When they break your press.

This is a companion article to Tactical Cues for Pressing

Zonal defenses by design are meant to get as many people behind the ball as possible. That is, a zonal defense wants to keep the ball in front of it and force opponents to attempt their attack through multiple layers of defenders.  It is very much a style of defense that seeks to intercept passes and win 50 / 50 balls to then counter from to goal. Pressing from a zonal defense can be an effective strategy when executed as a coordinated team effort. 

There are, however, some associated risks with pressing and those must be accounted and planned for as part of a teams overall strategy. I think it will help to think of pressing as the defense being numbers up around the ball and / or the ball carrier.  Logic then dictates that if both sides are playing with equal numbers the defense will then be numbers down elsewhere on the field.



It will also be helpful to remember that the best pass in soccer is one that successfully defeats multiple defenders. When we think of attacking against pressing teams this will involve early crosses or changing the point of attack to defeat the compactness of the press.  It might also dictate long direct passes executed before pressure can fully be applied. In either case, the long ball  that catches a zonal defense moving is its kryptonite.

Let's review the cues for when a defense can apply a press. 

1) When the opposing ball carrier is facing his own goal
2) In your attacking third when you have numbers up around the ball.
3) When a defender / goalkeeper has a poor first touch or weak distribution.
4) 50 / 50 balls, especially in the opponents half of the field.
5)  Opponent restarts, especially those in their own half of the field.

As you can see, these are all times when the defense has an advantage or are at least on even terms with the opponents attacking. In this regard, pressing seeks to maximize advantage while exposing the defense to minimal risk.  Once the initiative is lost or the press is broken the defenders must reform their team shape as quickly as possible.  As a rule of thumb, a press is applied for less than 10 second and many would say if possession is not regained in 6 seconds the press has failed.

At this point those defenders directly involved in pressing have likely been eliminated from play leaving their teammates numbers down elsewhere on the pitch. If the keys for pressing all involve the defense being numbers up around the ball, then it stands to reason that when defenders find themselves even numbers or numbers down around the ball they must play delay or containing defense.  They must buy time for those teammates that were involved with pressing to regain position and reorganize within the teams defensive shape.

This is one situation where the strategy of early retreat can be applied by the defenses back line.  In a play on words, there must be an aggressive / passive mentality present in pressing teams. Aggressive pressing followed by passive containment of the attack when the press is broken allowing the team to regain its defensive shape behind the ball.

A picture should now be forming of forwards and midfielders applying a pressing defense in the opponents half supported by the backs.  When the press is defeated it is the backs, executing an early retreat, that contain and delay the attack providing their teammates time to recover and regain the teams defensive shape on their own half of the field.