Pressing, explained

In one linePressing means moving quickly towards the ball to win it back rather than holding position and protecting space, and every team has to decide where, when and how hard to do it.

Pressing versus holding a block

When a team loses the ball it has two broad options. It can go and get the ball back, or it can drop into an organised shape and wait.

FIFA’s analysts draw that line clearly. Defensive pressure is any action by a defending player to close down the player on the ball, or someone who could receive a pass. Pressing means players moving quickly and on purpose towards the opponent with the ball. A block is the opposite: players hold organised lines, moving little, and protect space.

Most teams mix the two during a match. The real questions are how high up the pitch they defend and what makes them switch from waiting to pressing.

Low, mid and high blocks

The height of a block describes where a team sets up its defensive lines.

• Low block. The team defends close to its own penalty area. FIFA’s World Cup 2022 analysis counted it as eight outfield players in the defensive third only. It protects the goal and leaves little space behind the defenders, but it gives up territory and invites pressure.
• Mid-block. The team holds a connected shape around the middle of the pitch. FIFA’s definition asks for at least eight outfield players in the middle third, or the middle and defensive thirds, standing in horizontal lines. The opponents can pass among their defenders, but the gaps into midfield are closed.
• High block. The team sets its lines high, near the opponents’ goal, to win the ball back quickly. It needs a high defensive line, which can leave space behind the defenders for a long ball or a fast forward to exploit.

Whatever the height, the aim is compactness: short distances between players and between the lines, so there is little room to play through. FIFA’s coaching material lists four aims when defending: make the pitch smaller, close the gaps, hold the team’s shape and put pressure on the ball.

Pressing triggers

A pressing trigger is a cue, agreed in advance, that tells the whole team to press at the same moment. Pressing works as a group or not at all. One player chasing alone just leaves a gap behind them.

Common triggers include:

• a backward, slow or inaccurate pass, which gives the defenders time to close in;
• a long sideways pass across the opponents’ back line;
• a poor touch, when the ball escapes the receiver’s control;
• a goalkeeper receiving the ball under pressure;
• a pass out towards the touchline, which cuts the receiver’s passing options roughly in half because the line blocks one side.

The ball’s position also matters. FIFA’s coaching guidance has the forward nearest the ball lead the press as the first trigger, while the central midfielder on the same side as the ball cuts out passes through the middle.

Counter-pressing

Counter-pressing, often called by its German name gegenpressing, means pressing immediately after losing the ball. The idea is to win it back in the few seconds when the opponents are still switching from defending to attacking and are disorganised. That moment of changeover is called a transition.

FIFA’s coaching material separates two forms. In an individual counter-press, the player who lost the ball chases straight away. In a collective counter-press, several or all outfield players move together to trap the ball.

Speed is the whole point. FIFA’s technical report on the 2019 Women’s World Cup found that 61% of ball recoveries in the tournament happened within seven seconds of losing the ball. Data providers also use short time windows: analysts at StatsBomb, now Hudl StatsBomb, have used five seconds after a turnover as the period when counter-pressing is most intense.

Rest defence

A counter-press can only work if the team is ready for it before the ball is lost. Rest defence is the group of players a team keeps behind the ball while it attacks. They are placed to stop a counter-attack and to support the counter-press. FIFA’s technical study group has called the same idea “offensive balance”.

A team that sends too many players forward with no rest defence can be caught by one long pass. A team that keeps too many back has fewer players to attack with. Every team has to decide where that balance lies.

How pressing is measured

The best-known pressing statistic is PPDA, short for passes allowed per defensive action. An early public explanation of it was written by the analyst Colin Trainor and published by StatsBomb in 2014.

The calculation is simple:

1. Count the passes the opponents make in the part of the pitch furthest from your own goal. The original version uses 60% of the pitch: the opponents’ half plus a slice of your own.
2. Count your team’s defensive actions in the same area. The original list is tackles, interceptions, challenges and fouls.
3. Divide the passes by the defensive actions.

If the opponents make 120 passes in that area and your team makes 15 defensive actions there, the PPDA is 8. The lower the number, the more intense the press, because the opponents are allowed fewer passes before someone challenges them.

Providers do not all measure it the same way. The definition published by Opta Analyst counts passes and actions outside the pressing team’s own defensive third, rather than the 60% line, and adds blocked passes to the defensive actions. Wyscout’s list of defensive actions includes won defensive duels and sliding tackles. Only compare PPDA figures from the same provider.

PPDA also has limits. It counts how often a team challenges, not whether the challenges win the ball. And, as the Premier League’s own explainer notes, some teams post a low PPDA mainly because they keep play in the opponents’ half for so much of the match.

Other measures fill the gaps. Event data often records pressures, moments when a defender closes down a player on the ball. Opta counts high turnovers: possessions that start in open play within 40 metres of the opponents’ goal. Tracking data, which records every player’s position many times a second, can show how quickly a whole team moves towards the ball.

The risks

Pressing is a trade. It can win the ball near the opponents’ goal, but:

• a high line leaves space behind it for a long pass or a quick forward;
• a press that is beaten by one or two passes can leave several defenders out of the game at once;
• it is tiring, so few teams can press at full intensity for a whole match;
• a poorly timed press, with players arriving one by one, is easy to play through.

That is why many teams choose moments to press, set by triggers, and spend the rest of the match in a mid-block or low block.

Where to go next

• Formations, explained: the shapes teams defend in.
• Positional play, explained: how teams in possession try to beat a press.
• Football positions, explained: who leads the press and who covers.
• Football data, explained: event data, tracking data and how metrics are built.