A standing tower
I'm not too sure why I don't look at Rivas more often. This highlight video was fun to watch. I will do a bit of a spoiler. But today I want to focus on Rivas’ defense.
As a reminder, Follow this steps:
- Take a look at the video:
- Read and think about the analysis.
- Match the analysis and the video. Min 2:11
Igualada is the attacker, and I think you already know how much I like this team right. How they play is just beautiful. Igualada right now on this shot is using a ball circulation of 3. Which means that they play on the halfway line and only 3 attackers, leaving the 4th one in 9. I'm not a particular fan of this strategy, but to be honest it is another tool and it may have its use.
This circulation is a bit different for me because they are not trying to cut in to realise some pressure, the player with the ball passes to the one at the opposite side and puts a block on him. Something to take into account is the player with the ball is always skating parallel to the halfway line if not on the halfway line. This detail is really important.
It gets to a point when Igualada breaks the ongoing circulation. This aims to open a space on a defense that gets comfortable during the circulation. That break is a fake shot from Matias Pascual (Igualada N4), to later put another block on Marc Carol (Igualada N32). Taking the advantage when the defence steps back. Look at Matias' defender, one meter gap in between them. The defender pulled back one meter for no reason.
