1-2-2-1 defense help

[The Doors]

anyone else know anything about this offense??? we got absolutely annihilated this weekend by it.

the ball movement against us was incredible, but i have no idea how to design a good defensive slide against it........it gets spread out pretty far, so a good slide becomes difficult, but its still close enough for dangerous shots to be ripped.....any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful

[boxlaxman]

The 1-2-2-1 is commonly reffered to as an open offense. It is designed for 1v1's mainly and most of the cuts are dummy cuts. Obviously, it is hard to match up man-to-man because the adjacent slide is the only option which just creates draw and dumps.

Here are a few ideas that will work:

1. Zone - It is basically a zone offense to hit it with a zone defense and take the 1v1's away.

2. Backer Zone - Play the ball agressively with a mon-down zone behind it.

3. Shut-off adjacents with a triangle zone behind it - this takes away the adjacent help and will cause the offense to try dangerous feeds.

Hope that helps...

[TheKOB]

what do you mean shut off adjacents with a triangle zone behind it? Do you mean basically that d1 covers the ball, and d2 and d3 cut off the adjacents, and then have the remaining defensive players form a triangle on the crease with the point facing the ball?

Could you go into a bit more detail about this defense?

[dram183]

well wouldnt you just play it the same as a circle? 1 2 2 1 seems like its just a circle

[Bobsch]

Same thing. Some people call it circle, or open, or spread.

[aikitim]

is it the same as a 3-3?

[TheKOB]

It's different then a traditional circle because a circle is usually a 2-2-2 wide. A 3-3 has the bottom middle attackman on the crease, whereas the 1-2-2-1 has him behind the goal and also bumps up the top middle midfield. Think of it as a 2-2-2 wide turned on it's side...