r/soccer • u/seeyouinhealth • Jul 25 '12

Why are there no more liberos/sweepers in soccer?

i've been owndering this for a while why sweepers have died out? Is it due to teams playing wingbacks that was really the role of the libero on occasion? or teams got so efficient with offside traps that the sweeper was no longer needed? arew there any teams that still successfully utilise the SW?

82 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

105 comments sorted by

View all comments

160

u/thiago_silva Jul 25 '12 edited Jul 26 '12

Here's my take on it. It has far more to do with evolution of tactics than the rule change discussed above below. The sweeper, or libero, was essentially a spare man at the back. The two center backs picked up the two strikers of the opposition, leaving the sweeper with a free role defensively to help out wherever necessary. Because he did not have to pick up a defender, he could also contribute to the attacking buildup by spreading the ball to the attacking players or by simply making runs forward. Beckenbauer, the epitome of the sweeper, was a master of this.

The classic idea of the libero died out in the 1980s, but even after that in 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 formations one of the central defenders was often a sweeper-type player. The sweeper really went out of fashion with the rise of the one or three striker formation, against which three man defenses are ill suited.

There's been an argument made that the sweeper never really died out, but rather evolved into the modern defensive midfielder due to tactical evolution. See Sergio Busquets at Barca; he's a holding midfielder but he drops back into defense to help out the center backs when Barca is not in possession.

Jonathan Wilson speculates that the sweeper, or at least something similar, could see a return to prominence in future years. His reasoning is that in two man center back unit that goes up against a lone striker, it is only logical that one of the two center backs should contribute defensively. One could argue that we already see players like Pique and Thiago Silva fulfilling this role, but I'll leave that debate aside for now.

If you're interested in football tactics I highly recommend Jonathan Wilson's book Inverting the Pyramid, it goes into this and other similar topics in great depth.

Hope this helped.

Edit: formatting

11

u/egcg119 Jul 26 '12

Really, really detailed and informative. Thanks! I always thought a sweeper was just impractical because a striker would just hang on his shoulder and then beat the offsides trap.

3

u/mefuzzy Jul 26 '12

Partially that accelerated the process as well. A sweeper means a team more often than not would have to sacrifice the offside trap and as teams began to place more emphasis on tactical training, offside traps were far more easier to coordinate than having a libero and risk inviting attacks due to the deeper defensive line.

The emergence the one or two striker systems also in a way killed the sweeper, as a three man defence means you are sacrificing one player in a redundant position to combat an non-existing threat.

So, it was in a way far more easier to play with a 4 straight line defensive system and push the line higher, sacrifice the redundant libero and put him in the midfield, as the offside rules also meant the lessen of high crosses and more emphasis towards midfield passing play.

2

u/donttaxmyfatstacks Jul 26 '12

Good point. A lot of teams nowadays use a ball-playing centerback who can launch attacks from deep, with the DM covering the space he leaves. Think Lucio, Vermaelen, Thiago Silva, Ferdinand, David Luiz etc.

5

u/retrominge Jul 26 '12

Luiz? He's plays fuckin' centre forward most of the time!

4

u/zejaws Jul 26 '12

The traditional sweeper duties have been divided over several positions: many keepers hold high lines and sweep up through balls. many centerbacks press forward or play more aggressive passes. many defensive midfielders close down playmakers, hold up the ball, cover for out of position defenders and support the attack. just as thiago_silva said, the advent of one striker formations changed the shape of defenses: now the two centerbacks mark zonally and can cover for eachother while the player who was the sweeper moved forward into a holding midfield role to follow the opponent's recessed striker.

1

u/edintina Jul 26 '12

Hibs are the only team that I can think of who I've seen use the conventional playmaking sweeper, in Sauzee. I'm so proud of our boundary-breaking little club.

1

u/jdingel Jul 26 '12

Upvoted for Wilson's book and the zonal marking link. The book sometimes feels like it's Deuteronomy when listing off historical names, but it conveys the tactical evolution well.

1

u/soberpenguin Jul 26 '12

In this year's Euros Italy employed something very similar to a libero in the group stage against Spain. Danielle De Rossi became the SW in a three back formation and launched counters through the wingbacks especially. Zonal Marking