Round three review · 35 / 60

Shape
reading,
staged

The same six situations, drawn. Step through the counts in order and watch which players each one is actually about — the arithmetic gets much easier when you can see who you're supposed to be counting.

Your team Opponent Play runs left to right

The three rules you were missing

01

Count everyone who touches it before midfield

Goalkeeper, centre-backs, and any midfielder sitting deep to be the outlet. A second holding midfielder becomes a build-up player the moment he is the one they pass to. This was question one.

02

Count two is the middle, not the flanks

Central midfield before width, every time, because being outnumbered centrally is what actually loses you games. You jumped to the wings in question three and the answer was in the middle.

03

An instruction names a person and an action

"Be careful on the wings" is a worry. "Right midfielder drops to take their wing-back" is an instruction. If you can't say who does what, you haven't finished the read.

04

Every decision has a cost — name it

You described what a change achieves twice without saying what it gives up. A read with no cost in it isn't finished. That was question four, and question six.