WPM R15 vs Melbourne City FC | Fri 30th Jan | 7:00pm | RoF / SS2 - Game 500

Wellington were able to manipulate Melbourne City's 4-4-2 block centrally by staggering the #6's (Rufer and Nagasawa), while Retre and Najjarine helped to take advantage of the man-oriented approach of City's central midfielders.

If Rufer was on the same height as Nagasawa here, it would've been easier for Teague (attracted to Najjarine's movement) to recover and press horizontally. The extra height allows for more forward progression from the diagonal pass, while Rufer can receive with more time to turn and find the next forward option.

For City, it's a weakness in their mid-block which can see the #6's stretched against a simple positional shift from a dropping #8/#10. The wide midfielders are tasked with splitting their attention between the outside CB and the WB (because the FB does not jump — zonal backline). This creates a 1v4 against the #9, and the opponent has a spare man inside and outside the block.

I appreciate that advantages can be found through last line occupation to overload the defensive line, but I also appreciate that Wellington take a different approach by looking to overload the second line to create midfield superiorities and open up central avenues.

Too often, I see static last line occupation which results in players being hard to access because the conditions below them to progress the ball aren’t great. When they are looked for, it’s either a hopeful ball over the top or a back-to-goal reception due to the nature of the space they have to work with.

By having slightly deeper starting positions, Wellington created the separation they needed to be able to attack Melbourne City's defence with forward momentum on multiple occasions. The open ball meant that all City could do was retreat and protect the space in behind.