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.

✨ Recommend Video

189 sentences

I watched 1170 minutes of Alonso's Chelsea. It's Time To Be Honest About His Tactics

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

125 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How Fabregas Curious Tactic is Breaking Serie A”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Fabregas, player, buildup, pressing, space. This video has 82 sentences and 1640 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:20. The speaker talks fast, about 197 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
pitch noun	/pɪt͡ʃ/	A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.
marker noun	/ˈmɑː(ɹ)kə(ɹ)/	A felt-tipped pen, a marker pen.
winger noun	/ˈwɪŋ.ɚ/	One of the casks stowed in the wings of a vessel's hold, being smaller than such as are stowed more amidships.
tactics noun	/ˈtæktɪks/	The military science that deals with achieving the objectives set by strategy.
defender noun	/dɪˈfɛndə(ɹ)/	Someone who defends people or property.
keeper noun	/ˈkiː.pɚ/	One who keeps (retains) something.
midfield noun	/ˈmɪd.fiːld/	The portion of a team which typically plays centrally, between the attack (or forwards) and the defence (or backs).
naturally adverb	/ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/	In a natural manner.
reward noun	/ɹɪˈwɔɹd/	Something of value given in return for an act.
chaos noun	/ˈkeɪˌɑs/	The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
depend verb	/dɪˈpɛnd/	To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
weakness noun	/ˈwik.nɪs/	The condition of being weak.
react verb	/ɹiːˈækt/	To act in response.
instruction noun	/ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/	The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge.
flexible adjective	/ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/	Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
build up verb		To erect; to construct.
step up verb		To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps.
move away verb		To go away from a place, especially when permanently changing one's residence.
move back verb		To reschedule (something) to a later date or time.
run away from verb		To avoid or shirk a problem or consequences; to rush to back away from or disclaim responsibility for something.
stay back verb	/steɪˈbæk/	To remain (at work, school, organisation, country, etc.) after normal hours
take away verb	/ˌteɪk əˈweɪ/	To remove something and put it in a different place.
take over verb		To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was managed · won't be seen · are forced
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has taken · have found · have scored
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	man who took · long which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, won't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/
Long words — get the stress right: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, respectively /ɹɪˈspɛktɪvli/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, practically /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.k(ə.)li/, innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pitch, marker, winger.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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

I watched 1170 minutes of Alonso's Chelsea. It's Time To Be Honest About His Tactics

Practical Advice for Creative Projects - Extra Credits Gaming

How To Manipulate Anyone Like Johan Liebert

The Art of Sfumato: An In-Depth Oil Painting Masterclass

what chess does to your brain

Why Harvard Studied This Footballer

Why Argentina are different from every other big team

How To Improve Awareness & SCANNING By Yourself (Full Guide)

I TESTED Passing Stats in eFootball

"Arsenal Take Over - Cesc Fabregas & Arteta Reveal What Happened Next!"

How Luis Enrique Transformed PSG

Learn 97% of Claude in Under 16 Minutes