Mastering High-Intensity Pressing: Crafting Unique Identity, Essential Requirements, and Key Principles

Introduction:

The performance of the Austrian national football team during EURO 2024 showcased many entertaining and thrilling matches due to their pressing style, captivating numerous people in Austria. Fans can identify with this dynamic style of football, especially when it leads to success. From a coach's perspective, the focus is on how to achieve more with limited resources, such as lower individual player quality and market values, through structure and team cohesion.

Ultimately, it is about developing unique features and strategies that can disrupt and destabilize the opponent's system. It is essential to highlight that football comprises various phases, requiring thorough organization for success. Pressing is just one aspect of the game and should not be considered an ideology. Pressing must provide clear added value to the game, increase the likelihood of success, be intelligently deployed, and ultimately be effective and efficient in its implementation.

Therefore, it is crucial to delve into the 'Why':

WHY do we play high pressing? In football, there is no right or wrong, and there are various ways to be successful. Pressing is a crucial part of football, with all teams needing to employ pressing at some point. Some teams prefer to sit back and only press when the ball is in and around their 18-yard area, while others aim to regain possession as high up the field as possible. Winning the ball high up the field brings the team closer to the opponent's goal, requiring fewer defensive lines to breach, making scoring easier. Opting for high and ultimate pressing will result in the ball-carrying player always being under pressure, having fewer options, and eventually breaking down the opponent's system.

However, high pressing can also have drawbacks - if bypassed, the opponent can gain a numerical advantage and attack a disorganized defensive structure. High pressing typically entails a high defensive line, leaving space at the back that fast players can exploit.

Additionally, high pressing can physically strain players, leading to reduced efficiency in converting chances, fatigue in later stages of the game, and potentially injuries.

We should also focus on the prerequisites for pressing.

The Requirements:

1. Mental Requirements: These are crucial steps that a coach must go through to implement this playing style to the highest perfection. A bit of pressing and sprinting are insufficient and will not be enough, especially at a high level against top teams, as they can break through the pressing due to their high skills. One should not underestimate the mental capabilities of players and teams required for a successful pressing style:

a) Step one - foster commitment: The coach must convince the players of the value of pressing since players in this system need to exert themselves mentally and physically. Players may question why they need to sprint so much and why they need to take such risks. They must understand the reasoning behind it, as only commitment creates conviction.

b) Step two - spark joy and enthusiasm: Every child plays football for joy, especially when in possession of the ball. Professional players should not lose the joy of the game by being overly restricted. The desire and joy of playing intense pressing and chasing the ball must be developed.

c) Step three - instill courage and create an error culture: There are numerous game situations when players question, "Should I stay or should I go." To develop a "front foot defending team“, players must be encouraged to take risks and develop a clear culture in handling errors within the team, creating a sort of no-blame organization.

d) Step 4 - develop resilience: There is no perfect pressing. Opposing coaches will develop strategies to overcome the pressing. If the pressing is broken, strong doubts about the playing style can arise in players. Providing mental support for players in this area can greatly assist the coach and is often underestimated. The significance of sports psychology can be crucial, especially when integrating it and having the tactical processes supported by a sports psychologist in a holistic approach.

2. Physical Requirements: As a head coach, one often considers how to assemble the coaching staff when joining a new club. One of the crucial aspects for me is assessing the fitness department. To play an intense pressing style, creating the physical prerequisites is essential and requires daily work. Excellent training management is a must, along with perfect monitoring. Training must be tailored to fit the pressing style, and players need to be individually prepared based on their position profile. I prefer to play with a first pressing line of 3 players. Experience has shown that the intensity of these 3 players often decreases during the game, leading to the need for player substitutions. Consequently, this must be considered in squad planning to ensure players of equal quality and intensity are on the field.

Physical values should never be considered in isolation. For instance, in Belgium, with Cercle Brugge, we had the best physical output in Belgium and the second-best in Europe, a source of pride. However, these physical values must always be analyzed in a tactical context. If my pressing or counter-pressing does not work, my players must sprint 40 to 50 meters backward. These are not sprints or high-intensity runs I want to see, but sprints in the opposite direction.

3. Tactical Requirements: Many pressing systems can lead to success, but it must be clear, absolutely clear. Football is a highly complex sport, even if many do not want to acknowledge it. The task of the coach is to simplify and create 100% clarity for the players. The communication skills of a coach play a significant role in this aspect. I particularly enjoy working in this area by assigning tasks to players. This way, each player knows that they must have a clear role in every situation to be highly effective. Each position on the field can be evaluated in terms of position, timing, direction, and tempo to optimize performance.

7 Key Principles for High Pressing:

As mentioned, there are different ways to play pressing. In the following, I would like to share my considerations. This type of pressing has consistently worked very well with necessary adaptations. Such as with LASK (Season 20/21) where we were the best pressing team in the Austrian Bundesliga alongside Red Bull Salzburg. Similarly at Cercle Brugge (Season 21/22), where we were the best pressing team in Belgium. Also in the season 22/23, we were among the top pressing and transitional teams in Belgium with KV Oostende and Cercle Brugge.

Ultimately, it always comes down to implementation and methodology. Daily training plays a crucial role in this. The high intensity of pressing should be reflected in training sessions. Based on my experience, pressing must be a part of training every week, as the concept of forward defending can quickly fade. During summer or winter breaks, we often had to start almost from scratch when players returned from vacation. Even during international breaks, there was a noticeable regression when players re-joined club training after national team duties.

Extreme forward defending must be consistently emphasized in training sessions if one wishes to see it effectively implemented in matches.

Principles and Guidelines:

1. TIGHT NET: Without a compact and organized structure, pressing is not possible. I like to use the metaphor of a swarm for this purpose. The concept of Swarm Intelligence is primarily known from the animal kingdom. A swarm typically refers to a group of flying or swimming animals. These organisms act so that even the mass of individuals reacts as a single entity, as a unified system with one heart and one mind. Another crucial requirement for pressing is synchronicity. Just as in a classical orchestra where the right timing must be found to produce harmonious sound, it is also an essential prerequisite in a pressing system. It cannot be that one player starts pressing, then the next, and eventually another. Everything must occur simultaneously, like an infinitely coordinated system.

2. POSITIONING: This pertains to whether you want to apply man-marking or a ball-oriented game for your pressing. Trends at EURO 2024 are leaning towards man-marking.

Personally, I prefer ball-oriented pressing. Especially when there is no clear direction in the game, such as during a goal kick, I want my players to take mixed positions to control as many opponents simultaneously as possible.

3. DECISION MAKING: When a team employs high pressing, it is crucial that all players engage in the press. An opportune moment to press is when the ball leaves the opponent's foot. Establishing clear triggers for pressing is essential. For example, if the passing distance is short, the pressing player is too far from the ball receiver, or the team structure is lacking, it is best to wait for the next suitable moment. If the pressing is broken or the opponent successfully switches sides, it may be beneficial to diagonally drop back (recovery run) and reorganize. This decision relies on the intelligence of the forward to recognize whether it is the right time to press or not. Following an attack where the team may be unbalanced, dropping back and regrouping until players are organized again before pressing can be the best approach.

4. INTENSITY: High pressing in the final third demands a high intensity and determination to regain possession as close to the opponent's goal as possible. Without this intense approach, the opponent has enough time to bypass them and subsequently progress through the team. There are pressing strategies that aim to direct the game into specific zones, providing more control in pressing. However, my approach focuses more on chasing the ball and aiming to win possession directly in duels through maximum pressure on both the ball and the opponent.

5. GO IN - JOIN IN: The initial sprint (?go in") in pressing plays an extremely important role, as does the player's starting position. The first sprint should be executed with the highest intensity and in a direct path. The opponent should have as little time as possible on the ball and face ultimate pressure. Similarly, the pressing player should not worry about the cover shadow he creates. If his starting position is correct, the central midfielder will automatically be in the cover shadow, cleanly attacking from inside to outside.

The pressing player's task is also to take the final step! In many pressing systems, the player stops two meters before the opponent, attempting to direct the game. In this pressing style, the goal is to attack the opponent directly, engage in the duel, and win the ball.

By attacking from inside to outside, the game is directed outward, creating numerical superiority (?join in“) and applying maximum pressure on the ball-carrying player. This leads to three concentric circles depending on the distance to the ball-carrying player.

6. CONTROL THE SWITCH: When attacking in a direct way and not in a curved run, it is essential to control the switch of play and the back pass to the goalkeeper to avoid rendering the pressing ineffective. I prefer a first pressing line with three players as it provides significant advantages in terms of cover shadow and also in controlling switches of play and back passes to the goalkeeper. In this first pressing line, it is primarily the striker on the far side who is responsible for controlling the switch of play and needs to push higher.

7. CHANCE CONVERSION - TRANSITION TO ATTACK: A key reason to press high in the final third is the ability to win possession near the oppositions goal meaning less distance being needed to cover to muster an attempt at goal.. Our goal is to win the ball and create a goal-scoring opportunity. Upon winning the ball, the first pass should, if possible, be played forward directly to advance towards a goal-scoring situation. This also aims to prevent the opponent from having any chances for a counter-press. Clear options need to be created within the pressing concept for effective transitions. In my pressing philosophy, these are the the two transition players, positioned strategically, aware of their roles. Specifically, this involves the central striker and the ball far ten, with emphasis on the second.

The attack should swiftly progress through the central areas to conclude as efficiently as possible, without needing to shift to the wing areas. Winning the ball high up the pitch can give you a better chance of scoring, as mentioned earlier, but efficiency when winning the ball back is key. It’s vital that once the ball has been won high up the pitch that this is then turned into a chance, otherwise a large part of the benefits to a high press aren’t utilised. The aim is to create goal-scoring opportunities so effectively - with the highest possible likelihood of scoring - that inefficiency is nearly ruled out.

In conclusion, mastering high-intensity pressing in football not only demands strategic innovation and physical readiness but also hinges on creating a distinctive approach, meeting crucial prerequisites, and adhering to fundamental principles. Success in this dynamic style of play lies in the fusion of tactical astuteness, player cohesion, and unwavering commitment to execute relentless pressure on the field.

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