How Spain are beating the high press

[jcafcwbb]

Not my analysis, but someone else's. But it seems Spain have come up with ways to beat the aggressive high press. They keep their full backs deep either leaving free men or weakening the press in the centre. They are also prepared to play a long ball to the target man Morata. They also try and engineer one-on-ones with their wingers. And it seems wingers being wingers, instead of inverted ones has also been used.

Are we seeing coaches start to neutralise the effectiveness of the high press. We have seen how Man City are prepared to beat the high press with long balls to Haaland. We have also seen how City can struggle with the low block - both Madrid and Man Utd used the low block counter to win against them in the Cup ties. 

Could we finally see an end to the dominance of the high press? With the resurgence of the supporting rather attacking full backs, more traditional wingers and target men?

[Kreeki]

Was hoping for a tactical recreation of their system after watching the game, really great football to watch!

[Cloud9]

11 hours ago, jcafcwbb said:

Not my analysis, but someone else's. But it seems Spain have come up with ways to beat the aggressive high press. They keep their full backs deep either leaving free men or weakening the press in the centre. They are also prepared to play a long ball to the target man Morata. They also try and engineer one-on-ones with their wingers. And it seems wingers being wingers, instead of inverted ones has also been used.

Are we seeing coaches start to neutralise the effectiveness of the high press. We have seen how Man City are prepared to beat the high press with long balls to Haaland. We have also seen how City can struggle with the low block - both Madrid and Man Utd used the low block counter to win against them in the Cup ties. 

Could we finally see an end to the dominance of the high press? With the resurgence of the supporting rather attacking full backs, more traditional wingers and target men?

Spain press high as well, just look at this graphic. It's not like they play tiki taka anymore. In fact, almost all good teams at the Euro's engineer some type of high press. PPDA means opposition passes allowed per defensive action, indicating that you were unable to interrupt defensive buildup play with a higher number. Nagelsmann's Germany, who play with no natural width, excel at this vertical style. 

England are horrific at the moment, partly because they can't put together a press at all...and sit at 23.1 on this list. Aging strikers (Kane) can struggle in modern systems w/out the ability to lead the press from the front. Spain's striker, Morata, a striker w/less quality Kane, has the physical attributes to stretch the defensive and trigger the press as mentioned. Spain's wingers are both played on their off foot.

A high press does not necessarily struggle against a low block, that is more a problem for the vertical German systems (and is the question for Nagelsmann's vertical style). Man City's style have typically butchered teams than have overly sat back against them, although a counter attack w/quick front players will always be a threat to systems that control the ball. Playing through the opposition press is simply part of the modern game, which is why a press resistant technical DM is so highly valued (see Rice's struggles). 

• France are one of the few big teams who will be comfortable playing without the ball, relying on their strong defensive unit and talent/pace up front. They similarly employ a long ball option (Giroud) and deep lying technical players who are capable of breaking the lines out of a press. Deschamps played in Italy for Juventus and is a disciple of the old Italian approach.  

If anything we are seeing the continued rise of High Press football and the demise of the old Italian styles. It's worth remembering that the Italian team who won the last Euros deployed a possession based, high pressing system. 

Edited June 23 by Cloud9

[coach vahid]

Le 23/06/2024 à 17:12, Cloud9 a dit :

Spain press high as well, just look at this graphic. It's not like they play tiki taka anymore. In fact, almost all good teams at the Euro's engineer some type of high press. PPDA means opposition passes allowed per defensive action, indicating that you were unable to interrupt defensive buildup play with a higher number. Nagelsmann's Germany, who play with no natural width, excel at this vertical style. 

England are horrific at the moment, partly because they can't put together a press at all...and sit at 23.1 on this list. Aging strikers (Kane) can struggle in modern systems w/out the ability to lead the press from the front. Spain's striker, Morata, a striker w/less quality Kane, has the physical attributes to stretch the defensive and trigger the press as mentioned. Spain's wingers are both played on their off foot.

A high press does not necessarily struggle against a low block, that is more a problem for the vertical German systems (and is the question for Nagelsmann's vertical style). Man City's style have typically butchered teams than have overly sat back against them, although a counter attack w/quick front players will always be a threat to systems that control the ball. Playing through the opposition press is simply part of the modern game, which is why a press resistant technical DM is so highly valued (see Rice's struggles). 

• France are one of the few big teams who will be comfortable playing without the ball, relying on their strong defensive unit and talent/pace up front. They similarly employ a long ball option (Giroud) and deep lying technical players who are capable of breaking the lines out of a press. Deschamps played in Italy for Juventus and is a disciple of the old Italian approach.  

If anything we are seeing the continued rise of High Press football and the demise of the old Italian styles. It's worth remembering that the Italian team who won the last Euros deployed a possession based, high pressing system. 

Sorry @Cloud9, but where do you find these stats ? I'm interested.

[Cloud9]

7 hours ago, coach vahid said:

Sorry @Cloud9, but where do you find these stats ? I'm interested.

Here you go: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c6ppyw9yj12o