Tactical Cues for Pressing.

In recent years there has been a lot made of the value of pressing defense in soccer at the high school level. The basic idea is to decrease the space / time an opponent has to play in. The thought behind this is to increase the rate of decision making and force the opponent from his comfort zone. If successful, the opponents should make more mistakes including turning the ball over more. In a sense, it is a strategy of defending to attack. In can also serve to change the tempo of a game.

The pressing strategy does not come without risk though.  The backs in a zonal defense cannot step unless first in proper shape to support. A back stepping before shape is established is a recipe for disaster and will often result in opponents breaking through, a collapsed defense and lead to defenders running at their own goal.  So obviously effective communication is a necessity to pressure properly. Keeping with our examples of backs in a zonal stepping to pressure the ball it must be a collective decision for an individual back to step. That decision has to be made and called by support players responsible for protecting the pressure defender.



The risk of stepping hard to pressure the ball decreases somewhat with the midfield line and especially the forward line.  They are not the last line of defense having the backs to cover behind them. In fact, a fundamentally sound back line can be the foundation of an aggressive pressing defense if their role is one primarily of support and contain as opposed to pressuring. This allows the midfielders and forwards to aggressively pressure the ball in front of them.

It remains important to know when to pressure aggressively. I have seen some coaches implore their team to  always pressure aggressively all over the field. This is simply an asinine application of pressure that might bring results against a weak team but can be shredded by a good side. The rule of thumb is if your team cannot regain possession or win the loose ball within 6 seconds, they must re-establish shape behind the ball. As we will see below, pressing usually requires the direct coordinated involvement of 3 players.  Defensive shape should be reforming around those three before the 6 seconds expire. So, let's take a look at some cues for when to pressure aggressively.

1) When an opposing ball carrier is facing or running at his own goal. The pressure defender should have his chest on the back of the opponent and an immediate double team should be brought from the opponents blind side. It is crucial that all teammates read this and move collectively forward to pressure especially a third defender running to cut off any attempted back pass to the goalkeeper.

2) When the ball is in your attacking third and your team has numbers in the area. Pressing generally requires a minimum of 3 players or two players and a touch line.  One player is a pressure defender and the other two have to take away the most probable passing lanes.

3) When a defender, including the goalkeeper, takes a poor first touch or makes a low quality distribution attempt to a teammate. If the ball cannot be immediately intercepted, the focus must be on a coordinated effort to pressure the receiver. Again a 3 man defensive triangle is the best approach.

4) 50 / 50 or loose balls in the attacking third are ideal times to press forward collectively. One player moving to the ball and teammates gaining position in the anticipation area in preparation to play the second ball.

5) Opponent restarts, especially in the attacking third. Throw-ins especially when you know the thrower does not have great range on his throw.  Goal kicks and free kicks also provide the opportunity to organize around the ball, in the passing lanes and in the anticipation area.

Once the ball advances to the middle third of the field the risk associated with pressing defensively increases dramatically. The single greatest mistake players attempting to play high pressure make is overrunning the play. Coaches often refer to this as stabbing or diving in at the ball. If the pressure defender is defeated it collapses the support behind him creating a domino effect among his teammates.

At this point it is time to refresh the memory on basic fundamental defensive principles of the game. These are sometimes referred to as the three "D's" of Defending - Deny, Delay, Destroy. For our purposes here we will think of Deny as being a function of support players behind the pressure defender. They are to deny passing lanes and forward advancement of the ball.  Delay (or contain) is the primary responsibility of the pressure defender. Don't get beat. Stop or at least slow the forward progress of the attack.  Destroy is the act of intercepting a pass, tackling the ball away from the ball carrier or creation of a 50 / 50 ball.

This leads us to another fundamental set of cues for when to attempt to tackle the ball. This relates directly to admonishment not to dive in or stab at the ball. 

1) Do not attempt to tackle the ball if it is between the feet of the ball carrier. The advantage is squarely with the attacker as can beat you to either side.

2) Wait (Delay / contain) until the attacker plays the ball outside of his footprints. Now the attacker is predictable and attempting a tackle with your lead foot can be done with minimal risk.

3) Wait (Delay / contain) until the attacker misplays the ball too far away from him to easily maintain control.

The thought process behind both #2 and #3 above is to transfer the pressure to make a play from the defender onto the ball carrier. In a pressing style of defense the pressure defender can close down an attacker much more aggressively provided he has close support behind him, but his responsibility remains to contain or delay.

The final Cues for Pressing is the teams designated line of confrontation and the game situation.

Pressing is too physically demanding to attempt to do over the entire course of a game. Establishing a line of confrontation and specifically defining this for the team can make pressing far more effective.  If you wish to play a high line, say at the center line or at the bottom of the center circle with the idea of winning the ball back as quickly as possible this will require very good midfielders and aggressive forwards. If you set the confrontation line at 40 yards out from your own goal the focus shifts to getting numbers back behind the ball on lost possession. This strategy is often employed by counter attacking teams as it will open space behind the opponents backs to use their speed to counter through.

The current game decision must also be a consideration for when to press. If your team is down a goal with 20 minutes left in the match you will want to throw more players forward and pressure harder in search of the regained possession and quick counter to a tying goal. On the other hand, if you are up 2 - 0 it might be wiser to set the line of confrontation on your own half of the field and look for counters. In a tie game the decision to prese can be made as a means to change the pace or rhythm of the game to one more in your favor.

Hope this helps to clarify not only what high pressure defending is all about but also the when, how and why to apply it.

Yours in soccer,

Coach Brown.