The second suggestion can, in a way, be seen at the Battle of Lake Trebia where Hannibal’s center was penetrated by the Roman heavy infantry, but the Romans became preoccupied with chasing down the Carthaginian routing units rather than helping their losing flanks, thus allowing Hannibal’s army to annihilate the Roman flanks and achieve victory. Secondly, you can somehow preoccupy the force that has penetrated your center and hope that the flanks are able to secure victory. Firstly, you can commit your reserves to the center to fill up the gap after it’s been shattered. So far in as I can see, there are only two decent options once this has happened. Normally, once that has happened, the army completely collapses and routs. There’s generally no decisive way to counter the penetration of the center.
