What is "Juego de Posicion" (or positional play) and how to work on it?

The “Juego de Posicion” is an idea, an identity, a style, a way of seeing and understanding the game. For many, it reflects a way of playing as well as the behavior of a team in competition.

1. What is the Juego de Posicion?
2. What are the basic concepts of the Juego de Posicion?
3. Examples of Juego de Posicion drills
4. What are the objectives of the Juego de Posicion?

It is a philosophy that allows you to dominate the opponent through the position of your players. The Juego de Posicion allows for a game model with very specific characteristics: playing the ball in coordination with the different moments and phases of the game (which are interconnected) and of course having its own operational organization. The idea behind the Juego de Posicion is to have a proactive attitude towards the game through ball possession, or its quick recovery.

What is the Juego de Posicion?

The “Juego de Posicion”, or positional play, consists of creating superiorities from the position of your players, particularly when you have the ball, with the aim of dominating the opposing defense. For this, players are organized and placed at different heights and in different "channels" both in width and depth on the field.

While gegenpressing (or counter-pressing) allows for quick ball recovery after losing possession, the Juego de Posicion focuses strictly on the position of your players on the field. The goal is to find superiority situations over the opponent or to gradually generate them from ball recovery to the end of the action. You must generate numerical advantages behind the first line of defense, create opportunities with short passes, and ensure the entire team moves together. The goal is obviously to dominate the game by having possession and creating numerical advantages in the different lines (defense, midfield, and attack).

“Positional play is about creating superiorities from the position of players on the field”
Juan Manuel Lillo

The organization is always in relation to the position of the ball. In a Juego de Posicion, this allows the team, the players, and the ball to move together on the field. Remember: players and the ball move together, whether in the offensive phase or the defensive phase. The whole then forms a single block.

After losing the ball, your team is always synchronized. The way they attack conditions their way of defending. Another main objective of the Juego de Posicion is obviously to generate goal situations, this philosophy is a means to bring your team towards the opponent's final third.

The consequence of all this is that your team, when losing the ball, is grouped and can quickly defend and press. Opponent counterattacks then become very difficult. In short, you will have understood, the attack conditions the way of defending and thus conditions the opponent's play.

What are the basic concepts of the Juego de Posicion?

Think about playing between the opponent's lines and creating small formations in diamond, square, or triangle shapes to circulate the ball in the best possible way. It is important to make short passes between the closest players to find an open player on the opposite side.

Some useful concepts to fully grasp the Juego de Posicion:

• Look for the pass into nearby spaces to then play a long pass to a free player, this is generally called "attract to free".
• Passes must produce "something", the idea is not to pass for the sake of passing.
• You need to know when to continue a dribble (to draw a defender, for example) and when to release the ball.

“You won't score if you don't draw your opponent out”
Pep Guardiola

3 examples of Juego de Posicion drills

There are numerous drills to work on positional play and here we offer you 3 examples that you can use during your next training session. These examples of positional play are inspired by drills used by Pep Guardiola during his time at FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

1. “Juego de posicion” in 4vs4 + 3 neutral players

Inspired by Pep Guardiola's famous positional play, this drill is perfect for working on the position of your players and their relationship to space.

Positional play in 4vs4 + 3 neutral players

First, create a rectangle of about 10x20m. For this positional play drill, then prepare 2 teams of 4 players and a neutral team of 3 players (so 11 players in total). Possession will be 7vs4 throughout the exercise.

The team around the field (3 neutral players) always plays with the team in possession of the ball. The other 4 players are then in a defensive position and try to recover the ball. When the team has recovered the ball, it then switches to ball possession with the team of 3 neutral players.

The team that lost the ball finds itself in the center and must then defend.

2. Positional Play in possession 3vs3 + 2 at high intensity

A typical positional play drill that will allow your players to work on the attack-defense transition while constantly maintaining a high level of intensity.

Positional Play in possession 3vs3 + 2 at high intensity

Set up a square of about 20x20m and create 3 teams. Two teams will consist of 3 players and the last will consist of only 2 players. The team made up of 2 players will serve as a joker and will always play with the team in possession.

Then, place one blue player on each of the 2 opposite sides of the square and the last one in the center. The 3 red players are located inside the area. The jokers (yellow players in our animation) position themselves on the 2 remaining sides.

The drill starts with possession by the blue players within the area with the help of the 2 yellow jokers, giving us a 5vs3 for this first sequence. The red team will perform a high-intensity press to try to recover the ball and close the angles. If the defensive team (red) recovers the ball, it switches roles with the blue team (which then finds itself entirely inside the square) and performs a counter-pressing to try to recover the ball as quickly as possible.

Note that the joker players (located on the sides) are not untouchable. The defending team can certainly press on one of these players. This is one of the major differences from the previous drill.

3. "Juego de Posición" in possession 9vs9 + 2 supports

Positional play, popularized by Pep Guardiola, will be a determining element of this drill. Ideal when you have a large number of players during a session. Remember that placement will be crucial throughout the exercise.

"Juego de Posición" in possession 9vs9 + 2 supports

Define a field of about 30x40m and create 2 teams of 9 players. Then place 2 supports, one on each length. The drill starts with a pass from the coach to the blue team.

This is followed by possession by the blue team with the help of the 2 red players in support outside the field (who serve as jokers). The yellow team must defend as a block and try to block the passing angles to recover the ball.

When the ball is recovered by the defensive team (here yellow), they take the place of the offensive blue team and a new possession begins.

What are the objectives of the Juego de Posicion?

Here are some objectives specific to the “Juego de Posicion” (positional play for English speakers):

• Quick ball movement speed, play one or two touches, quickly.
• Allows for constant support to the ball carrier.
• Helps develop control, whether on short or long passes.

“Look further. The first thing Johan Cruyff asked us is to always look further.”
Pep Guardiola

Here are 3 examples of positional play drills that you can use during your next training sessions. You can also access hundreds of drills on different themes (counter-pressing, positional play, etc.) by registering on SoccerCoachLab.