The Secrets of FC Twente’s Top Ten Attack | OneFootball

This Sunday the Dutch Eredivisie plays their final match. FC Twente are unlucky enough to face leaders PSV Eindhoven, but a win could place them into the one of the Champions League qualifying rounds. They are competing with other Dutch mega clubs Feyenoord, NEC Nijmegen, and Ajax.

The foundation of Twente’s success lies in their attacking power. Across Europe’s seven major leagues, they rank inside the top ten for both expected goals per 90 minutes and shots on target per 90 minutes.

1) Late Run, Big Effort

Sondre Ørjasæter, the left winger, makes a well-timed run in behind the defensive line from the left channel.

He is found with a through ball and receives possession near the byline inside the penalty area. Ricky van Wolfswinkel, the striker (although in some matches he is operating from the right wing) makes an excellent late supporting run from a deeper position. He attacks the box with real intent, gets across the opposition left-back, and manages to connect with the cross/pass, but his finish goes wide. For a 37-year-old player, this level of effort, timing, and willingness to arrive aggressively in the box is highly commendable.

2) Two Chances in One Attacking

After winning the ball, Ørjasæter receives possession just outside the box and plays into the striker, Sam Lammers.

Before the ball arrives, Lammers scans his surroundings and recognises that the attacking midfielder, Kristian Hylnsson, is free behind him. As the pass reaches him, he uses a one-touch lay-off to set the ball back into Hylnsson’s path.

When the opposition defender steps out to engage Hylnsson, he then releases the ball to van Wolfswinkel. Van Wolfswinkel tries to take an extra touch and beat his opponent, which prevents him from converting the chance. However, the key point in this sequence is that the team creates two high-quality shooting opportunities from the same attacking action.

3) Opposite-Run Transition Pattern

There is a recurring pattern that Twente consistently look to use in attacking transitions.

When one player carries the ball towards the opponent’s goal, a teammate positioned in front of the centre-backs moves towards the ball-carrier to offer a short option and potentially attract defensive attention. At the same time, another attacker makes a run in the opposite direction, attacking the space away from this movement.

Daan Rots, the player on the far side, also joins the attack and provides additional support. As a result, Twente manage to place two players in the space behind the defensive line. Once the ball-carrier delivers the cross, one of these two runners is usually in a position to receive, control the ball, and finish with a shot.

4) Deep Full-Back Arrival

Mathias Kjølø receives the ball near the touchline from a pass played out from deeper areas. As he plays the ball into Lammers, left-back Mats Rots (brother of Daan) begins a long, aggressive run from a very deep starting position towards the penalty area.

The absence of the opposition right-back in that zone creates a major attacking opportunity. Lammers recognises the space and delivers an excellent lofted long pass over the defensive line. Rots arrives inside the penalty area, takes the ball under control, beats the centre-back who steps across to confront him, and gets his shot away. However, the goalkeeper makes the save.

5) Box Release

Two opposition players move across to close down Daan Rots, the right winger.

At first glance, this looks like a logical defensive response, but the key detail is that Rots is left-footed. Because of that, he is still able to shift the ball onto his left foot and create a crossing angle. At the same time, right-back Van Rooij makes an overlapping run on the outside. This forces one of the defenders to adjust his position towards the wing in order to deny Bart van Rooij space.

At the start of the sequence, Hlynsson is being marked by that same defender. However, once the defender is drawn towards van Rooij’s overlap, Hlynsson becomes free inside the box. When the cross reaches him, Hlynsson cleverly cushions a headed ball over the defensive line into Lammers’ path. Lammers then somehow manages to miss from a very promising position, sending the ball wide.

6) One-Touch Opening

As midfielder Daouda Weidmann delivers a cross from the left wing, two of his teammates are positioned around the edge of the penalty area — one inside the arc area and the other just in front of it.

A third teammate is positioned behind them, but still on the same vertical line. The ball reaches one of the first two players. Without changing the direction of the ball, he lays it off to the teammate positioned behind him. However, instead of striking the ball first time, the final receiver tries to control it before shooting. This delay allows the opposition defenders to close him down, and his eventual shot is blocked and deflected wide.

7) Run Beyond the Pass

Midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki wins the ball and, instead of carrying it forward himself, immediately plays into Lammers. The reason for this decision is clear: the opposition have only two defenders left in their defensive line, and both are positioned within a very narrow area.

This leaves a large amount of space open on the other side. Zerrouki wants to exploit that space by running without the ball, which allows him to attack it at greater speed.

At the same time, van Wolfswinkel is also arriving from the right side. This creates an important dilemma for the opposition defender. Even though he can see the space Zerrouki is running into, he cannot simply move across too early, because he risks leaving the central lane exposed and allowing a potential two-v-one situation.

Lammers releases the pass to Zerrouki at the right moment, but Zerrouki then continues to carry the ball for too long. As a result, he narrows his own shooting angle, gives the goalkeeper time to come off his line, and allows the recovering defender to get closer to him. Because of this delay, his eventual shot is saved by the goalkeeper.

8) Back-Line Shot

As Ørjasæter engages his opponent in a one-v-one situation and tries to drive into the penalty area, his teammates positioned around the edge of the box gradually move closer towards goal.

As a consequence, the opposition midfield line also drops with them, following those movements towards the box. At first glance, this may look problematic, because almost every Twente player appears to be surrounded by an opponent.

However, this movement actually creates a shooting opportunity from behind the play. Ørjasæterr recognises the free supporting option and cuts the ball back to centre-back Ruud Nijstad, who is arriving from a deeper position. Nijstad strikes from distance, but his shot goes narrowly wide.

9) Opened Lane

Left-back Rots takes the throw-in to Lammers and receives the ball back as he continues his movement towards him. Lammers then starts to attack the penalty area on Rots’s inside/right side.

Once the opposing defender who is marking Lammers decides to follow that run into the box, the lane in front of Rots opens up.

At the same time, the far-side defender makes two important mistakes. First, he drops deep enough to break the offside line, meaning that if Rots had slipped a through ball into Lammers, Lammers would have gone through one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Second, despite seeing Rots in possession, he still does not step out to engage him. As a result, Rots is able to drive forward, continue his progression, and get his shot away, although the goalkeeper makes the save.

10) Front-Post Escape

Before the cross is delivered, Lammers is positioned behind Hlynsson.

Because of this, when he makes his run towards the near post, the defender in that zone does not have a clear view of him. Daan Rots also delivers the cross into an excellent area, placing the ball between two opposition defenders. As the front defender prepares to attack the ball, Lammers gets the first touch and shifts it to his right. With that touch, he creates separation and opens up space for himself inside the box. He then moves to his right and produces a very good shot, but it does not result in a goal because the goalkeeper makes an equally impressive save.

11) Role Reversal

We see the Daan Rots–Lammers combination once again, but this time with the roles reversed.

Rots is confronted by two opposition players near the corner of the penalty area. He plays the ball into Lammers, who has moved towards the in front of the box, and then receives the return pass.

Until Lammers releases the ball back, he prevents the nearby defender from stepping out aggressively towards Rots. Then, just as Rots is about to receive possession again, Lammers makes a movement to his right, taking into account that Rots is left-footed, and in doing so creates a clearer shooting angle for him. Rots then reconnects with the ball and gets off a low shot towards the corner.

12) Delayed Decision

Van Rooij delivers a low cross from the right wing into Hlynsson, who is positioned around the in front of the penalty area.

Hlynsson takes the ball under control, shifts it onto his left side, and tries to drive closer to goal. However, because his action is slightly too slow, three opposition players are able to step in front of him and block the shooting lane. His eventual shot is deflected by a defender.

However Marko Pjaca, the winger on his left, is completely free. Once the opposition defenders committed towards Hlynsson, the better decision would have been to release the ball to Pjaca immediately. Had Hlynsson played that pass at the moment the pressure arrived, Pjaca would very likely have had a clear opportunity to score.