Many of the world’s top teams now employ a press. Pressing is when players put pressure
on the player in possession, the player about to receive possession, or the ball,
but with the express intention of regaining the ball. It’s not passive, like a block – it’s an
active movement, usually by several players at once, to squeeze space, deny options, and,
having won back the ball, either reset or immediately transition to an attack.
We know what pressing looks like, especially when enacted by its best exponents – the teams
of Bielsa, Klopp, Guardiola, Nagelsmann – but how do teams know when to press?
Any good pressing team does so *as a team*.
While a single player might actively engage a press by chasing down a pass to
a goalkeeper, for example, without the rest of the team taking up sensible positions, this is
useless. If a team is too passive, the lone presser will just end up expending energy and,
worse, being pulled out of position. So, the rest of the team need to move into positions
to help that press. This means that rehearsal is key, as is communication between teammates.
But pressing is hard. It’s both physically and mentally demanding – that’s why teams
can take time to adjust to an intense pressing style,
as was seen at Liverpool when Klopp arrived, or at Southampton under Ralph Hassenhuttl.
Because of this, pressing needs to be structured and directed.
Teams have got better at playing through or over the press as it’s become more popular,
and so the Dutch press of 1970s Total Football, which was far more helter-skelter
and largely involved swarming forwards towards the ball, would not work now.
Teams who press therefore rely on two things: pressing traps and pressing triggers.
Pressing triggers are opposition actions or game circumstances that inform a team’s decision to
begin pressing. They will be determined in part by how well the pressing team are set up – if
they don’t have enough players nearby to engage a press, even if there is a trigger, then they team
may decide to regain a better defensive position instead, rather than further disrupt their shape.
Some of the most common pressing triggers arise from the attacking team’s errors. These include
hitting a pass that is too hard, or when the ball is bouncing and therefore difficult to control.
Bad passes and bad receptions are also good triggers.
This could be where a right-footed player is having to receive a pass on their left foot,
or where a pass is into the space behind a player, so they have to turn back to retrieve it.
Or it could be where the player receiving the
ball is looking down and therefore less aware of what’s happening around them.
Other pressing triggers are situational. Some intense gegenpressing teams will
press immediately on losing possession in the final third.
Another common situational trigger is a pass into the full back – this
is because the by-line effectively acts as another defender, hemming the full back in.
Lastly, a pressing trigger could just be a certain player receiving the ball. Perhaps the opposition
team have a back three with two strong passers and a weaker one. Cutting off other passing options
for the two strong passers means the ball goes to the weaker player, and that is the trigger.
That last example could also be described as a pressing trap, though, because it relies on
actions by the defending team that will then lead to a more effective pressing situation.
A pressing trap, then, is a plan by the defending team to create conditions in
the game that will facilitate a press. This could mean encouraging or forcing
the ball into certain zones of the pitch, or towards certain players.
Examples of this might be setting up a passive block that encourages a pass
into the central midfield zone, before engaging a press by surrounding a player,
cutting off their options and winning back the ball.
Or it could be setting up quite narrowly with the front line, blocking such central passes
to encourage a pass wide, before sending two players out towards the receiver
who also block off options, while one of the forwards goes to press the return pass option.
Or it could be a press around the goalkeeper, forcing a pass towards one centre back, who
is then pressed into passing quickly to another, who is then pressed hard to achieve the turnover.
Pressing triggers may involve a couple of phases like this, with a combination of marking passing
lanes and applying light pressure to one player before rapidly moving into a wholesale press.
The best teams will also know what to do once they’ve won back the ball,
and how to transition immediately into attack.
Pressing triggers are more consistent across teams; pressing traps will vary
team to team and by opposition. Both are key to understanding how and why
teams press though, and therefore key to understanding a prominent part of modern football.