Racing Santander have had a flying start to the La Liga Hypermotion season, at the time of writing they sit joint top of the table with Levante after an unbeaten start and are considered to be playing some of the best football in the division, if not Spain.
Manager José Alberto is into his 2nd full season at the club, after spells at Mirandes where he replaced Andoni Iraola and Malaga he has created a side that are scratching the heads of many analysts in Spain for their unconventional style. Racing are an enigma of a football team, they don't conform to the globalised principles and guidelines of Positional play and are in fact leading a quiet tactical revolution in Europe which is starting to gather interest.
Their approach is somewhat unconventional, from their opening 5 games (and friendly against Athletic Club) we've seen a variety of behaviours established in their attacking phase. They explore the paradigms of what is known as 'Functional' or 'Relationism' football, as I'm sure I'll explain throughout this article, an alternative way of achieving possession football or as I'd call it 'footballing utopia' compared to what we've become accustomed to in Europe.
Positionalism prioritises zone occupation, rigid structures and objective rationality, in short, the pursuit of clean progression of the ball aided by the creation of superiorities (numerical, positional and qualitative) to overcome lines of defensive pressure. Achieving this relies on a positional structure that best affords the players a passing network to exploit advantageous zones on the pitch. The construction of attacks are geometrical and have moved away from the fluidity and free expression that it was once defined by, what Racing are doing is proposing a radical shift away from these ideals.
Relationism proposes that the structure does not need to come first, the players coming towards the ball to form local relationships are more important than creating and exploiting space. Racing embrace self organisation and rejects the necessity of forming these geometric positional structures as their only means of attacking the opponent. In the absence of fixed positions and occupation by zone, players can interpret the game and move freely to 'relate'.
This is not to say Structure does not exist in Relationism, but instead they are self emergent ones that can creep up at any given moment, the opposition can't tell when the Escadinha will form, or whether a Corta luz or Toco y me boy/ Tabela may occur on the football pitch. All they can do is stand there and watch, deception is arguably the biggest pull factor
As Jamie Hamilton explains, "in Realationism structures rise and fall with the ebbs and flows of the team’s currents and tides, they are viewed in moments of self organisation, this quashes the misconception that in Relationism structures are less important than in Positionalism".
Players are encouraged to move towards the ball carrier, to buzz freely around the ball, in doing so creating passing lanes and confusing defenders. Players come local to the ball rather than waiting for the ball to come to them and occupy zones like in Positional Play. There is no ‘this is my space and this is yours’, the idea is to playfully generate novel and spontaneous structures rather than follow the fixed parameters of Positional Play. Positional logic is therefore abandoned in pursuit of something prosperous.
BUILD UP:
Racing have a varied build up phase, there are some situations where they use an orthodox structure to beat the opponents first line of pressure. This is normally done in a 4-2 shape, with the double pivot being positioned extremely narrow with the 10 floating around in the space behind them. They look to utilise a lot of give and go (toco y me voy) actions from the get go, the CBs and FB's will be often seen making serging runs into midfielder or more advanced positions after releasing the ball, either to receive the ball back behind pressure or disrupt the opponent's shape thus giving more time on the ball for either midfielder to look to open up the pitch or establish a side for the tilt.
The example bellow is from the same action, the CB dribbles inside the pitch with the ball, combines with the double pivot and now looks to exploit a new area on the pitch. Players are asked to relate towards the ball in all parts of the attacking phase, this can lead to some interesting pictures forming on the pitch. Notably where the far side winger comes towards the ball side area of the pitch, vacating his flank, the ST coming into a wider position or the winger on the ball side coming deep and off the touchline to be closer to the double pivot. If an opposition player picks him up this can create a good opportunity for a toco y me boy/tabela with the space created behind him.
Relating towards the ball can result in orthodox structure being abandoned, players simply form a horizontal or vertical queue around the ball carrier on their tilted side to see what emerges. These can create perfect conditions for a toco y me boy/tabela or a simple one - two to attract pressure and get the opponent to jump. The idea of fixed structures or positional logic goes out of the window, an example like this would be blasphemy for most positional coaches, it would be hard to comprehend that the players afford the combinations and themselves can act as a means of progression.
When play is self organised we can start to see the emergence of the three in a line Escadinha emerge and disappear, the players are given licence to interpret the coaches ideas and can better express themselves, a blank canvas. Racing show that effective and optimal progression can mutate in several mediums, not the passing network or geometrically flawless structure with only 2 players in a vertical line and 3 in a horizontal one.
Racing also implement a variation of the wheeling method in their build up, a concept that probably deserves an isolated article dedicated to it, to further separate themselves from the norms of the current European tactical landscape. The wheeling method, best performed by Diniz's Fluminense, involves players queuing up in build up on the ball side and moving towards the GK and then away from the box in a 'wheel' fashion. The FB can end up inside the pitch, the 6 can end up in a wide position, the 10 can end up in the 6 yard box. This takes place before the ball is active, the ball is not in play when this takes place.
This acts as a way of destabilising the opponent and compromising their pressing structure, which can be very effective especially as the tactical trend has been to shift away from ball orientated pressing structures towards man orientated or a hybrid between the two. This unorthodox way of constructing attacks makes the game feel different against organised and aggressive teams.
What Racing do are a variation of this, they are not as radical as Flu but still take inspiration from them. The 3 midfielders will sometimes queue up and wheel with the 8 or 6 being the one to initiate the build up adjacent to the GK. The first pass is always to the adjacent player to the touchline and then there is an immediate give and go movement from the midfielder to recieve behind the pressure. This frees up several options further up due to the concentration of players Racing commit to the ball side, especially if the wingers come inside the pitch, the FB who can make an offer a toco y me voy or double tabela to liberate him from his opponent or if the ST drifts wider or pins the CB.
PROGRESSION PHASE:
After the initial build up the tilt and defensive diagonal is strongly imposed and Racing will often commit 8 or 9 players to the ball side. Here we see even more examples of the self emerging actions and how trust given to the players to find solutions off their own intuition. The close proximity of the players afford local connections and allow players to develop relationships between each other regardless of positioning, there is no my space and your space everyone is invited to invade each others space. A constant these is that there is always 2 players pinned on the opposition back line to stop the defenders jumping to neutralise the overload and in case Racing want to go more direct and attack the space in behind.
There is an emphasis on diagonal progression and the creation of diagonal overloads, often you see Racing create a lot of 4v3's in a diagonal line that force the opponent to tighten their defensive shape, any from areas that can hurt them in the transition (on the other side of the tilt). The ball is forced out to in from the wide areas which makes the Escadinha easy to form and effective when the 'fourth man' is hovering nearby to it. The fourth man can be the one who benefits the most, the defence are watching hopelessly how they can defend the Escadinha - Corta luz but arguably the most dangerous man is the one waiting for the ball to travel through. Thus so, receiving in a position where he can run at and commit defenders before sliding through someone else.
We've spoken a bit about how Racing form Escadinha's through the playing environment but they have a lot of variation when it comes to travelling up them. There are three ways in which Racing travel up an Escadinha; they can use flick ons with the end playing dropping off to link, the first player can play a toco y me boy with the middle player forming a tabela before finding the end player and most commonly (and best looking aesthetically) the Corta luz or dummy.
When there are so many outcomes to defend in one single action the defenders become overwhelmed, deception acts as a catalyst for breaking defensive structure, not predictable patterns or zone occupation. European defences aren't used to defending this, if one of the defenders goes tight to the end player then it leaves space in behind for one of the attacking players in behind. With the middle player following up to combine or even if there is a double Corta luz allowing the ball to pass all the way through to the space in behind the defenders.
As the closeness of the players facilitates rapid ball movement, a situation of order and control can turn into disorder and threat in a matter of seconds. Racing create progressions that are cognitively challenging and frustrating for defenders to deal with, if Xavi once said "the third man is impossible to defend" then the Escadinha must be kryptonite.
An excellent Escadinha- corta luz takes out the line of pressure but the defenders are able to stop the attack blunt in it's tracks. This goes back to a constant theme we explore in Relationism teams, a lot of lazy analysts or people who haven't been exposed to this before will say that it's improvised and the players do it themselves and there is no coaching interference. This is something that has to be quashed, there is coaching and there are objectives for the players set by the coach. In Relationism players are defined by actions they can perform coherently in locality rather than the objective rationality of creating superiorities in geometry and exploiting predefined spaces. These actions are spontaneous but they are afforded by the environment not the opponent.
What I also love about this video is how it shows the tilt creating a perfect environment for counter pressing and the regression after a turnover, the players on the edge of the tilt push towards the ball and box in Eibar's players giving them little option or angles to overcome the press, which ultimately leads to Racing foiling the attack high up for a throw in.
FINAL THIRD
Racing players are equipped with several ways of making entries into the box, one of their most common ways of unlocking defences is the Toco y me voy/ tabela. Of course the Toco y me voy is used throughout the pitch and would be wrong to say that it's specific to a final third action, but in this part of the pitch you could argue that as an action it takes on a new purpose or significance. It serves as a means of penetration in the final third, something positional sides are limited to through passing or carries, a Toco y me voy creates a situation of swashbuckling football that puts defenders on the back foot due to the intensity and spontaneity of these actions. Most teams avoid playing in traffic and evade congestion, Racing on the other hand embrace it.
This can be extremely effective when the ST, or one of the players on the last line, forms a Tabela or double tabela as it engages the defender to be more aggressive and jump. Players are isync with each others moments due to the relationships these actions afford, instinctively directing the ball into the vacated spaces for the flick ons in to goal scoring positions. Relationships emerge between players as a result of new footballing language, which gives the attack a whole new aesthetic.
Toco y me voy, tabela and the sharp immediate movement behind pressure creates flourishing dynamics between the scales or sectors of the team, perfectly complementing each other in harmony. With Toco y me voy- tabela the players inhabit a parallel footballing universe, one free from constraint and geometric perfection that is common practise in globalised positional structures.
Racing can make direct entries into the box, they attack with a lot of volume and put the ball in to the box for the attackers. This can be done in several ways, the can make early crosses from deep whilst there is still space in behind the backline, they can cross through cutbacks to the players arriving late or can cross from positions inside the pitch that loop over or pierce the defence. They don't rely on penetration in between FB and CB as much as other teams, possibly due to the lack of coverage of players across the back line as seen in the 5 corridors of attack which allows teams to cutback to several players clustered centrally with threat at the back post.
It's harder for functional teams to generate these opportunities, that's not to say that it doesn't happen, often you see players in cut back positions cut back inside on their other foot and delay to allow time for players to arrive or potentially open up a shooting opportunity. In the video bellow it shows Racing's struggle in creating optimal chances from cut backs and penetration, by prioritising diagonal progression and aligning players diagonally for quick interchanges, toco y me voy and escadinhas it can mean there is the absence of players attacking the backline directly as players want to come and relate to the ball. Sometimes there might not be the winger pinning the full back to attack out to in or a player arriving late to be found in behind.
As much as the pitch can get wider in the final third the hard tilts and defensive diagonal are still imposed as a way of safeguarding attack against the potential transition. The function of the far side FB is to close the space for the winger and to shut the outlet to the empty side of the pitch. The tilt itself does most of the job as the opponent must tighten their shape and overcompensate in their defensive shift to effectively neutralise Racing's overloads, otherwise they'd be able to overcome pressure easily.
The far side FB isn't constraint to just counter marking the winger, he can often be seen arriving in the final third, but his positioning must take into account the space left not just behind him but at the side. He is the team's main auxiliary rest defender, in positional play we talk about rest defence as the players behind the ball, whereas in Relationism it's the player at the side that is best to manage the transition.
The far side FB has a role in constructing attacks, this is where we can talk about the Yo-Yo principle in Relationism, he is a bounce player to put the ball back into pressure. The ball is played to the underloaded side to return to the overloaded side, not necessarily to generate new opportunities there but instead inside the pitch. You can see the diagonal line drawn from the FB to the goal, in which the rest of the team operates in this area and buzz around the ball to form local connections.
After only a few games into the season Racing have set the division alight with their football and are a perfect example of a team vying for something more than results but a return to footballs purist ideals. Teams like Racing and Malmo are stepping into a brave new world, breaking free from what the European tactical landscape imposes and where individualism and self-expression can overthrow the rigid impounds of positionalism, perhaps it's only a matter of time before others follow.
Thank you for reading this article and also to Relationism Inc on YouTube for exposing me to Racing in Preseason with his video I recommend you check out. While you're there consider subscribing to my Youtube channel where I posted a video about Racing which you can view here. Follow us on X and let me know what other topics you want me to cover, I enjoy writing more than editing so I want to make this blog a hybrid between analysis and journaling my thoughts as I do on X but more extensively.
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