Previously in the Soccer Den, we described Vanney ball as creating and exploiting goal-dangerous spaces through possession, swift opportunistic attacks, and managing defensive transitions. This installment describes what happens to opponents when Vanney ball works.
Previous Article: What is Vanney Ball
The offside rule creates three zones of interaction between opposing teams: defensive, midfield, and offensive. The defensive zone starts with the goalkeeper and stretches to the next defender up the field. A pass by the opposition to a player positioned in the defensive zone will be ruled offside. The midfield zone stretches between the last defender on each team, with the offensive zone behind the last opposing defender and the opposing goalkeeper. Because these zones depend on player movement, they are constantly shifting. Goal-dangerous spaces generally emerge in the offensive zone and the most offensive parts of the midfield.
When Vanney ball is working well, the ball will move quickly between players so that opposing defenders must move to protect increasingly goal-dangerous spaces. If defenders can maintain their defensive shape without much movement, even quick and intricate passing will not create danger. Offensive players must move off the ball to give the passer an option in a goal-dangerous space. This forces defenders to cover the exposed spaces, opening up space elsewhere.
Whether a player actually receives a pass, matters less than forcing defenders to move. As Vanney-style possession takes effect, spaces begin to open up until the Galaxy find themselves with more players in a dangerous area of the midfield than the opposition. Greg Vanney calls these situations overloads. When overloads occur, the Galaxy can quickly pass the ball into the overloaded zone and attack the goal through passes behind the defense, quick combinations, or service into unprotected areas of the box. Vanney calls these attacks offensive or final actions.
Back in the Ticki-Taco days of Landon Donovan, David Beckham, and Robby Kean, the coordination between off-the-ball movement and quick one and two-touch passing caused defenders to rush side to side, backward and forward until they could no longer keep up. After reducing them to traffic cones, the Galaxy would split the defenders with a pass, a dummy, or a combination and walk the ball into the goal. Successful Vanney ball will move defenders around like Ticki Taco did, with a focus on creating overloads and chances on goal.
The following twenty-five-pass example illustrates the point. Notice the rapid tempo of the passing, constant player movement off the ball, and how overloads occur as the defense is pulled apart. At the end of the move, they overload the top of the box before passing wide to Feltscher, who finds Chris Pontius attacking the exposed goal-dangerous space in front of the goal.
Vanney Ball also includes quick counter-attacks when the G’s find themselves in numbers up situations. These opportunities occurred last year when Riqui Puig beat a line of defenders off the dribble and accelerated into the offensive zone with the ball. Unfortunately, Galaxy, off the ball, did get forward quick enough to threaten the defensive zone behind the defense. Rarely did the G’s take advantage of these attacks unless Puig finished off the play on his own.
Threatening counter-attacks make Vanney ball more effective because defenders cannot press forward and hold a high line. They must always be wary of a lethal counter-attack. With Kean, Donovan and Gyasi Zardes constantly threatening the spaces behind the defense, gaps opened up for Ticki to Taco run the midfielders into submission. With Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil on the flanks, the Galaxy should be able to force defenders backward, making midfielders cover more space and opening up the possession game.
Bruce Arena’s teams focused first on creating transitions. The following compilation reveals how quick transitions can disorganize the defense, creating overloads that can be exploited with quick, intricate passing. Notice how Landon Donovan, Gyasi Zardes, or Robbie Kean constantly threaten the spaces behind the defense to open gaps in the midfield. Splitting passes exploit these gaps to get the team into transition. Defenders cannot cover as much space if they must constantly move to close down danger. Imagine Puig in place of Donovan or Kean in transition. Notice how many Galaxy players join the attack and how their runs off the ball open and exploit space.
The next installment will examine why Vanney Ball allowed sixty-seven goals in 2023 and what must be done to plug the leaks in the defense.