Counter-pressing is a strategy used to disrupt the opposition as soon as possession is lost – the point of defensive transition. It involves aggressively pressing the ball and the opponents near to the ball with several players... ⏱️🧵
Pressing is one of the five defensive principles, and has been an aspect of the game since football was invented. It grew in prominence from the '60s, when Ernst Happel, Rinus Michels, Valeriy Lobanovskyi and Arrigo Sacchi all had their teams adopt an aggressive press... ⏱️🧵
More specifically, counter-pressing is a translation from the German word ‘gegenpress’. Many German coaches, including Wolfgang Frank, Ralf Rangnick, Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann, have developed and used this strategy at various clubs... ⏱️🧵
In possession, teams make the pitch as big as possible by placing players all over the pitch. The aim is to increase the space to play in and the distances that the opposition have to cover when defending... ⏱️🧵
Klopp has used aggressive counter-pressing with success at Dortmund. This was high up the pitch in domestic games, and in the middle third against stronger sides in Europe. His Liverpool have become known for their suffocating counter-pressing in all areas of the pitch... ⏱️🧵
Guardiola has merged aggressive counter-pressing with his possession-based style. The use of full-backs who move infield, a false nine and inverted wingers mean his teams have extra bodies in central positions, ready to counter-press following a defensive transition... ⏱️🧵
Bielsa asks his teams to aggressively counter-press all over the pitch. When in possession, his players rotate positions constantly and are free to move all over the pitch. Bielsa then relies on the players closest to the ball to aggressively swarm around the ball-carrier... ⏱️🧵
With both RB Leipzig and Southampton, Hasenhüttl’s counter-pressing in midfield has proved a productive way of creating chances through counter-attacks. From a compact 4-4-2, his players crowd the space around the ball and limit the opposition’s chances of playing out... ⏱️🧵
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Spain used a 4-3-3 structure and built play patiently from the back, despite Germany pressing aggressively from their 4-2-3-1. They moved the ball around the back line to isolate Thomas Müller, before a centre-back stepped out with the ball into midfield... 🧐🧵
Olmo continued to move inside and Asensio dropped deep, in the process pulling Süle out of his position in Germany’s back line. This helped Spain to build out from the back and get around Germany’s increasingly effective high press... 🧐🧵
Traditionally, full-backs are the widest players in a back four, and as a result they attack and defend mostly in the wide areas. However, full-backs who move inside into central spaces are known as ‘inverted full-backs’. This movement adds an extra presence centrally... ↩️🧐
Although Pep Guardiola is the coach most associated with the inverted full-back, Johan Cruyff used them with Barcelona many years before. Then, he often converted the 4-3-3 into a 3-4-3 diamond, with one full-back inverting into central midfield... ↩️🧐
Manchester United were set up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, but Fred pushed forward from the double pivot to become a number 8 and give them a stronger attacking presence in central midfield. Bruno Fernandes then adapted his positioning, moving into the left inside channel... 🧐🧵
The hosts eventually pushed both full-backs higher, primarily working around the outside of Tottenham’s wing-backs. United’s wingers then came inside, with the freedom to rotate with Fred and Fernandes, as long as both inside channels were always occupied... 🧐🧵
Barcelona were set up in a 4-3-3, against a Madrid 4-4-2 defensive block. Torres moved inside to support centre-forward Aubameyang. De Jong and Pedri widened to support through the inside channels, with Busquets left as the single pivot ahead of the two centre-backs... 🧐🧵
Busquets dropped into defence to draw one of Madrid’s central midfielders up, and Pedri drifted wider to drag the other out. This often left De Jong as the free man to receive in the inside channel when Barcelona’s back line could access him... 🧐🧵
4-4-2 is made up of three distinct lines. The back four including two centre-backs and two full-backs. Ahead of them, a midfield four features two players in the middle and one on each side. Then the front two in attack who provide both height and goalscoring threat... 4️⃣4️⃣2️⃣🧵
In the 1950s, Viktor Maslov developed another variation of the 4-2-4, in which the two wingers dropped back alongside the two central midfielders. So originated the 4-4-2, which worked to overload opposition midfields with traditionally fewer numbers... 4️⃣4️⃣2️⃣🧵