when it happens, Felix closes to the midfield to take the ball from left half-space. Now he has so much space and no one covers him. Now they have numerical advantage in the left wing with 3 vs 2 and they can make game easily.
In this situation, Hermoso’s, Carrasco’s and Felix’s positionings are geometrically very well. Hermoso probably can’t pass the ball to Felix directly. Because Hermoso is under mark by the opponent’s right winger and to defend Hermoso, the opponent’s right winger takes position centrally. So the opponent’s right winger cuts the connection between Hermoso and Felix. But it’s not a problem because they can use Carrasco.
Hermoso can pass the ball to Carrasco directly because the opponent’s right winger doesn’t cut the connection between Hermoso and Carrasco. And the ball can go to Carrasco quickly because Hermoso is in the half-space. It means the distance between Hermoso and Carrasco is not too much. If that distance would be more, Carrasco’s marker could take the ball before Carrasco because this time, the marker had more time to react to take the ball before Carrasco.
But Hermoso takes position in half-space, so Carrasco’s marker can’t react to the ball before Carrasco and then Carrasco can pass the ball to Felix directly.
And the ball can go to Felix quickly. Because he takes position in half-space too like Hermoso. So there is not too much distance between him and Carrasco. And also if he doesn’t take position in half-space, he couldn’t take the ball comfortably and quickly.
Let’s say Felix takes position in centre. This time, the distance between him and Carrasco becomes more and it means, the opponent’s any player can cut the connection between him and Carrasco more easily. Because now the opponent’s players have more time to cut the connection.
Also because now the distance becomes more, probably Carrasco can’t pass the ball to Felix with one touch. Now, firstly, he has to control the ball and then pass the ball to Felix. And because of that wasting time, Carrasco’s marker has a chance to take the ball from Carrasco and starts the counter attack.
Now let’s say Felix takes position in the left wing. This time, the distance between Felix and Carrasco becomes less. But the problem is between Felix and Carrasco there is the opponent’s right back. So Carrasco can’t pass the ball to Felix.
So Felix has to take position in half-space. When he is in half-space, they can make a useful triangle. The ball can go to Carrasco from Hermoso and then go to Felix from Carrasco quickly. Because the ball’s way goes from the half-space to wing and wing to half-space. And because half-space and wing are side by side, they can pass the ball to each other quickly.
You can say if Felix takes position in the left wing, the distance becomes less. But the problem is this time they can’t make a useful geometric shape. When Felix takes position in the left wing, Carrasco takes position in the left wing and Hermoso takes position in left half-space, they make a triangle. But the problem is this triangle’s angles are not looking balanced.
I mean, for an example, if Felix takes position in the left wing, Carrasco has the widest angle (in this situation, the angle is 134.17 degrees). It means he can make connections with a lot of players. But the problem is, now he makes a triangle with Hermoso and Felix. And when he has a wide angle, Felix and Hermoso have acute angles. And because Carrasco’s angle is extra wide, Felix and Hermoso have extra acute angles (in this situation, Hermoso has 15.16, Felix has 30.68 degrees angle). And this time, Felix and Hermoso can’t make connections with Carrasco and their effectiveness becomes less. And because Felix and Hermoso’s effectiveness becomes less, Carrasco’s effectiveness becomes less too. Because this is a team work. As a result, this triangle is not effective.
If Felix takes position in the centre, again they make an unuseful triangle. This time, the triangle has more balance. In this situation, Hermoso’s angle is 64.15, Felix’s angle is 47.61 and Carrasco’s angle is 68.25 degrees. So this triangle has more balance than before situation but this time, we have a new problem. In this triangle, Felix, Hermoso and Carrasco use 3 different sides. Felix uses centre, Carrasco uses left wing and Hermoso uses left half-space. So it means, triangle’s edges have more length. It means, between players there is too much distance and it affects the ball’s speed. Now they can’t pass each other quickly and the opponent has more time to react to take the ball before them. So this triangle is not useful.
Now, let’s look at the triangle which becomes when Felix takes position in half-space. When Felix takes position in half-space, they use only 2 sides. Hermoso and Felix take position in half-space, Carrasco takes position in the left wing. And, in this triangle, their angles’ degrees have balance. Hermoso’s angle is 43.82, Felix’s angle is 55.56 and Carrasco’s angle is 80.62 degrees. Because they take position balanced.
Now to pass the ball Felix from Hermoso they have a passing situation (Carrasco) and this passing situation is not too far away from Felix. Remember when Felix takes position in centre, the distance between Felix and Carrasco is too much so Carrasco can’t be effective enough. Carrasco was a passing situation but the distance between him and Felix was so much. But now the distance between Felix and Carrasco is not too much and balanced.
And remember, when Felix takes position in the left wing, between Felix and Carrasco there is the opponent’s right back and he can cut the connection between Carrasco and Felix easily. So this time, the distance between Felix and Carrasco becomes less but the problem is Felix can’t take the ball from Carrasco directly and this time they need 1 more player. So if Felix takes position in the left wing, they can’t use Felix effectively. Now when Felix takes position in left half-space, Carrasco can pass the ball to Felix directly because the opponent’s right back can’t cut the connection between Felix and Carrasco. Because the opponent’s right back takes position in Carrasco’s behind so he can’t cut the connection between Carrasco and Felix.
If Hermoso was trying to make game from centre, they couldn’t have numerical advantage in the left wing and they couldn’t make game from the left wing. Because to have numerical advantage, first of all, Hermoso has to pull the opponent’s right winger. If he can’t, the opponent’s right winger can match with Carrasco and the opponent’s right back can cover Felix with 1 by 1 and they remain 2 vs 2 in the left wing. And this time, they can’t make game from the left wing.
And if Hermoso tries to make game from centre, the opponent’s right winger doesn’t try to cover him because when Hermoso was in centre, Hermoso doesn’t pose danger for the right winger. So the right winger can cover Carrasco and they can’t use the left wing effectively.
If Hermoso was trying to make game from the left wing, not from the left half-space, they couldn’t be effective either. When Hermoso takes position in the left wing, he can pull the opponent’s right winger. But this time, the problem is, his positioning is geometrically unuseful.
When he is in the left wing, he pulls the opponent’s right winger to the left wing too. But this time, Carrasco hasn’t much space to take the ball. They are in the same space and same direction. So if Hermoso wants to pass the ball to Carrasco, Carrasco’s possibility of taking the ball and being effective with the ball decreases. Because now the opponent has the right winger in the wing, so the right winger can cut the connection between Hermoso and Carrasco easily. Because Carrasco’s movement is limited.
If we think that now Carrasco facing to Hermoso, he can’t move to his right or back. His right is outside and in his back, there is the opponent’s right back. He can move to his forward or left. If he moves to his forward, the distance between him and Hermoso decreases and it means if he can take the ball from Hermoso, the opponent’s right winger and right back can press to him to take the ball effectively and probably Carrasco will lose the ball. Because when the opponent’s right winger and right back press to him, he has numerical disadvantage with 1 vs 2.
If we think that Carrasco moves to his left, this time he can pull the opponent’s right back or if the opponent’s right back doesn’t follow him, he can be free in the left half-space. If he moves to his left and the opponent’s right back follows him, this time he creates space in the left wing. And to use this space, Felix has to shift to the left wing. And when he shifts, they can make a useful and balanced triangle.
Now the only problem is Carrasco and Hermoso can’t use their dominant foots for passing. And it affects the ball’s speed in a negative sense. And as a result, it affects that triangle’s effectiveness in a negative sense.
The direction of the first pass will be Hermoso to Carrasco. And to pass Carrasco, Hermoso has to use his right foot. Because if Hermoso wants to pass the ball to Carrasco with his left foot, the opponent’s right winger can cut the connection more easily between him and Carrasco.
If Hermoso wants to pass the ball to Carrasco with his left foot, this time the ball’s spin will be more close to the opponent’s right winger. So it means, the possibility of the opponent’s right winger’s cutting the connection between Hermoso and Carrasco increases. If Hermoso wants to pass the ball to Carrasco with his right foot, this time the ball’s spin will be less close to the opponent’s right winger. So it means, the possibility of the opponent’s right winger’s cutting the connection between Hermoso and Carrasco decreases.
As a result, Hermoso has to use his right foot. But the problem is, Hermoso’s dominant foot is his left foot. And as I explained, his position is not good to use his left foot. So he can’t pass the ball to Carrasco.
And also if he loses the ball against the opponent’s right winger, the opponent has a great counter attack opportunity because when Hermoso moves forward from the left wing, at the same time, the distance between him and the centre back increases. It means, if the opponent’s right winger can take the ball from Hermoso, Atletico Madrid’s centre back can’t move to the left wing to cover the opponent’s right winger quickly. And this time, Atletico Madrid can’t take the ball back quickly and the opponent’s right winger can be effective with the ball.
But if we think positive, if the opponent’s right winger doesn’t take position closely to Hermoso, Hermoso can pass the ball to Carrasco more easily. Because this time, Hermoso’s passing angle automatically increases.
Let’s think a triangle which one occurs by Hermoso, Carrasco and the opponent’s right winger. When the opponent’s right winger takes position approximately according to Carrasco’s width and Hermoso’s length, this time, they create an approximately right triangle. In this situation, the opponent’s right winger’s angle is 89.87 degrees, Carrasco’s angle is 47.91 degrees and Hermoso’s angle is 42.21 degrees. In this situation, Hermoso’s and Carrasco’s angles’ degrees are not so less and it means, Hermoso can pass the ball to Carrasco.
As the opponent’s right winger goes forward, Hermoso’s and Carrasco’s angles’ degrees become less and the opponent’s right winger’s angle’s degree becomes much. And let’s say the opponent’s right winger goes forward until his angle is 120.01 degrees. When his angle is 120.01 degrees, Carrasco’s angle is 18.96 degrees and Hermoso’s angle is 41.03 degrees. As you can see, Hermoso’s angle’s degree doesn’t change much but Carrasco’s angle’s degree becomes so less. So it means, now the possibility of Hermoso’s passing the ball to Carrasco and Carrasco’s taking the ball from Hermoso decreases. It means now the opponent’s right winger’s cutting the connection between Hermoso and Carrasco increases. So now, probably Hermoso can’t pass the ball to Carrasco. But as I said, if we think positive, if the opponent’s right winger doesn’t take position close enough to Hermoso, Hermoso can pass the ball to Carrasco.
Alright then. Let’s say the opponent’s right winger takes position like the first triangle. We thought positively and now Hermoso can pass the ball to Carrasco. But now we have a new problem.
Probably Carrasco can’t pass the ball to Felix with only one touch. Because the ball comes to Carrasco’s left foot and his dominant foot is his right foot. Even if the ball comes to his right foot, probably he has to control the ball because the opponent’s right back takes position behind him. And the opponent’s right back doesn’t let him use his right foot because Carrasco’s right foot is more close to the opponent’s right back than his left foot. So it means, if Carrasco wants to control the ball with his right foot, the opponent’s right back has a chance to tackle to the ball. But if the ball comes to Carrasco’s left foot, the opponent can’t tackle to the ball. Because now the ball isn’t close to him. Now he can only push Carrasco with his body from Carrasco’s behind. Even Carrasco wants to take the ball with his right foot, he has to pass the ball with his left foot or the opponent can steal the ball from him because he has a chance to tackle. Because when Carrasco takes the ball with his right foot, the ball comes to the opponent’s right back closer and it means the opponent has a chance to take the ball from Carrasco.
So as a result, first of all, Carrasco has to control the ball. But this is a waste of time and it means the opponent can cover him and even if he can pass the ball to Felix, they would waste too much time and that triangle’s effectiveness becomes less.
If we think that Carrasco moves to his left and the opponent’s right back doesn’t follow him, this time Hermoso can’t pass the ball to Carrasco directly. Because between him and Carrasco, the opponent’s right winger takes position and Hermoso can’t pass the ball to Carrasco. To pass to Carrasco, he has to use his right foot. I explained before why right foot so I won’t explain again.
First of all, probably he can’t pass the ball to Carrasco with his left or right foot. Because the opponent’s right winger can cut the connection between him and Carrasco easily. But if Carrasco, after moving to his left, closes to Hermoso from left half-space, also Hermoso’s passing to Carrasco angle increases and it means, Hermoso can pass to Carrasco with his right or left foot.
Because again if we think a triangle between Carrasco, Hermoso and the opponent’s right winger, if the opponent’s right winger takes position great, for example he has 120.01 degrees angle like the second triangle. So Carrasco has 18.96 and Hermoso has 41.03 degrees angle. When Carrasco moves to Hermoso from left half-space, his and Hermoso’s angles’ degrees becomes more and the opponent’s right winger’s angle’s degree becomes less (in this situation, the opponent’s right winger’s degree becomes 95.57, Hermoso’s degree becomes 57.67 and Carrasco’s degree becomes 26.77). So it means, now Hermoso can pass the ball to Carrasco with his left or right foot because they have enough angle to pass each other.
But also Carrasco has to get over too much distance with that movement. So it won’t be productive. And probably Hermoso hasn’t time to wait Carrasco’s move because the opponent’s right winger can press to him and take the ball before Carrasco’s move.
But of course Carrasco can gain time with a different direction. If he moves left diagonal to Hermoso from left wing (I mean, if we think that firstly Carrasco was taking position facing to Hermoso in the left wing, his direction will be left diagonal), he can gain time and his distance to move has decreased.
So actually Carrasco can take the ball from Hermoso. But the problem is, when Carrasco was moving from left half-space and closing to Hermoso, the opponent’s right back wasn’t marking him. It’s a good thing for Carrasco because he can take the ball as a free player but the problem is, when Carrasco moves from left half-space, the opponent’s right back can close to Felix and cover him. When Carrasco was in the left wing, the opponent’s right back had to focus on Carrasco and Felix could be free in the left half-space. But now, he can cover Felix effectively because now there is not any Atletico Madrid’s player who can be distractor for him.
So after Carrasco takes the ball in the left half-space, he can’t use Felix. And when he can’t pass to Felix, there is no more clear pass option. So after he takes the ball, the opponent’s players can take the ball back with pressing. And Carrasco has to pass the ball to Hermoso back and they will have to restart make game.
But if we think positive about that situation, actually Atletico Madrid can make game. When Carrasco takes the ball, at the same time, if Felix moves to the left wing diagonal, he can pull the opponent’s right back to himself. So it means, now Carrasco has more space in the left half-space and there is not any Atletico Madrid’s player in the same space. So he can use his dribbling ability and go forward from left half-space.
But this situation’s problem is, Felix’s and Carrasco’s roles are wrong. I mean, Carrasco can use the left wing more effectively than Felix and Felix can use the ball better to create scoring positions for himself or his teammates from left half-space than Carrasco. So yes both do great job but players can’t use their best talents.
So they can be more effective when Felix and Hermoso use half-space. But as like all tactics, this tactic has a weakness.
If the opponent plays with 3 stoppers, they can stop this tactic and Atletico Madrid can’t make game. For example, let’s say the opponent plays with 3-4-3 line up. In this line up, Hermoso automatically matches with the opponent’s right winger. And Carrasco matches with the right wing back. These are not problems for Atletico Madrid because before they were matching with these players too. But now the problem is Felix matches with the opponent’s right stopper. So they haven’t numerical advantage in the left wing. They remain with 3 vs 3.
With 3 defenders system, right and left stoppers can cover half-spaces effectively because (for an example) if the right stopper closes to half-space, the centre stopper closes to little bit right and the left stopper closes to centre more. So they can cover the defense line’s centre effectively and don’t let the opponent free space.
If we back to our situation, the opponent’s right stopper can cover Felix with 1 by 1 when he moves a little bit forward and half-space. And the centre stopper moves to little bit right and the left stopper moves to centre. So they can cover all free spaces. Now the opponent can provide 3 vs 3 numerical equality in the wing.
But as all problems have solutions, this problem also has a solution. Felix can’t be effective because the opponent’s right stopper covers him. So Atletico Madrid has to confuse the right stopper and pull him to another space. And they can do it with Suarez.
When Felix can’t be effective because of the right stopper, Suarez moves to the left wing before the opponent’s right back closes to Felix. So this time, the right stopper’s mind is confused. Now Felix is not a problem for him and he closes to Suarez. So this time Felix can close to midfield from left half-space free.
But for Felix to have completely free space, Suarez’s move is not enough. Also Lemar has an important role.
Lemar has to move a little bit centre. Normally his position closes to left half-space. And because now his position is not too far away from the ball, the opponent’s one of two centre midfielders wants to cover him closely before Lemar can be dangerous. This situation can pose a problem for Felix because if the opponent’s centre midfielder is smart, he can see that Felix is free and changes his position and closes to Felix from Lemar. And at the same time, if the opponent’s other centre midfielder closes to Lemar, they can’t make game.
To prevent this situation, Lemar has to move little bit centre. Because when he changes his position a little bit to centre, the opponent’s centre midfielder who covers Lemar has to follow Lemar. Because now there are 2 players who have movement. Felix closes to midfield from left half-space and Lemar moves to centre. And when Lemar moves to centre because the opponent’s centre midfielder was already marking Lemar, Lemar’s marker can’t see Felix’s move.
Because now there are two moves and he can’t focus on two moves at the same time because he is a human. And again because he is a human, he can’t understand which player’s move is more dangerous for himself and he has to keep going to cover Lemar. There were two different moves but he was already marking Lemar and his brain couldn’t change his idea about who has to be covering by himself. Because brain’s nature doesn’t want to change its focus when brain has already focused on something. So Lemar pulls the opponent to centre and Felix is completely free in the left half-space.