In the first part of this series I attempted to explain a bit about what is going on with Heinze’s tactics in respect to having the ball. That piece can be found here.
In this piece I look for how Heinze sets up defensively. This might be a bit more technical, but I think it’s interesting enough to explore, or maybe you can even be the guy at the watch party who can point out a thing or two there.
Defensive setups
Tata Martino initially set up his side to press from a 4-2-3-1 shape in order to win the ball high (y’all remember the peachtree press) but later changed into a bit more of a mid (meaning the highest line of defenders initiate contact around the middle of the field) to low (meaning engagement starts within own half) block to take advantage of the pacy Almiron on the counter and win in the MLS playoffs.