Shadowing Practice: How Fabregas Curious Tactic is Breaking Serie A - Learn English Speaking with Video

When you think of build -up shapes, it usually looks something like this.

But now just think of a build -up where the actual center backs are running away from it.

And if they stayed, then everyone else disappear, creating a strange 2 -0 -8 structure.

This is the unique tactics of Cesc Fabregas, a man who took this small second division club and turned them into challenging some of the biggest clubs in Italy.

And the reason?

Just like a chameleon, his system keeps on changing its shape and patterns, depending on the opposition's weaknesses.

And on top of that, his strange build -ups are becoming a new way to break the dominant man -to -man press

that has taken over modern football.

So how exactly does Fabregas' build -up work?

And how does he combine control and freedom to make his team so unpredictable?

Too much listening to the coach sometimes can create many, many doubts and take away many things from your game.

When you look at the playing days of Fabregas, he was managed by many greats who had completely contrasting philosophies.

So he understands both sides of the game really well, and he's not afraid to switch his style depending on the situation.

For instance, when you look at his formation, sometimes it's a normal 4 -2 -3 -1, sometimes it's a back 3, and in In rare cases, he even uses a classic Christmas tree formation,

and within these, some players won't be seen nowhere close to their actual positions.

For instance, this was Como's left winger, and now look at his heat map, he actually played on the right for the entire match.

And the reason?

Udinese were actually stronger on the left, so Fab sent this winger on the right, creating an extra overload to protect that side.

But football is so complex.

Football takes you into so many different aspects in a game.

If you tell a player all the time, oh, this is your zone, this is where you have to move, football is not like that.

The game will demand that you go a little bit more into the right and to the left.

And just like that, his systems are tailor -made based on each opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

And this is the reason why he uses certain rotations and build -ups against specific oppositions.

As before 2019, most build -ups used to look like this, where the pressing teams were happy to send only their front line higher while the midfield stayed deep.

But after FIFA allowed more players inside the box for the first pass, this naturally made the front line to press even higher, leaving a huge central space.

And as we know how managers like De Zerbi targeted that space with their famous third man passings.

But to counter

that, teams started sending more men higher up who would mark each build -up players no matter where the ball is.

This way they blocked every free man in the build -up

so if you are a strict positional team you either have to take the risk

or go long which is something we are seeing with teams like arsenal but

if you lean more towards a relationist side like fabregas they

have found ways to use chaos to break these man -to

-man pressing systems like this one the player you're seeing is

actually como's full back next to the keeper instead of going

direct the keeper plays it to him who then lays it off to the center back

and moves back into position so by By adding this middleman who moves away, it creates a distraction for the markers, which then creates more space and time for the center back to make the next move.

This way Fabregas uses several techniques where the defenders make forward runs and drag the front markers into unfamiliar places.

And with the ball often traveling through the air rather than on the ground, it becomes easier for these physical defenders to beat the forward pressers.

But this only works if your opposition's pressing is moderate.

Against extreme pressing teams, you need even more distractions to make the buildup less risky.

And this is the reason you will know why Fabregas pushes everyone forward except the centerbacks.

And when you compare this with a deep buildup due to the close proximity of pressers, you have very little space to receive the ball comfortably, as the marker is right next to you,

giving you almost no time to react.

But with this buildup, if you are here, you can run into this space while your marker is still chasing you from behind.

This gives you more space and time to react, where you can pause and even turn.

Also with the center back already staying deep, they can act as safe support options for a back pass.

This then naturally pulls the opposition's deeper players in a forward momentum, creating space at the back to play a third pass to the running forward.

However, this doesn't always work.

Sometimes the opposition stays in a low block and doesn't step up.

So in that case, you are forced to carry the ball forward but unlike the buildup, here the density of defenders are much higher.

As a result, this shape may have a low risk when building up from deep, but it also comes with a lower reward if you want to actually break the opposition's backline.

But on the other hand, the deeper buildup is really risky at the start, but if you manage to progress through it, the reward is much higher due to less numbers at the back.

So to solve this, Fabregas tried to find a balance of both where he lets his keeper step up as a third center back, while also dropping his both pivots deep.

This way, you still have enough numbers to attract the oppositions.

And at the same time, you can create a numerical advantage further up the pitch, with your fullbacks are now free to join the front line.

But as Como progresses through the buildup, this is where their shape slowly starts to blur and become harder to read.

For instance, they often form an unusual box midfield, where instead of a fullback or centerback, a winger drifts inside to complete that box.

And unlike normal box, it doesn't rotate within a fixed structure.

Rather, it keeps moving constantly without holding its shape, as the main objective of this is to prevent the opposition's lines from staying stable and create spaces in between.

And these movements are so quick that it becomes almost impossible to predict them beforehand.

But even with all this chaos, Como still have one of the best defenses in the league.

And the secret behind this is Fabregas' hybrid rules, where one half of the players are free to roam across the pitch, while the other half are strictly instructed to stay in a resting position.

And these resting position mostly looks like a 2 plus 3 shape, where the pivots tilt to one side with the full backstepping higher.

And the special thing about this is it can easily turn into a 4 plus 1 shape while moving back.

So if they lose the ball high up the pitch, these resting players use their preserved energy to aggressively counterpress and block all available space for the opposition to counter.

And this explains exactly why Como have scored so many goals from counter -pressing situations.

But these tactics can only be understood even better when we apply them practically in a simulation.

With Fabregas keeps changing his formation based on the oppositions, but his most common shape is the 4 -2 -3 -1.

And within this, the front four are the most flexible ones in the squad.

So the striker and 10 could act as a false 9 and free roamers respectively, while one of the winger plays as a playmaker, who drift inside as a second 10 to fill that box midfield.

While in team instructions, since Fabregas uses both deep and high buildup, it's not uncommon to see them playing wide ranges of passings, so we will keep it standard.

While the creative freedom will be set to expressive, as Fabregas gives his players the freedom to think and move based on what they see on the pitch, rather than relying only on fixed instructions.

And just like company, Fabregas likes to have a balance of both extremes so most of the settings can remain balanced.

While out of possession, Como are known for their aggressive gegenpressing style, so we will keep a high press and turn counterpressing on.

But against opposition's buildup, you won't see them pressing straight away.

Instead, they defend in a narrow 3 plus 2, where the front 3s stay back and shadow mark the central players.

So the pressing trap should be set as outside.

So overall, like many modern managers, Fabregas showed us how valuable it is to stay flexible and adapt when one plan isn't working.

And his innovative build -ups may have opened doors to be more creative at the back to counter the high presses.

And this is the reason why they are considered one of the most unpredictable sides in Europe.

I think sometimes we're just making players so robotic,

just looking at one way when there is so many other things happening in the game.

But speaking of other things, there is one team in England who has taken this idea and turned football corners into deadly goal machines, using tactics from completely different sports.

So what exactly is this new corner trick, and why rivals are calling it to be banned?

Let's check it out in this video.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación se basa en el vídeo “How Fabregas Curious Tactic is Breaking Serie A”. Las palabras que más se repiten: Fabregas, player, buildup, pressing, space. Este vídeo tiene 82 frases y 1640 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 8:20. El hablante habla rápido, unas 197 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. El 85 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

15 palabras del vídeo que vale la pena aprender, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
pitch sustantivo	/pɪt͡ʃ/	tiro
winger sustantivo	/ˈwɪŋ.ɚ/	extremo
tactics sustantivo	/ˈtæktɪks/	táctica
defender sustantivo	/dɪˈfɛndə(ɹ)/	defensor, defensora
keeper sustantivo	/ˈkiː.pɚ/	guardián, guardiana
naturally adverbio	/ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/	naturalmente, a natura
reward sustantivo	/ɹɪˈwɔɹd/	recompensa
chaos sustantivo	/ˈkeɪˌɑs/	caos
depend verbo	/dɪˈpɛnd/	depender/pender (de), ser dependiente (de)
weakness sustantivo	/ˈwik.nɪs/	debilidad, flaqueza
react verbo	/ɹiːˈækt/	reaccionar
instruction sustantivo	/ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/	instrucción
flexible adjetivo	/ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/	flexible, doblegable
risky adjetivo	/ˈɹɪski/	riesgoso, arriesgado
distraction sustantivo	/dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/	distracción

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
step up verbo		aumentar, redoblar
take away verbo	/ˌteɪk əˈweɪ/	quitar
take over verbo		apoderarse, enseñorearse

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	was managed · won't be seen · are forced
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	has taken · have found · have scored
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	man who took · long which is

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 7 contracciones y formas reducidas, como doesn't, won't, isn't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, respectively /ɹɪˈspɛktɪvli/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, practically /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.k(ə.)li/, innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: stable /ˈsteɪ.bəl/, strict /stɹɪkt/, strictly /ˈstɹɪktli/, striker /ˈstɹaɪkɚ/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: respectively /ɹɪˈspɛktɪvli/, solve /sɒlv/, objective /ɒbˈd͡ʒɛk.tɪv/, aggressive /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/, preserve /pɹəˈzɝv/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, preserve /pɹəˈzɝv/, pause /pɔːz/, extremes /ɪkˈstɹimz/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como pitch, winger, tactics.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: How Fabregas Curious Tactic is Breaking Serie A - Learn English Speaking with Video

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