Man sent off. How do you manage?

[Denn Forever]

This is a thing that happens more often now the 2 yellows and you're off.  It always appear that the team with 14 men play better (ask Cavan) but what is the thinking for the team with 15?  Use as sweeper (another sweeper), play extra man in defense, what?

I wonder if you played the extra man as an extra full forward would that work?  Is the extra man more of a hinderence?

[Gabriel_Hurl]

At under-age level, we used to employ the extra man (usually the wing back) to stick to his wing - and not move moving up and down the line as needed - joining in with the attack and helping back with the defenders

[Jinxy]

Be patient.
The ref will even it up first chance he gets.

[haranguerer]

If the team you're playing against allows you to play your spare man in the full forward line its irrelevant whether its a good tactic or not, the game must already be well over one way or the other!

[Puckoon]

At under-age level, we used to employ the extra man (usually the wing back) to stick to his wing - and not move moving up and down the line as needed - joining in with the attack and helping back with the defenders

Must have been in training games. I mean how often Ardboe find themselves to be the one with the extra man?

[screenexile]

At under-age level, we used to employ the extra man (usually the wing back) to stick to his wing - and not move moving up and down the line as needed - joining in with the attack and helping back with the defenders

Must have been in training games. I mean how often Ardboe find themselves to be the one with the extra man?

LOL

It's a strange one. In today's game most teams will stick the man in front of the opposing FF line. I don't like that tactic. I get our best ball player free out round the middle and get them on the ball as much as possible to create 2 on 1s up the field.

To each his own though and most managers would have a different way of coping.

[Denn Forever]

If the team you're playing against allows you to play your spare man in the full forward line its irrelevant whether its a good tactic or not, the game must already be well over one way or the other!

If it is a tight game where do you use the extra man?  I was suggesting the FF line as the extra man never appears to know his role. Placing him at FF means their defense has an extra man to worry about, he may get an easy score and defenders don't seem to fare well with an extra man heling them out.

[Bord na Mona man]

An important thing to do with an extra man is to spread out and try and stretch the other team as much as possible.
If your players bunch, then the advantage is lost.

[sheamy]

It completely depends on the nature of the game I think. You also can't take just any player and make him spare man as this is where the confusion comes from. Some lad who doesn't know what he is at can do more harm than good. Convention says stick the spare man out wide and tell him not to come into the middle at all. Means you have a constant outlet for creating overlaps. The other move is to go negative and simply double team the oppositions best forward. Again, depends on the person doing the job. In a recent game I watched this latter move was a complete disaster. The wrong lad was made free, tried to sweep in the full back line and wasn't up to the job as he was a man marker. Worse still he felt obliged to pick up short kick-outs. The full back line starting moving all over the place to create opportunities for short kick-outs, weren't used to it and panic ensued.

For me it would be the wide man or I like the suggestion of an extra attacker. I would steer clear of changing anything close to my own goal not previously implemented.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

At under-age level, we used to employ the extra man (usually the wing back) to stick to his wing - and not move moving up and down the line as needed - joining in with the attack and helping back with the defenders

Must have been in training games. I mean how often Ardboe find themselves to be the one with the extra man?

Feck ya Puck - you are right 

[magpie seanie]

Firstly - the free man is dictated by the team with 14 players. The will always pick up anyone that enters their half so invariably the "spare man" will be in the 15 man team's back line (unless the players and/or management of the 14 man team are idiots). This can lead to short passing, going nowhere in a teams backline which ends in a turnover and a score.

Secondly, human nature kicks in. Sub consciously the team with the numerical advantage doesn't work as hard with the opposite being the case for the 14 men. Confusion arises as to who is marking who for the 15 men but the 14 men have to work so hard they can't worry about that.

These are the two main reasons I see the numerical advantage not working out many times.

[Bingo]

Its very much a question that is dependent on team from team.

Ideally, your spare man should be a very fit player, with a very good footballing brain to see space and use it. Usually this man wouldn't be allowed to play as free.

I'd play them along half back line but with a licence to attack forward at every opportunity. Or course if you were playing a one man team, you'd doube on him with two very tight markers.

If we play a team that takes a man out to the middle, I'd always tell the CB to follow him and ideally I'd prefer a footballing CB to follow him and put him on the back foot. You often see teams playing a CF out in midfield that is generally a lump to play as a midfield, a smaller mobile man will wreck him out in no time at club level.

But it always depends on the game itself, no right or wrong way.

[Zulu]

Seanie is right, it's your opponent who decides who the spare man is. All teams will make sure they've 6 backs and 2 midfielders so a defender is always the spare man and he tends to be the corner back. So if you don't want him to play infront of the full forwards you can bring him out to the half back line and free up a half back but I'd be slow to do that unless I was comfortable my remaining 2 full backs had the measure of the 2 full forwards.

I think playing him in the forward line would be counter productive unless you are entirely dominating the game and then it matters little where you play him.

[haranguerer]

If the team you're playing against allows you to play your spare man in the full forward line its irrelevant whether its a good tactic or not, the game must already be well over one way or the other!

If it is a tight game where do you use the extra man?  I was suggesting the FF line as the extra man never appears to know his role. Placing him at FF means their defense has an extra man to worry about, he may get an easy score and defenders don't seem to fare well with an extra man heling them out.

My point was, theres no way an opposing team will let you have a spare man in the ff line! It would be catastrophic - hence my remark that if they're that stupid, or dont care much, that they do let this happen, the game must be long since over. If you try to push a man up, they'll just mark him.

By necessity (if you want him left free) you will need to have your free man floating in defence when not hes not attacking, otherwise he'll be marked. But should avoid having him overly defensive, this is where teams can get caught out a bit becuase they relax a little and invite other teams on, also psychologically may have got a bit complacent. He should attack like f**k basically, rather than hang imo, but will need to return to mf or hb line at least, as his position.

[Canalman]

From my experience anyway, junior teams go to pot with the extra man. No matter what a manager says or what is "agreed" at half time the backs just tend to wander assuming that someone else will mark the opposition.................... leading to the obvious mayhem .

Nature of the beast I suppose.