This movement is in fact a decoy movement, which creates space in front of this centre back.We can then see the fluid positioning of Dortmund’s front three, with Hazard moving across to occupy the half-space, where he is not pressed due to Brandt pinning the centre back with his forward run. Salif Sane gave Schalke the lead before the half hour and Caligiuri scored a magnificent free-kick in between red cards for Marco Reus and Marius Wolf as Dortmund imploded at a remarkable rate. Schalke 04 will stray offside often Borussia Dortmund will steal the ball from the opposition often * Match forecast is generated from clashes in team characteristics. It was then the responsibility of the nearest central defender to jump from the back line to occupy the half-space.We can see an example of this pressing scheme below in a wider area, where Manuel Akanji the left centre back has possession. If they stay tighter and mark the central midfielder, they leave more space behind them, and are also positioned more centrally, leaving greater space in the half-space and improving the player’s access to the striker or access to the centre. In case you hadn’t heard, the Bundesliga gets back underway this weekend, with the game that kicks the weekend off being the small matter of a Revierderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04. As usual, Brandt occupies a centre back, this time looking to make a run in behind. Apart from the clash between Bayern and Borussia […]The Danish football followed the path of Bundesliga and was the second major European league to return to action over […]In round 31 of the Bundesliga, the two teams in the relegation zone, SC Paderborn and Werder Bremen faced each […]All Content © 2020 Total Football Analysis MagazineWe use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. He is then pressed from behind by Jean-Clair Todibo, which isn’t an ideal pressing situation as you are sacrificing a deeper player, meaning firstly you have fewer players in deeper areas, and also that this player has larger pressing distances to cover the deeper the play gets.These deep central midfielders simply create a dilemma for the marking central midfielder. Dortmund's lead was short-lived, however, after Julian Weigl was harshly penalised for handball in the penalty area after a VAR review. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Furthermore if the wide centre back drives forward and takes more risks in possession, they will engage the wide eight, and therefore improve their ability to progress using the half-space. The fact these two players are Hazard and Raphaël Guerreiro showcases how fluid Dortmund were at times.This same concept created their first goal, where Brandt occupies the half-space and is pressed by the centre back, while Hazard remains close and runs into the space behind the centre back. Delaney is too deep for the centre back to react and cover the pressing distance, and Schalke’s midfield refuses to drop off, so it is a simple progression.We can see some good movement from the central midfielders again this time with Dahoud, where he stays deep and is marked by McKennie. Both Brandt and Haaland are then in higher positions and can immediately run at Schalke’s back line.Here Dortmund place two players around the centre back, creating a decisional problem for the centre back (Matija Nastasić) as they can’t cover both players. We can see this pressing shape below, where Schalke now could occupy the central midfielders at times, but as a result, left the wing-backs open.Consequently, it would often fall on the full-back to press the wing-back, and if Dortmund circulated the ball quickly, they could stretch Schalke’s front two and allow a centre back time on the ball, as they do here. But with Dortmund 3-0 up, they sensibly became less creative.We can see some of the difficulties which came about at times here, with the pressing distance between wing-back and full-back highlighted, and with Dahoud dropping deeper while the ten is occupied, he engages Suat Serdar and creates a positional problem for him, with the wing and inside both needing protecting.Dortmund generally didn’t press high throughout the game, and certainly in the second half looked to sit deep in their own 5-4-1. Have your say on the game in the comments. 26 oktober 2019. This might not look much on the face of it, but it’s an extremely effective rotation.When Brandt drops in the half-space, he is moving from high to low, a higher position to a deeper one.