- Jun 28, 2009
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In the first pic you can see Drogba's onside, looking along the line and about to angle that little run he likes to make, Gallas and King have their eye on the ball. Lampard's looked up seen Drogba and is thinking about the angled through-ball/cross. Walker's got a split second decision, is Drogba onside or offside? Is Lampard going to play the ball? If Drogba's onside and Lampard plays the ball can anyone get back? Walker does the sensible thing and tracks a run which could very well be onside. Lampard doesn't play the ball to Drogba, but to Mata who immediately picks out Ramires' run, and that move of Walker's to cover the threat of Drogba a moment before, suddenly looks ill-advised, and everyone on here, examining in minute detail three frozen moments in time and comparing to an ideal line of four in their minds, groans and blames each person who's not in that rigid line.
But this is what we mean when we talk about attackers having clever movement, when we talk about playing in the hole and pulling defenders out of position through the positions we take up. It tends to happen more however, when you're under-manned, when you haven't the spare man, then someone's got to take responsibility for the man on the ball and this is what leads to defenders getting pulled out of position. Stick Sandro or Livermore in that midfield and immediately you've got someone patrolling that area which Mata's just waltzed into. King doesn't step out, Ramires is covered. BAE's correct because he's got an eye on the over-lapping full-back. Walker's covered Drogba's aborted run and steps out smartly again. Parker's arriving fast from the blind-side of Mata, nicks the ball of his toes, and Bale's nicely advanced with Modric not far behind to launch the counter.
That's it in a nut-shell. Simple as.
In the first picture, Drogba is offside. Can we all agree on that?