2019-05-01_World_Soccer

(Ben W) #1

The backheel: football’s space craft


Paul


GARDNER
WORLDWIDE VIEW

quite likely, giving the ball away.
Which is why the backheel pass
is so seldom seen.
That such a pass can utterly
bamboozle opponents is a fact. But if
it is equally likely to fool team-mates
who are simply not ready for it, it

While you will be familiar with 3-4-
and 4-2-4 and 3-5-1-1 and suchlike
as ways of describing how a team
plays, I don’t like this numbers game.
Firstly, because I’m very uncertainly
grounded in maths, and secondly
because the numbers are dull and,
I feel, of questionable value. I usually
have major problems matching up
what I see and what the pundits
have told me I ought to be seeing.
I know what I ought to be seeing:
attractive, exciting, attacking football.
I also know that those formations
are never designed with that in mind
as they are invariably defence-based.
Coaches are good at planning defence
but not nearly so good at organising
things up front.
I have worked on this matter and
managed to overcome my aversion to
maths long enough to devise my own

numerical trio: 3-6-0. Something
different because it features only nine
players? The much greater difference
is that these are not players, these are
degrees: 360 of them.
My 3-6-0 is not a formation. It is
an invitation; an invitation to players
to broaden the scope of their passing.
And it is an appeal for greater use of
the backheel.
Any player with the ball at his feet
can, without shifting his body position
and by only a slight turning of his
head, pass the ball forwards, or
sideways, or angled slightly backwards.
Of the 360 degrees surrounding
him, he uses, let’s say, 260, and fails to
utilise the widening triangle of space
directly behind him.
While any player can make a decent
heel pass, the problem is the lack of
vision. Which means a blind pass and,

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