The tactical scenarios which saw a sweeper at both ends for
Dublin's semi-final against Kerry and will almost certainly be replicated in
this Sunday's final allude to a bigger theoretical, structural set up than may
appear to be the case at a glance. The case of Dublin "sweeper" Cian
O'Sulivan alludes to the matter at hand.
I have argued, until recent tactical developments at least,
that the application of a sweeper was simply a very logical tactical evolution
and procedure. The reason is very simple.
By applying a sweeper you had always set the field up in a manner which was tactically favourable to your own team. The reason for this is simple. If you plan to implement a sweeper and the opposition don't (systematically), then you're looking at a scenario whereby your defence is set up from a starting point of seven defenders versus six forwards while theirs is set up with from a starting point of six defenders versus five forwards. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a great tactical theoretician to work out that the side defending seven versus six are at an automatic advantage.
By applying a sweeper you had always set the field up in a manner which was tactically favourable to your own team. The reason for this is simple. If you plan to implement a sweeper and the opposition don't (systematically), then you're looking at a scenario whereby your defence is set up from a starting point of seven defenders versus six forwards while theirs is set up with from a starting point of six defenders versus five forwards. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a great tactical theoretician to work out that the side defending seven versus six are at an automatic advantage.
There's a basic principle in football, as well as all field
sports with a goal at both ends for that matter, that you want to attack into
space and defend in a compact environment. The side defending seven on six are
automatically set up in a more
compact environment and are attacking
into a more spacious one. There's less space for the opposition to attack into
and more space for their own forwards to operate into. Bring an attacking half
back line and midfield into the fray and you're perfectly well set up to
overrun the opposition's spacious defence.
It's a tactic which was being used effectively by many
counties in the mid to late noughties, went out of vogue, and has come back
with a vengeance. I've lost count of how many games I've seen where the simple
difference between the two sides was that one were defending seven versus six
while the other were defending six versus five. That's not to mention the fact,
of course, that by systematically applying a sweeper you're guaranteed that
your sweeper is actually trained as a sweeper. The opposition's has generally just
happened to find himself as a "sweeper". The most blatant example I
ever saw of this was the minor All-Ireland final in 2010. Though Cork almost
made a last gasp comeback, a Tyrone side who I considered to be technically inferior
outmanoeuvred them with the Tyrone sweeper conducting the orchestra from the
back. A spare Cork defender at the far end was just that, a spare defender.
With the greatest of respect to him, he had clearly never been instructed to
play as a sweeper before and quite possibly had never done so.
So this all begs a question. Do Dublin play a sweeper? Well,
they do and they don't. They don't drop a man back from their forward line.
They do, however, have a "sweeper" in Cian O'Sullivan. That is to say
that he's not a sweeper in the strictest sense. In the strictest sense he's a
centre back. That's where he'll line out and that's where he plays. Jim Gavin
knows, however, that no opposition that Dublin face will play six textbook
forwards so they will always have a spare defender.
This is in stark contrast
to the mid to late noughties when Dublin were the last side in the
country to adopt a blanket defence and no plans appeared to have been made for
this tactical element and Dublin failed year after year to beat serious
opposition outside Leinster. In the 2007 Leinster Final against Laoise in order
to stifle this, Pillar Caffrey sent Brian Cullen up to mark the Laoise sweeper.
While it actually worked on the day, in theoretical terms it was a terribly
flawed tactic. That is to say that they allowed Laoise to attack five on five
while they attacked seven on seven. It may well have stifled Laoise's tactical
dominance on the day, but can you imagine Dublin applying the same principle
against Kerry? Starting to see why they could steamroll Leinster in the
noughties but never make an impact outside of that?
Under the current regime Cian O'Sullivan is very much
planned to be a centre back come sweeper. That is to say that it doesn't matter
whether it's the opposition's number 11
or not who drops back, the Dublin defence manoeuvre that it's O'Sullivan is
sweeper. To that end he is, without inverted commas, a true sweeper.
To that end, the basic tactical structure appears to favour
Mayo in numerical/space terms but they don't have the advantage of the
opposition utilising a novice sweeper. All things considered, you can expect
the performances and defensive marshalling of the respective sweepers,
O'Sullivan for Dublin and Kevin McLoughlin or Barry Moran for Mayo, to be
crucial come this Sunday's final.
If, however, Dublin being set up six versus five at the back
appears to put them on the back foot in a tactical sense from the off, how come
they haven't lost a championship match to date in the seasons since they've
systematically applied O'Sullivan in this role and how have the evolving
tactics changed my views on this matter? Because amongst some subtler details
the most significant difference in Dublin's successful strategy under Jim Gavin
has been their capacity to get the ball back into play quickly on kick-outs
asap and overrun opposition teams before they have the chance to get numbers
behind the ball. Though there are other subtler elements, take this factor out
of their current tactical set up and they aren't massively ahead of where they
were under Pillar Caffrey.
So how does this relate to the six on five at the back being
an advantage? Because it allows Dublin a free man in acres of space to receive
the quick kick-out and break up field. And this is the crux of Dublin's game
plan. To this point, the ability retain possession on quick kick-outs has more
than offset the seven on six/six on five dynamic. While applying a sweeper at
the back offers security in one sense against the Dubs, on the other hand it
could play right into their strategy, making it easier to retain possession
quickly on kick-outs.
It's a delicate strategic balance and how much Dublin having
the spare man at the back on their own kick-outs is offset by the value of Mayo
having a more compact defence will go a long way to deciding who lifts the Sam
Maguire Cup on Sunday.
Follow me on Twitter @somearagaa
Follow me on Twitter @somearagaa
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