I used to play as a sweeper. I told people it was because I read the game well and was good on the ball, so I could bring it out from defence. The reality was that I was too lazy to push up with a defensive line and too ill disciplined to man mark.
@@Dz73zxxx Being too short when your natural disposition is centre back is the most frustrating thing. Every other position (except goalkeeper perhaps) will accommodate shorter players. Other than full back, I guess the only other option is a ball winning defensive midfielder.
@@ruan13o i mean, i only like won air battle 3-5 times upon 1 semester of play lmao Anyways, my strength also is for area control and man mark, so yea being a right back with specific space is quite accomodated for me
Very surprised that Allison and Ederson were mentioned when it came to sweeper keepers but no mention of Neuer who has been doing it for over a decade.
Especially because Neuer was the first modern day Goalkeeper to interpret the position like that. His game against Algeria in the World Cup is probably the best allround performance I've ever seen from a Keeper.
@DDeglane16 Bruv, I said modern day. Of course there were players like Yashin ages ago, but show me one other Goalie that Revolutionized his position like Neuer last decade. Ain't happening.
@@kdlofty you sure about that? What about when keepers were allowed to handle the ball anywhere in their own half and would carry the ball to the halfway line? You don't think any of them would fit the definition of a sweeper keeper? What about Lev Yashin? Bert Trautmann?
Dude, I really love this type of video. Good to see this community, I used to think that I was the only crazy person to think and discuss about themes like this. LONG LIVE TIFO
@@eddysandland58 Sammer, yes. Matthäus only dropped back when he was much older. He was a box to box, Bryan Robson style midfielder for most of his career.
I played sweeper for school and college. Taught me how to read the game extremely well, and combined with my speed we rarely got scored on from counter attacks.
Nice! :) people tend to think of the sweepers (and center-backs in general) as generally big physical players, and while it's obviously better to have both, speed is very important given the amount of freedom you get in that position. Gotta use that freedom well ;)
Same here. I was known in the newspapers a the second keeper who kept the ball off the goal line when the keeper was beaten. Must’ve won many of 1-0 games which should’ve been 9-0 losses. If you learn to play sweeper you learn how to play the whole field.
Great video, as usual. Just one thing : the sweepers in the 70', 80', 90' were not necessarily in a back 3. Actually, they were very rarely in a back 3. They were, most of the time, in a classic back 4.
In the classic Italian catenaccio (which was actually of Swiss origin) it was usually between the two. They had an attacking left back and a defensive right back, so when they had the ball they were a 3 but when they defended it was a back 4.
Jorge Campos(Mex), Rene Higuita(Colombia)Antoine Bell(Cameroon) and more recently Manny Neuer were doing the sweeper keeper thing before Ederson OR Allison
@@LMarcon11 the guys I mentioned were able to do the exact same thing, just weren't in a system that accommodated it at that period Although the Coaches allowed it.
I started as a sweeper due to my relative size, but gave the ball away too quickly in dangerous areas. Eventually I played as striker so even if I lost the ball, it was lost in the opponent’s half or near the opposition’s goal. Those were good times.
I'd like to see a video about the stopper position, another defunct position from a bygone era that I used to play. It would be pretty similar to a CDM, but not exactly the same. Maybe it wasn't that common but my high school team used what would be considered today some strange tactics. It was a 3-1-3-3 formation with the stopper set between the defence and midfield, and our number 8 was called a "rover" and functioned similarly to a false-9.
We used it in youth as an aggressive CB coming into the midfield consistently late, to keep opponents in two minds about playing a big man/#10 at any given moment. Muscle out the 10, they mix it up, stopper changes focus from pressing the player with the ball, to cutting off the knockdowns/thru runnning midfielders.
I'd like a further explanation of LaVolpe exit. I mean, I already know what it means and has watched lots of defensive midfielders do that. It's however the first time I heard that it's called LaVolpe exit and I want to hear the more historical side of that tactic.
Its called " La volpe exit" or "salida lavolpiana" after Ricardo lavolpe an Argentine manager who was famous for using 3 at the back and had his teams start at the back with short passes instead of having the keeper throw a long ball. He is more famous in mexico having managed a few Mexican teams where he was kind of revolutionary with his tactics and playing style. He managed mexico at the 2006 world cup and was praised by his style of play even guardiola talked about him in spain and praised him and mexico during the 2006 world cup. La volpe was a goal keeper and even won the world cup with maradona even though he was bench the whole tournament
A lot of modern 3-man defenses play the traditional sweeper, with players who excel in carrying the ball out but might be caught defensively. A perfect example of this was David Luiz in Conte's 3-4-3 at Chelsea - he was always deeper than the other 2 defenders and distributed the ball brilliantly. Even under Tuchel, Thiago Silva plays almost as a sweeper. This helps highlight his strengths (reading of the game, distribution) while covering for his slight weaknesses (reduced pace due to age). Also, in some back 4s, a midfielder drops in deep to split the defense (like a pseudo-sweeper) and move the ball forward (Xabi Alonso from Bayern is the first example that comes to mind).
Thanks Tifo for the info. Didn't realize I was playing a sweeper in my university, but back then our back three was compact because of the idea that we do not want to concede too many easy chances. And it kinda help, from shipping 8 in 3 games to 5 in the following 5 games.
Sauzee, what a player! Incredible to think Eck managed to sign him and Latapy when Hibs were a second-tier side; they were far superior to most Premier League players.
I graduated high school in 2010 and we played a 4-4-2 with 2 outside fullbacks and a sweeper+stopper, 2 Central midfielders, 2 wingers, 2 forwards. It was a weird system because it wasnt a flat back 4 but our sweeper was extremely fast so it worked out for us. We worked with the players we had.
In Managers games whenever I get a fast but short defender through my youth system I play him as a wide libero/stopper to reduce the chance that he will have to challenge in the air. In the end half the turn overs in my third come from that Defender's freedom to close down the enemy flank thats trying to overload.
Because sweepers no longer exist forwards score goals easier now. All they need is to beat one of the CB's unless being double marked by both CB's which is highly unlikely. When I use to play sweeper our team didn't need to use a DMF or holding midfielder because we were immune to counter attacks. Because of my good long passing, I had more time on the ball and my team could safely short pass the ball out of our defense since most teams do not use 2 center-forwards.
I was a defensive sweeper but no teams I join today play for use it. I'm in the weird position now that I play a CB role trying to master the art of marking and offside traps instead of charging an opponent and smashing them In a slide tackle. I miss my old team who used a sweeper😥
Another thing you could mention is that today's forwards/Strikers can dribble past defenders, have pace and can shoot from distance. Like Kane, Benzema, Lewandoski, Suarez, Ronaldo, Zapata, L.Martinez, Aubameyang etc. They're not target men that can be marked 1v1. It's better to use offside trap against these guys rather than leave a sweeper to cover things Plus, these strikers drop deep regularly to assist buildup play ( if you deploy a sweeper) then opposite will have numerical advantage, that is useful to move the ball forward
I like that 3-5-2 into 4-4-2 with the pendulum of the wide midfielders into defence. It's vaguely like how rugby defences use a pendulum of their back 3 with the wingers going between dropping back and being further forward in the line
@@chifumujmanda7643 i mean obv they don't HAVE to mention Neuer, it's just kind of odd hearing someone bring up sweeper keepers and not mention him. The term sweeper keeper has kinda been synonymous with Neuer ever since he revolutionized that position.
yeah, you can't really count the referee to be able to spot offside correctly in non professional matches that's I think the reason why so many teams from youth leagues still stick with sweepers.
Make one about LUTHER MATTHAUS , i saw his match against Netherlands of 1990 World Cup he was everywhere , he played like if N'golo kanté can dribble like Iniesta.
I'm glad you mentioned Chelsea because I feel like Thiago Silva or whoever plays in the middle plays like a sweeper to an extent. I was looking through the comment section to see if I was the only one that thought this
Criminal not to mention Matip when talking about defenders who being the ball out of defence. Arguably the second best defender in the league when fully fit - he’s massively underrated.
@@Buriboorizaemon Fred was already at United. He was a Jose purchase. I still can't believe that we paid 50m for Fred. We could get a proper CDM in the 45m range.
@@Buriboorizaemon united only offer him 1 year contract extend but he wants more, maybe more wage too. the problem is not losing herrera but missing out opportunity to sign fabinho.
you are. correct , which is the biggest reason before striker had to be in front of the last man making it easier to defend, now strikers are able to be side to side of last man. I dont understand why that wasnt talk about , lazy researching
the second i seen this i was like because of sweeper keeper funnily enough like Allison and Ederson and because they make it so you sort have 11 player where playing with a traditional sweeper your more or less a man down sometimes making it 9 and the 2 man advantage at times in midfield is massive
I was midfield sweeper, the role is simple, never leaves defender alone against striker or winger, make sure no one pass you and make space for defenders. Sweepers usually are defenders that have skills as midfielder, players like Phillip Lahm, Daniele De Rossi, EVEN today we have sweeper in Chelsea, players like Andreas Christensen, he is central defender but usually employed as defensive midfielder, Chelsea doing well with a sweeper.
@@DangerRifai I 100% agree other teams catch up but from my experience being nasty from like under 9s with technical ability in your side you are always going to have the mental upper hand on the opponents. Also during under 14s Saturday league teams you aren’t developing the players as much as per say a proper academy team so as you said you’d lose out I don’t think I necessarily agree you are only coaching the players twice a week (training x1 game x1) the development is just from individual growth
It always annoyed me that the sweeper configuration in Fifa games and pro evo are overly defensive in nature, none of the Beckenbauer style forward runs.
@@shantiescovedo4361 depends on how you use. If you put the sweeper out in front the backline and have him sweep for them instead of the goal keeper it can free up the center backs to help the fullbacks on the wings defending while having the forward sweeper slot into their abandoned position protecting from both potential crosses, through balls and players making a run into the box for the pressured wing.
Every role shifts eventually. We can see it at every role, especially in last 15-20 years. Look at CBs (or defenders) in general - at EURO 2006 even TOP teams were quite narrow (level of the box) in posession (or without), with 1 or both fullback usually playing quite close to them as well. Now you can see TOP teams having both CBs pushing wide, when in posession, CM/DM dropping in between them (even deeper than CBs are) and fullback going high on the pitch replacing wingers, who are much more narrow. This is as typical now as "narrow defence" was 15 years ago. and this changes every single role on the field - you dont need typical destructive DM anymore, this disappeared from the game almost completely (especially for stronger sides), you need ball-playing midfielder, especially as strong, progressive team, who is to dominate posession. You dont need wingers, who is strong in crosses, because this is now fullbacks/wingbacks responsibility.
I thought Michael Owen put an end to the sweeper against Argentina in 1998. Every time I watch that goal you think - what is that defender doing back there. Isn't the sweeper "the bolt". At least one who does not bring the ball out? Thought that would be discussed. The bolt is now the DM - which is a shame because we no longer have that late running midfielder or defender hitting the box through the centre. Do away with offsides and the sweeper will come back
Omg I remember being little In YA and we used a sweeper, all the defenders wanted to play it for some reason now my club rn just plays a 442 or 433 like most other clubs :/
Let's not forget greece in 04 playing a sweeper successfully. Not because the position was inherently at an advantage, but because opposition didn't really know how you deal with that kind of player anymore.
Why not just run a front sweeper in 4-1-3-2 to eliminate space between the center backs and keep them from the goal keeper. It even allows for a complete to high pressing formations as it allows for the two full backs to press the attack with the sweeper acting as a point formation for the two striker wings and attacking midfielder. Fundamentally the sweeper has a place in modern football, we just need to rethink who he’s sweeping for, instead of the goal keeper have the sweeper act as an advance pressing defenders that sweeps for the backline, either by dispossessing the attacking player or pressuring them into one of the four backline players for a double team or in between the space that is collapsing on the attacker being pressured. Making any clean shot on goal near impossible. Additionally this frees up the center backs to help defend the wings with the full backs by having the sweeper slot into the center back’s abandoned position keeping the backline formation in tact while pressing the attacking player so to limit vulnerability to crosses.
