In his 2002 book, The Hidden Connections, physicist and systems theorist, Fritjof Capra states, “No individual organism can exist in isolation. Animals depend on the photosynthesis of plants for energy needs; plants depend on the carbon dioxide produced by animals, as well as the nitrogen fixed by the bacteria at their roots; and together plants, animals, and microorganisms regulate the entire biosphere and maintain the conditions conducive to life.”

This is where we will start when discussing a successful build-up. This is the perfect starting point because Capra makes two statements here which describe football perfectly:

No individual organism can exist in isolation. Together plants, animals and microorganisms (individual parts of the system) regulate the entire biosphere and maintain the conditions conducive to life.

At the end of the day, natural biospheres and football have something in common; complexity. They are both complex systems that are made up of individual parts which when interacting with one another sustain the system and ideally something new emerges from the system.

And again, both in football and in natural biospheres, these systems should not be broken down and simplified into their individual parts because this will lead to the collapse of the system. Rather, if we want to understand the complex nature of these systems we have to see the whole picture, and if we want to interact and manipulate these systems, we have to manage the complexity.

Football’s Complexity

As discussed, in football complexity needs to be managed, not simplified. Creating principles to help your players make decisions within the system. Ideally, all decisions by all participants are made based on the team’s tactic thus creating team communication which results in a solution to manage the complexity of football.

And by managing complexity, we are managing our probability of success. As Chris Bentley from Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club states, "Playing football requires managing as much “chance” as possible... If you can play in a way that manages chance better, you increase your odds of winning. So, thoughtlessly playing forward is not doing that no matter what way you look at it.”

Building an attack from the back can seem risky to some. But I believe when framed in a way of probability, it makes more sense than the alternative of purposelessly playing the ball forward.

Without this process, each player independently approaches complexity. In doing so, the solutions decided upon for each game situation results in changing the game in different ways causing the complexity to increase. Our goal as the manager of a team is managing the complexity of the game through principles and tactics. Through this structure, players have the liberty to express themselves, like dancers.

The Build-Up

Due to the nature of the game, in one’s own half of the field, you are more likely to have a numerical superiority. This means that if the structure is implemented correctly you should have more players available to advance up the pitch. This is only true when correct angles and distances are used. Additionally, the fewer players you require to build an attack from the back, the more advantages you will have when the ball arrives in more advanced positions.

It’s easy to overlook the purpose of building a positionally advantageous attack from the back. As many football philosophers have pointed out over the years, a well developed organised attack leads to tactical advantages when you are nearer to goal (better chances/probability of scoring). The purpose is to get the ball to attacking players in favourable conditions to finalise actions successfully.

It’s very different for a player to receive the ball with their back to the opposing goal and being closed down by several defenders (low probability) than receiving the ball facing forward inside the opponent’s penalty area with time and space to shoot (high probability). However, this cannot happen without rationally occupying the desired spaces. Like every successful endeavour, it requires a thoughtful process.

(If you are interested in further information on shot probability, check out this article here via StatsBomb)

Once we have addressed the importance of the structure in terms of what it can offer, we have to zoom in and address the objective at each line. If ultimately, we want to give our more advanced players better conditions to receive the ball, then prior to that we need to play through opposing lines (ie. front two or three, midfield line, back line).

As previously mentioned, the first line of pressure typically has fewer numbers. In a standard 1-4-4-2, which could be varied in different ways, teams will press with the front two and usually add a third player to the initial press. Which leaves a line of three to beat.