Pressing principles

When we press, we need to think not just about winning the ball but about how to turn it into chances and ultimately into goals. Almost everything we do is with direction and then teaching the players how to attack the ball, how to win the ball, and how to have that lead us into creating opportunities.

I always think your best pressing players need to be your players that are furthest up the field. They need to be the best ball winners in the team - and that is often the biggest challenge because those players don’t think as much about that, they care more about what we’re doing with the ball and the actions that they make in the box. But we need to show them how valuable it is that they are good at winning balls and that they are good at pressing, because they are the ones that are going to reward us as a team the most.

“Pressing is not just about winning the ball but turning it into goals”

ACTIVITY 1

This is an incredibly simple drill. Here, I – as the coach – make a pass to one of these two players, and the attacking player needs to be ready to now both step and win the ball. We teach the players to have a kind of body language, the kind of stance where they’re on the front foot and where they’re showing that they’re ready to attack the ball. We show them that the best distance between players is obviously in the middle but then that they want to be as close to the player that’s going to receive the ball as half the distance of the pass. So this pass is 12 yards - they want to position themselves somewhere six yards away, and that is roughly the distance that they need to make sure that they arrive at the player when the ball is arriving, or ideally even before. As the coach here, I’ll show a little bit of body language - maybe I’m going to pass there or pass there - and I try to keep them ready to be on the jump, and then as we make the pass, the key is that they are already on the jump and ready to attack.

From there, we add two goals here with poles or cones so when they do win the ball, they can take it and find a way to get to goal.

[1]

1. Red player needs to be ready to win the ball. They should be as close to the player that’s going to receive the ball as half the distance of the pass, e.g. pass is 12 yards so red player should position themselves six yards away

2. Add two goals with poles or cones. When attacking player wins the ball, they can find a way to get to goal 

“The key is that they are already on the jump and ready to attack”

ACTIVITY 2

Next we get a little bit more tactical. This is an exercise where it’s five outfield players and one goalkeeper and then two players in between two gates. The goal for the blue team is to play with combinations and try to connect with one of the players in the gate and then they receive a point by receiving the next pass. So it’s not enough to just find the player in the gate - they have to also now connect the next pass.

These players only have one touch, so there’s urgency for the blue team to find combinations, find the gate and then connect back again. Here you’re creating is an opportunity for the red team - for the four players that you’re really working with - to actually win balls. The reds are in this moment where they’re shifting, where they’re on the front foot, where they’re ready to attack the ball.

Ultimately they’re all trying to put themselves in a position where they create that half distance of the pass, and that they’re ready to attack the ball and win it. We’re trying to create situations where they have a feel and an understanding of when and where to attack. Make sure that they’re always swarming together.

The best way for them to win balls is make sure that they create overloads defensively in areas so that even if the 11 gets beaten that the 9 is ready, the 10 is ready, that they’re all in position – your 11 will feel like they can be aggressive if they feel supported by the rest of the group.

Then when your 11 wins the ball, the idea is to try to play forward as quickly as possible, and to have all the players thinking about how to be vertical and go directly to goal, so that even with an overload for the opponent, we can still find ways to create chances to win balls, to play forward to create chances and to score goals. In all of these moments, I’m always trying to encourage the players to be aware of the last pass, an extra pass, to score tap-ins. 

[2a]

1. Blue goalkeeper plays ball out to defenders

2. Red team move to attack the ball as a group

[2b]

1. Red player wins the ball

2. Reds play forward as quickly as possible and go directly to goal

One other important aspect of this is what happens when the ball gets played behind them. Typically attacking players in the modern game are good at pressing when things are in front of them, but they’re not as good when they get overplayed. Often what will happen is 3 will play to 6 and play to 8, and all the attacking players will just turn and watch the game. It’s so important when you’re pressing that the entire team understands the responsibility of everyone really moving together and always compressing space for the opponent.

Make sure that everyone is reacting and ready to close the space behind them. As the opponent starts to play, we’re again shifting, they find a way to overplay us and now make sure that all four players ahead of the ball are ready to be compact, to compress, to be ball-orientated, and to make sure that they’re finding the way to win the space in front of the opponent - so that when they try to play back, we’re in position to win these balls. I will often even tell the attacking players in these situations to play blind little flicks or little combinations, because if we’re all closing together, then we should have always options. As soon as we create a little time and space, we are ready to sprint to get into dangerous places, to make the last pass and to score easy goals. 

I will also introduce a rule sometimes that the ball cannot be played in the air, forcing the team to have quality on the ground. You could also vary the number of players on the red team, or vary the distances of how narrow or how wide you want to play this, depending on the level of your players, what you want to achieve tactically, and when.

[2c]

1. Blues are in possession and looking to connect with one of the players in the gate

2. The blue player in the gate must then connect with their next pass to score a point

ACTIVITY 3

Next we take it to a bigger pitch. The reds here have eight players plus a goalkeeper, and the blues have a full team. The pitch is slightly narrower, to give the team with nine a little bit more of a chance to have some success. If it’s going well for that team then I’ll challenge them by opening up the space a little bit more and having them cover more ground. In this exercise I’ll rotate a lot too, bringing players in from the outside because the workload for the reds is high. The objective for the blues is to use two touches and on the ground; the objective is for the eight to play on the ground through the three gates. What you’re working on here is the ability to swarm from the front players and always attack the ball and be ball-orientated and then that the back line is always shifting and trying to cover the gates.

[3a]

1. Blues begin in possession, using two touches and playing on the ground

2. Reds look to swarm from the front, pressing to play through the three gates

The objective is to make sure that the front players are all ready to attack, that they all have this feeling of being on the jump, that the back line is also connected with the front four, and that we’re ready to always be compressing and attacking the ball, closing the space, making the last step. 

Once we win balls we need to be thinking about how quickly we can see things forward, and even though we are outnumbered and the opponent has an overload, we should still be finding ways to create chances, sprinting into the attack, making the last pass and scoring easy goals.  

One additional variation that I sometimes make is I add two transition players, one on each side of the pitch.

[3b]

1. Transition player to add an extra number, sprinting in and being available for last plays

If the ball is won on their side of the pitch, they join in and add an extra number in transition. Their job is to sprint to the middle as fast as they can and be available for last plays. You’re demonstrating the pressing principles, but also teaching the attacking transition and making sure that in these moments that we’re not running 90%, or 95% - we’re running 100%, closing space, running together, winning balls and finding ways to create chances. From here, often I would then go straight to 11v11.

“Find ways to create chances, sprint into the attack, make the last pass”