The Pressing Issue

[RedStar]

Now let me start by saying that hes obviously a bellend and I have no time for him what so ever but watching the first two games of DiCanios reign at Sunderland I was struck by something quite impressive. DiCanio has clearly instructed them to go out and press high up the park, defending as far up the pitch as they can forcing the opposition onto the back foot.

It wasnt quite as successful yesterday against Everton as last week in the Newcastle game although it did yield 3 points on both occasions and Everton were clearly unable to settle into a rhythm. Newcastle couldn't handle it at all and disintegrated completely. Which got me thinking, weren't we supposed to be doing something similar under Rodgers, players pressing high up the pitch in groups to win possession back quickly. We will play both Newcastle and Everton in the coming weeks and it will be interesting to see if we try to do something similar given the fact that it has clearly worked against them.

We were doing it in spells earlier in the season but not very consistently (the Norwich game stands out as one where we pressed well), but we don't seem to do it at all anymore, or is that just my perception.

Have we abandoned the idea or do we just not have the players to implement it? In which case I would ask how the fuck a complete lunatic like DiCanio can get his team of donkeys effectively pressing the opposition after one week in the job and we still cant do it? I mean its one thing looking at Barca with their obsessive hunting down of the ball and saying well their players are groomed to play that way right through the academy and its second nature to them, but if we cant emulate the tactical discipline of one of the worst teams in the league coached by a man whose management style seems to consist of over the top celebrations and generally unstable behavior then its a genuine concern

 

[keniget]

It's been one of the biggest frustrations of this season. We have all gone about the midfield to varying degrees and the way teams seem able to play through us far too often, however this is in no small part to the way we are set up. We don't often press and we don't often do it very well.

Incidentally, this is an area Barca have taken a massive step backwards in since Pep left. Tito, for some reason, has left them a lot more open. Shame.

 

[RedStar]

Yeah I think Barca have eased off but they have done so to draw their opponents out, their pressing was almost too effective, it reached the point where opponents would just put 11 men behind the ball and camp in their own half to leave no space for Barca to exploit. Against the top sides Barca still try to press but they are not as effective because they dont do it with the same regularity now

 

[Rafiagra]

We definitely seem to have eased off as the season has progressed.

It wasn't working for us and I think we abandoned it but I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or not. Fr me, the defence wasn't pushing up high enough to allow our midfield and forwards to press effectively. That's why we left such space and kept leaking goals. Nowadays, we don't really leave ourselves that open.

However, I think we have gone too far the other way now and need to press better and earlier than what we are doing. Maybe it's a confidence thing, for both the players and the manager.

 

[RedStar]

We definitely seem to have eased off as the season has progressed.

It wasn't working for us and I think we abandoned it \.

To me thats the real issue, if a manager wants to play that way, and Rodgers clearly does, its not the most difficult system to implement, it needs a high level of stamina and discipline but its not exactly total football, I mean DiCanio has got an awful Sunderland team doing it effectively in a week at the tail end of a long season!

Why did we find it so hard to make it work? Was it as you say that our defence sits too deep to compress the game enough or is it that our players dont have the discipline to do it, was it a tactical decision from Rodgers based on trying to get us playing possession football first and not wanting to change too much too soon?

Its definitely something we need to work on for next season, we have far too porous a midfield to compete at the higher end of the table, good teams seem to walk through us in the midfield without so much as a tackle until the are shooting distance out from our goal

 

[Rafiagra]

I reckoned he bottled it.

It could be argued that he adapted his tactics which is a good thing, but alternately you can say he lacked the courage of his convictions to see it through.

Maybe he'll bring in a couple of new players better suited to doing it and pick it up again over the summer.

 

[dantes]

If the Sunderland players don't press, Di Canio will instantly substitute them, send them to the changing rooms, and deal with them in a way which requires physical intervention from the coaching staff.

If the Liverpool players don't press, Rodgers will pull out an envelope and threaten to write their name down.

 

[gkmacca]

Very few players - as a team rather than as individuals - seem able to sustain it. They do it for a few games, to impress a new manager, start a new season well or as a response to a change in tactics, but it soon fades. I remember Pako and Rafa got the team playing like that shortly before Pako left - it was 'Duracell' time - and against teams like Derby it was astonishingly relentless, but again it soon faded. Most players are too lazy and thick to maintain it.

 

[RedStar]

Very few players - as a team rather than as individuals - seem able to sustain it. They do it for a few games, to impress a new manager, start a new season well or as a response to a change in tactics, but it soon fades. I remember Pako and Rafa got the team playing like that shortly before Pako left - it was 'Duracell' time - and against teams like Derby it was astonishingly relentless, but again it soon faded. Most players are too lazy and thick to maintain it.

Rafa did indeed have us playing a very high line if not quite pressing in the manner of Barca, and from what I can recall it paid dividends for Torres in particular, the problem Rafas team was that they didnt keep the ball very well so they needed to press constantly for a team enjoying 60%+ of the possession as Rodgers tries to do it would be far less tiring as there would be alot less occasions when the opposition would have the ball

Your right though teams tend to do it for a short run of games, or a spell within a game but its difficult to sustain, it will be interesting to see if DiCanio can 'motivate' his players to keep up the effort

I dont see why it cant work for us, but Rodgers needs to be clear its a system that only works when every player subscribes to it, anybody who doesnt comply cant be in the team, you cannot have 7 or 8 out of 10 outfield players killing themselves to cover the ground while one or two dont bother

 

[mark1975]

It's a difficult tactic to sustain, but we're not even close. The midfield, as said, has been switched around trying all sorts of combinations but the crux of it is:

*Lucas hasn't been that great since coming back from injury, debate still rages about his ultimate quality in this role

*Gerrard as always lacks the discipline to effectively 'sit' and hold a position, he roams because it's what he's always done.

*Allen has proven physically weak against many opponents, getting shrugged off the ball far too easily.

*We lack genuine pace and physique in there. Only Henderson comes close and despite coming on leaps and bounds, question marks still persist about whether he'll be good enough.

*We need a natural enforcer/leader, someone who will control the midfield. Alonso might go some way to rectifying that, but we also need someone who will press and chase and do the dirty work that we're failing to do - All season we've left a huge gap in the front of the defense, teams have literally ran through us and we've lacked the personnel and tactical setup to stem the threat.

 

[gkmacca]

The incredible fitness levels these days mean, probably for the first time ever, that it's possible, but if you look at the youth and reserve teams, there's no sign of such an attitude developing, and if it doesn't develop at those stages it won't at first XI level. It really needs to be habit by that stage if it's going to be sustained rather than just an adrenaline rush of a few games.

 

[RedStar]

*We need a natural enforcer/leader, someone who will control the midfield

I'm not so sure about that, a leader maybe but pressing is done effectively by a team not a single 'enforcer' you don't need to be a physical monster to hassle people out of possession, Bellamy used to do it all the time and hes no giant.

I think the thing Guardiola got right about his system is that even in a team of midgets like Barca its about eliminating the options available to the player on the ball, the more players closing down from different angles gives the guy on the ball nowhere to go and he either panics and hits a poor pass or he holds onto the ball and gets robbed of it.

And when you win the ball back Id rather have a midfielder like Allen keeping possession than an enforcer like Sissoko, I think that sort of player is largely finished at the top level of the game

 

[mark1975]

It was a separate issue I was referring to really with a need to control the middle, I don't think our engine room bosses games and that's not solely due to the inability to win the ball back, it's about not having an assured influence in there.

 

[RedStar]

It was a separate issue I was referring to really with a need to control the middle, I don't think our engine room bosses games and that's not solely due to the inability to win the ball back, it's about not having an assured influence in there.

Fair enough but you would think given his age and standing at the club Gerrard would be providing the assured influence, why he doesnt is a whole different topic but it seems we have a midfield that operates on totally different wavelengths from each other.