Tactics

The low block is a deep defensive structure that compacts players near their own goal, designed to limit space for opponents and invite the counter-attack.

Tempo in football describes the rate and rhythm at which a team plays the ball, making decisions and moving through phases of the game under pressure.

Counter-pressing is the immediate coordinated pressure a team applies after losing the ball, designed to win possession back before the opponent can reorganise.

Quick throw-ins in football are one of the most underutilised restart opportunities, yet they can create scoring chances faster than most teams realise.

The 3-5-2 formation promises central dominance and attacking width, but its structural success depends almost entirely on wing-back work rate and how well the press holds under transition pressure.

The 2-5-3 looks like an experiment on a tactics board. On the pitch, it is one of the most positionally demanding systems a coaching team can build, relying on midfield discipline and collective transition defence that most squads cannot sustain without structural preparation and deliberate squad selection. By David Findlay, Founder of KiqIQ. Quick Answer: … Read more

Five positions run through the centre of every football team, but naming them and measuring whether they are functioning as a connected unit under match pressure are two very different challenges.

Five players, compressed space, and no margin for chaos. Effective 5-a-side football tactics come down to three agreements made before kick-off, not mid-game instinct.

Football IQ separates players who execute well from those who decide well. The six cognitive components that define game intelligence are trainable, but most academies are measuring the wrong ones.