Pressing is the direction of pressure towards the ball, or the player in possession, or
players who might receive the ball, with the intention of winning it back.
It’s an active form of defence. Or even a form of attack. Especially counter-pressing,
because it means the team who has just lost the ball immediately trying to win it back
and then launch into an attack straight away. And two of its best exponents, Jurgen Klopp
and Marcelo Bielsa, will meet for the first time in the Premier League this season.
Klopp famously stated that the counter-press is the best playmaker in the world, while
Bielsa’s aggressive pressing and counter-pressing system was key to Leeds achieving promotion
in his second season at the club.
Bielsa’s system is high energy but uses a combination of ball-orientation from a limited
number of players, and man marking to lock down the rest of the opposition. The focus
is on using a few players to chase down the ball, while the others move into position
close to designated opposition players. This both limits available passing options and
puts Leeds players close to their opponents to win the ball if they do receive a pass.
As an excellent article by Jon Mackenzie highlighted, Bielsa also uses a system of plus one in defence
and minus one in attack. This means that there should always be a spare defender to sweep,
mop up, or move to cover wide, and that pressing from the front should be led by one player
against two, or two players against three.
This means that Leeds have balance across the pitch and are seldom caught out in their
defensive third. It requires a lot from the forwards, which is why players like Patrick
Bamford and new signing Rodrigo are favoured for their incredible work ethic and intelligence
positionally and with movement.
Klopp’s pressing has evolved somewhat at Liverpool from the style he shaped in the
Bundesliga. At Dortmund and earlier in his Liverpool tenure, Klopp used a space-orientated
counter-press. This meant that when his team lost the ball, as many players as possible
would move to surround the player in possession, crowding them, denying them passing options,
and aggressively winning back the ball.
Liverpool are a bit more conservative now. They still press intently, but pay more attention
to hemming teams in using cover shadows – that is, positioning themselves to block passing
lanes – and setting pressing traps in the middle of the pitch.
But they still counter-press high up the pitch, where Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, and especially
Roberto Firmino, are adept at winning back the ball, as these stats from Stats Perform
show.
While they were fourth for Passes Per Defensive Action, where a lower number shows a more
effective pressing system, Liverpool were second for high turnovers, which are attacking
sequences that start in open play by winning back the ball and begin within 40m of the
opponent’s goal. It’s worth saying that Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton, probably
the best current version of a pure counter-pressing side, were third for high turnovers and second
for PPDA.
Leeds were also excellent by both measures, second only to Gerhard Struber’s Barnsley
for high turnovers and top of the PPDA numbers. Fellow promotion winners Fulham also show
up well in both categories.
Winning the ball back high is only part how Leeds play, though. Bielsa’s sides attack
using verticality and positional play – in simple terms, he likes them to move the ball
forwards quickly and achieve superiority in attacking areas, especially out wide.
This is why pressing in the system described is important for Bielsa, and any positional
team – the quick, dynamic interplay of players requires bodies in forward areas and can leave
them open to counters. Leeds address this with their pressing and marking system and
it’s why, despite being so attacking, they also had such a brilliant defensive record
in the Championship. It’s also what he builds his attack from. It’s why the spare man
in defence is important because he can carry the ball or find a pass to Kalvin Phillips,
the pivot, or shift it wide to the full backs who instigate a lot of Leeds’ offensive
play.
In this, Bielsa is more like Pep Guardiola, but Guardiola’s system is zonally built
– his players occupy areas in defence and retain possession more cautiously when advancing,
while Bielsa is more dynamic and direct.
He actually sits between Guardiola and Klopp in his approach to pressing. It can be a means
to win back the ball and affect a counter with a direct attacking transition, but it’s
also a chance to set up the man-orientated marking system, regain the ball and attack
positionally.
Klopp’s Liverpool, on the other hand, have moved to an even more direct style, using
long, raking pass from the centre backs to set up counter-pressing chances or using the
full backs to push up and switch play or cross from deep. Liverpool are exclusively not a
long ball team, but with the speed and control of Salah and Mane and the passing ability
of Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold, and Robertson, they can afford to be more direct.
Klopp doesn’t adhere to positional play, though his use of midfielders like Henderson
or Oxlade-Chamberlain to create overloads on the right especially does evoke aspects
of it. Klopp’s Liverpool have become more versatile over time. it’s one of the reasons
they don’t press as frantically as in his earlier seasons, and it’s made them harder
to beat.
Perhaps this is the most interesting aspect of the story of these two coaches: Klopp refined,
even took to an extreme, a style of pressing at Dortmund, then adapted and became more
flexible at Liverpool. But Bielsa retains his philosophy and he’s unlikely to adapt
it now he’s reached the Premier League.