Ever since his arrival at Zesco United in 2014, George Lwandamina has been identified with a well-defined tactical approach: organized defending with plenty of men behind the ball mixed with ruthless, fast counter attacking. His teams are capable of some entertaining football, but he’s most comfortable when his teams can sit deep, absorb pressure, and then break at devastating pace.
The biggest question mark concerns that counter attacking style. Sitting with eight men behind the ball is nothing new, of course. But what separates Lwandamina’s Zesco United from other more defensive (some might say “regressive”) teams is that Lwandamina rarely relies on long balls lumped forward to a classic number nine. Rather, he relies on fast counters that use aggressive passing and direct running. But if he didn’t have a Jackson Mwanza, John Ching'andu, or Mwape Mwelwa running at defenses, could it work?
If he didn’t have Clatous Chama, Misheck Chaila, or Anthony Akumu making the final passes, could it work? Lwandamina's style actually does require players to be technically proficient. Otherwise those counter-attacking chances never develop because a pass is misplaced or not seen.
George Lwandamina’s adaptation of catenaccio
George Lwandamina has taken the catennacio approach and adapted it to a club with good but not great financial resources. Don’t kid yourself. Zesco United has money. They just don’t have anywhere near Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, or PSG money. But if Zesco United get in a bidding war with a club like Al Ahly or Wydad Casablanca they’re capable of winning it.
So this isn’t a story of a plucky under-dog triumphing over insurmountable odds. The closest analog to Zesco United’s success isn’t Leicester City winning the English Premier League; it’s TP Mazembe winning several CAF African Champions League titles and reaching a FIFA Club World Cup Final.
That said, what Lwandamina has achieved is still remarkable. Lwandamina has taken the core principles of catennacio, adapted them to a club with more limited resources, and then installed a system in which the players move more fluidly and work harder than any other club in Africa. The core principles behind Zesco United’s tactics are familiar:
The default posture of the team is to sit deep in a narrow, compact shape in order to prevent the opponent from creating scoring chances.
The team only breaks the shape to press the ball when the odds of success are high and the cost of failure is minimal. (And even here it might be better to say that the whole team moves together, causing the shape to temporarily change, rather than saying that the shape “breaks.”)
When the ball is won, it is played forward quickly because fast attacks can catch opponents off balance and turning the ball over in the attacking third is less costly than turning it over in your own defensive third or in midfield.
Every player in the team has to assist defensively and sacrifice individual expression for the sake of the system.
What Lwandamina has added is a more aggressive pressing style in wide areas and in defined situations in central areas. Lwandamina teams press well, and they are very fanatical about it. Lwandamina's team also knows how to lure teams into traps, press on cue, and then use the pressure to create scoring chances.
To understand this system a bit more, we’re going to look at five different phases of defensive play and see how Zesco United handle each. In three situations, we’ll see the Zesco United sitting deep and not pressing the ball at all. In the other two we’ll see them pressing the ball more aggressively. In both of those cases, the press is triggered by a specific cue from the opposition.
Zesco United Defending in Their Own Attacking Third.
The first situation we need to look at it is what happens when a Zesco United opponent wins possession in their defensive third (or in the Zesco United attacking third). This is usually where the defensive work begins for Zesco United because their style, when in possession, is to push the ball forward at pace, so they usually turn it over in the attacking third rather than in their own defensive third or midfield. The ball simply isn’t in those parts of the field long enough to be turned over in most cases.
So the opponent wins the ball and begins to pass it forward. This is the Zambian Super League so most teams are looking to play a possession-based style that uses shorter passing and builds from the back. Here is Zesco United at this point in their opponent’s attack:
Here we have the two central midfielders, marked CM, sitting fairly deep. The wide midfielders are tucked in slightly to support the midfielders. Then the two center forwards have backed off the ball and allowed the opponent to pass it forward. (Note that Zesco United tend to alternate between a 4-4-2 and more of a 4-4-1-1, but the system itself doesn’t change that much regardless of formation.) At this point, Zesco United are happy to let their opponent pass the ball. Short passing in the midfield areas doesn’t affect the scoreline in any way and doesn’t really pressure them that much.
Zesco United Defending in Midfield
Zesco United organizes itself as a compact defense setting up once the ball has been moved into midfield. Here they are still willing to concede space and time to the opposition because neither of those things hurt them. In fact, the more space they concede the better because it allows them more room to run into when they try to counter.
Zesco United Defending in the Defensive Third
Once again, the operating principle stays the same: Zesco United is happy to concede time and space outside of the 18 yard box to the opposition. They know that teams are unlikely to score from outside the area, so they’re willing to give that space in order to stay organized and compact in their defense of the area of the field that actually matters. So they’re willing to let their opponents simply roll the ball around the perimeter of the area, somewhat like an NBA team that is willing to let a team pass the ball around the three point arc but never allows them to pass the ball into the area immediately around the hoop.
Zesco United Pressing in Central Areas
So that shows how George Lwandamina’s team sets up when their opponent is in possession and isn’t looking to press the ball into the box. Zesco United will give their opposition as much possession in the middle of the park as they want, provided they don’t try to push the ball into dangerous areas. One of the guiding principles here is that the vast majority of what goes on between the two 18-yard boxes does not matter.
That said, there are times in midfield areas where Zesco United will try to squeeze their opponent. This is risky because players on the ball in central areas have more space and more places to play the ball than players in wide areas. So Zesco United don’t press that often in midfield areas. That said, if a player gets the ball with his back to goal or a ball is slightly misplayed, then Zesco United will clamp down and try to win back possession. Part of the genius of the system is that because they play so narrowly, anytime a ball is misplayed or a press is triggered they have a player or two nearby to hound the opposition player. An opposing playmaker could be on the ball here but in the process of trying to turn, thus he isn’t able to play the ball quite as quickly or accurately. And Zesco United’s two center forwards are playing deep enough that they can clam down on him quickly.
A second point to note here is that pressing the ball here is not risky. Lwandamina'’s system is all about reducing risk and putting his team in positions where the odds are heavily in their favor. So even if they don’t win the ball… what is the opposing playmaker going to do with it? He’s not in a position physically to play the ball wide or forward. He can shift it out wide to a fullback, but the fullback will receive it in a deeper part of the field. Or he can play the ball back to a defender or holding midfielder. In other words: Failing costs them nothing while success creates an instant goal-scoring chance as the two Zesco United forwards suddenly are in possession and have tons of space to run into.
Zesco United Pressing the Ball in Wide Areas
The other area where Zesco United will press the ball is when it’s passed into wide areas. When this happens, the entire block (if you think of the ten players as basically consisting of two lines of four with a line of two on top) shifts left or right. Two or three players close down on the ball while the others either get ready to counter or sit back in case the trap fails and they have to keep defending. Zesco United know how to close down on the ball in wide areas.
Here you can see how the whole team has shifted to the left as both left sided players and one of the midfielders close down the ball. There is a risk that Zesco United take in shifting this way, except it’s actually a very small risk: They are leaving the opposition’s left wing (Zesco United’s right side) wide open. But this is a minor risk because the chances of a player who is being harried by three players being able to play a successful reverse ball across the field are remote. If he does try such a pass, he’s more likely to misplace it, in which case Zesco United may win the ball or, worst case scenario, the opponent keeps possession and has to reset–which simply means Zesco United reset to their narrow 4-4-2. And in the event that they win the ball, which is more likely given that they have three players closing down on a small space where the opposing player doesn’t have many options, that means they are able to quickly launch a counter attack at the opposition. If the ball is won by Zesco United higher up the pitch, but it was won in a wide area and Jesse Were is already making his run on goal and it's a clear-cut one-on-one with the keeper.
Conclusion
If you take George Lwandamina’s system, they are organized and compact, ruthless on the counter, and impossible to break down. Against weaker opposition this doesn’t always work because those teams won’t attack them in numbers. But against Nkana, Power Dynamos, and the top sides in the CAF African Champions League like Al Ahly, Lwandamina’s Zesco United are devastating. Therefore, don’t be surprised if they win the CAF African Champions League this season.