Playing Offside
If you opt not to play a game with a Sweeper, or at least ensure that your Sweeper is occupying a defensive position not a Sweeper’s role, then the Offside trap may be played. Playing the offside trap will restrict the opposing forwards scoring chances by pushing your defence up the field as the ball is played towards them, leaving them in an offside position, and removing the danger.
However, by applying this tactic you are inviting the opposition to push forward with their midfield players, and thus play the game through the middle of the park. If their midfield players are more talented than your own, or they have greater midfield strength through the sheer number of players in that position, then this might backfire on you.
The only other time the Offside tactic is NOT available to you is if your side opt to use the Diamond formation (see Playing Style) - the two tactics CANNOT be used together. Keep your eyes on the newsletters for teams that have Wingers or Attacking Defenders (WG or DF/A), because they can make an awful mess of an offside trap. Whatever the circumstances of either team’s formation or make-up, the performance level of the WG or DF/A determines how successful he will be at breaking down an offside trap. The better the player, the less effective the offside trap will be on his team’s forward line.
Marking wingers successfully will reduce their performance level and thus their effect on the game. Basically the Offside game is very effective against a side pushing more men forward, while perhaps not quite as good against those who don’t. The actual number of players in the forward line affects just how many of the possible chances for goal attempts are stopped before they become actual shots. Without giving away too much of the formula or drowning you with numbers, if a side with a five-man forward line is caught in the offside trap, then he will see roughly two-thirds of his chances spoiled by having his players adjudged offside. Four men will be slightly less of a hazard, while three attackers is counted as the norm. For a side with two forwards up front, an offside game against them is now less effective than it has ever been, trying to simulate the difficulties of having a defensive line operate as a perfect unit against so few men.
Wingers will unlock the offside game based both on their skill and upon the number of strikers they are playing with. For example, a winger in a five man forward line is still going to gain chances that otherwise would have gone begging, but he is not going to be as effective as he would be in a three-man attacking force. And, since WG’s are eligible to play in the middle of the park too, they can have an effect in a similar manner. However, if TEAM A is being caught in an offside trap, and TEAM B has more men in the middle of the field, then the WG’s in TEAM A are going to find their skills in unlocking this trap somewhat restricted. Basically, the more men TEAM A has in midfield to support the WG’s the better the offside trap will be beaten. This rule is the same for DF/A’s too and works on a similar vein when more than one winger is played.
For a team that chooses to play an offside game with a midfield that is weaker than its opponents, the trouble starts. Basically, for every man that the side being played offside against has spare in the middle of the park, the more chances his side will put forward by breaking through the offside attempts.
See also…