FULL-FIELD HIGH PRESSURE BY TOMISLAV IVIC HERCEG NOVI - 2005 Dear students of Coaching School A and B of UEFA and FS SCG; on this occasion, I will be talking to you as a coach, not a professor, and lecturer. I will be sharing with you about the experiences that I have gained in practice by learning, thinking, reading, and watching what others are doing and gained the knowledge I have. I suggest you do not take all "as is" because a lot can change tomorrow, and I will also increase my knowledge with new findings. That's why accept only what you believe is useful, discard the rest and add more of your material that you can, because you're going to later use the personal touch. A game of FULL-FIELD PRESSURE, was and is today to me absolute top topic in soccer. The theory of HIGH PRESSURE every coach needs to know how it is applied during training sessions and to fully govern with its material. That's why on training ground you must work on sessions that explain its principles and theory: HOW DO WE HIGH PRESSURE EASIEST AND BEST WAY IN THE GAME. HOW TO BEAT A TEAM THAT IS BETTER THAN YOUR TEAM FULL-FIELD PRESSURE in the modern football appeared after the ZONAL AND "man to man" game that has long been present. The game evolved with development of quality individuals that no one could strictly defend one vs one or zonally. The zonal game evolved to "passing on players in zones" and that was not enough, as players started playing "free" and no attention was paid to the quality or formations and from that ... we came to PRESSURE on the BALL. Every coach who wants to apply FULL-FIELD PRESSURE MUST APPLY THE LAW OF HIGH PRESSURE. If you do not apply the LAW OF HIGH PRESSURE, the work will be useless, and the players will not know what is asked of them. When they theoretically master the subject, it's easy to demand what is exactly required from on the field. It's not enough to say: GUYS, LET'S TODAY PLAY FULL-FIELD PRESSURE!! The law must rule inside of the white lines so the players can easier execute it. That's why there are: LAWS AND PRINCIPLES OF PRESSURE, which you need to RULE YOUR TEAM BY. 1. MUST BE PLAYED IN SHALOW COMPACT FORMATION It implies a tight formation at the same time front to back side to side. When recording "from eye in the sky" to show the compaction to the team the coach wants the first preconditions to be 35 yards by 35 yards. Working consistently at practice and perfecting automatically for the game. 2. PHASE OF INSTANT TRANSITION WHEN THE BALL IS LOST If you lose the ball, and for a second you hesitate, IT'S ALREADY too late. Players that take away (win) balls now are wise, quick and fast and as soon as they win the ball they start the attack immediately. That is why INSTANT TRANSITION IS SO IMPORTANT FROM ATTACK TO DEFENSE AND FROM DEFENSE TO ATTACK and if you don't have speed and aggression in such situations, it's hard to "start" pressing. Here we are talking about the player that is in possession of the ball and he loses it, his reaction and the reaction of adjacent players. If one player is late (any player) then "ALL PLAYERS ARE BEAT" and vice - versa. If the one who lost the ball is successful in instant transitioning but without the support of others he will be easily eliminated from the play. INSTANT TRANSITION IS A LONG HARD WORK AND WILL TAKE A LONG TIME TO PERFECT. FOR THE TEAM TO HAVE INSTANT TRANSITION IN THEIR REPERTOIRE IT MUST QUICKLY GET BACK TO ITS SHAPE ESPECIALLY AFTER INTERRUPTIONS, SET PIECES ETC.. BECAUSE FROM IT BEGINS FULL-FIELD PRESSURE TO WIN THE BALL BACK. I made up the exercise and NOTHING worked until I got a player (Brane Oblak) capable of in game to do a quick transition in both directions. Without him, their always has been a gap in the training sessions and matches. When they saw him at practice, they had a "live image" and exactly knew how to execute and everybody accepted instant transition easier. 3. SYNCHRONIZED TEAM MOVEMENT If one goes and the others do not follow – IT'S OVER-! If all are moving and the player that lost the ball is standing it’s the end! Especially today when there are players capable of precise passes from 50-70 meters, the movement must be in common, at the same time, in all the lines and it is a team that RESPONDS QUICKLY THAT GETS THE BALL BACK EASILY in their possession. 4. READING PASSING INTENTIONS OF THE OPPONENT You can require all previous laws but for it to function your team must be able to "READ THE PASSING INTENTION OF THE OPPONENT". By percentages most of the balls are won by "READING THE INTENTION OF THE OPPONENT". Today, majority of the players are still slow to react when they receive the ball. They receive the ball, they look at it and then they decide what to do with it. One look is enough time to read it and it is a sign what opponent intentions are. Then it is easy to "read" get out in front of the attacker, "cut" the pass out and take the ball away. There are players who can "read" the first intention but, although rare, there are some special players who "read" the "THIRD PASS". These are the players who "BY LETTING THEIR PLAYER GO" (when it loses the ball) and "INTERCEPTING THIRD PASS" "and IS ABLE TO DOUBLE TEAM AT THE RIGHT TIME." It's a huge quality because "third" has already has a player that is marking him, and with the double team there is no way to receive the ball. Today it is hard to take away ball from the player already in possession and that's why we basing winning the ball before player receives it. 5. CONSISTENT RUNNING IN PURSUIT OF THE BALL In practice, when a player losses the ball he instantly continues running in pursuit of the ball. It is critically important to create this habit. In today's game, modern the pressing player is still far from their goal, but there is no great examples of offside which was 12 player years ago, along with goalie who follows and "reads" the game. It was "SHALLOW PRESSING" and now its "DEEP PRESSING", because the coaches aren't going to leave the space behind their back four and almost none plays offside trap any more. 6. DOUBLE TEAMING Because in today's game the ball is won mostly by "PLAYER DOUBLE TEAMING THE BALL" instead the player that is directly defending the opponent. In playing "HIGH PRESSURE FURTHEST UP THE FIELD" there must be instant reaction to double teaming the ball. A good example is LIVERPOOL today, they have a great INSTANT TRANSITION TO DOUBLE TEAMING which is PURE GOLD OF PRESSING and without it they cannot transition from offense to defense, nor defense to instant offense. 7. OFFSIDE I believe that OFFSIDE will be back in situations when opponent plays "the ball, parallel/diagonal, difficult ball back" and the team first perfect the offside trap will see positive result. Soccer elements disappear, and they come back into circulation. 8. GOALKEEPER ROLE Coming out and intercepting balls and starting the attack (DISTRIBUTION) are two of the most important elements. DISTRIBUTION (about 80 meters) is a clear signal that the NINE players run to or after the ball. 9. CONTROLED AGRESSION ON THE BALL – ALL PLAYERS IF ONE OF THE LAWS DON'T WORK EVERYTHING CAN FAIL. WHY DID IT COME TO ZONAL PRESSURE ON THE BALL? When a game starts against an opponent all is "normal game" until the moment when someone is scored on. From that moment on the "normal game" is no more "normal" because it comes to a disorder of the game. The team that is leading is protecting its lead – and the team that is losing must "come out" to win the ball go on the attack and possibly score. Upon my arrival at Anderlecht, a team that played zone defense and counter attacked, I had to gradually change their style. Specifically, they as soon as they lost the ball drooped back inside their half waited for opponents mistake and counter attacked. This "passed" in Europe, but in Belgium for seven years they were not champions, because all opponents new "read" their system and they couldn't adjust. No one was going to attack them and gives them space for them to counter attack. For such a style it is disastrous if you give up a first goal. Then, it's not going to help if you insert another attacker, move closer toward the opponent's goal (then you're leaving a lot of space behind). In that case, you are giving up your zone defense you START RUNNING AFTER THE BALL, so you could win it as quickly as you can and go to goal as fast as you can so you can even the score: THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT! The fundamental question is: WHY WOULD IT WORKE WHEN THE SCORE IS 0:1?!? Isn't it BEST TO START THIS WAY right now, because you never know when you can give up a goal and then you must start "PRESSING" to equalize. It's better to do it right at the 0:0 if you're expected to win. To do this, you'll need to change the mentality of the time and have the players capable of the task. They need to be on physiologically prepared for the new logic. They must be willing to accept new habits. Necessities for pressing are: THE SPEED OF THE PLAYERS IN THE BACK LINE. It must be noted that pressing, as well as any system, has FLAWS and deficiencies and cannot be applied in every team. First it is necessary to adjust abilities of your players (team) (what can players do and what can they learn) and then try to implement what you want. Regardless of everything, and now I claim: FULL-FILED PRESSURE THE BEST WAY TO WIN GAMES of any system, since a “normal” system can easily be disrupted.
