Thread by @SnakeFpl

The Art of “La Pausa”

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La Pausa - Spanish for "The Pause", this trait is extremely useful. There's a sudden change in tempo that opens up new spaces. La Pausa is the ability to temporarily pause a player —— slowing down the game by attracting a defender and inducing them to move towards the ball.

After a defender has been lured, the player in possession accelerates play quickly and changes rythym with passes, dribbling or movement in a direction that takes advantage of the fact that the defender has moved closer to them, exploiting the vacant space left behind.

Pedri unlocks his pausa gene and hypnotizes 3/4 defenders. He calmly delays his pass waiting for the defender to step out of position.

Xavi is clearly aware of Pedro's position and movements. He pauses while enticing the defenders then waits for Pedro to retreat slightly behind Vidić and at that moment slides a perfect through ball into his feet.

Guardiola’s midfielders have always had pausa. Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Kroos, Gundogan & David Silva.

A key attribute to midfielders like David Silva is that they can purposefully delay the tempo and wait for the precise moment to find team mates in lucrative positions.

David Silva could easily play a through ball to Foden on his left, but he decides to keep possession attracting the attention on him.

As the engaging defender moves out of a defensive position to close down David Silva, space is created centrally and on the right flank giving potential positional advantages to Manchester City. Bernardo Silva in this case.

In this video there's a few scenarios that show La Pausa from David Silva, he was truly a magician.

https://twitter.com/Priceless_Silva/status/1426230700588609536/video/1

Angel Cappa, one of Guardiola’s early influences, says: “Pausa in football is speed. Football without pausa is slow, because it’s chaos”.

Pausa is a necessity to the balance of Guardiola’s City team, dictating who plays in midfield, when and where. It's a pivotal role.

Matias Manna, part of Argentina’s backroom staff, explains “passes organise everything,” he says. “The ‘centrocampistas de control’, as I call them, are those that never lose the ball in the middle, they are there to destabilise the opposition’s organisation”.

“This type of midfielder’s principal objectives are to control the game and give the last pass, and they do this by carrying the ball as little as possible and releasing it as quickly as possible because that’s how you set a game’s rhythm”.

Below is another example of La Pausa. Gilardino cuts inside and acts as a decoy. He attracts three German defenders toward the ball.

Del Piero makes a beautiful run on the outside and recieves the back-heel pass from Gilardino which leaves him 1v1 vs the GK.

Pausa is important to Guardiola – taking that extra few seconds, letting the game pass by a moment longer so as to create additional space.

Pep mentions Foden saying he doesn’t have the pausa ‘that he had’ and ‘now he’s going to take it back’

Dribbling is another form of La Pausa for elite wingers. Dominating 1v1 situations is a critical part of execution. Slowing the game down for a brief second and inviting defenders to dive in, the next moment they inject a burst of acceleration beating their man.

Saka smartly let's the ball run across his body enticing the defender then delays with pausa before beating him.

Zico with La Pausa

Musiala shows poise and pausa during training.

La Pausa is not something you can learn. It's something a player is born with or does not have. The "waiting" or "pausing" in attack is essentially what this skill is.