DOMINATE TO PRESS, PRESS TO DOMINATE – THE INTEGRATED CYCLE BEHIND THE SOCCEROOS’ SUCCESS
JANUARY 30, 2015

After the Socceroos semi-final win over United Arab Emirates, Ange Postecoglou said he was pleased that the Australian public had responded positively to the new look side. Indeed Australia’s determination to dominate possession and territory in has forced many football aficionados to rub their eyes in disbelief. In years gone by we could only dream of seeing this type of football domination.

Postecoglou’s Socceroos team always tries dominates possession, not in the defensive half, but in the dangerous territory ahead of the halfway line. They win it back quickly then tease and bully the opponent into submission and create bagfuls of chances per game at a pace that leaves the viewer breathless and begging for more.

“The desire to fragment continues and separating attack and defence or the transition moments ignores everything that unites them all: the game, the whole. The analysis that is commonly done on Barcelona’s ability to retrieve the ball after losing it: the classical Cartesian vision only considers moments, almost trapped in the photo, and will tend to dignify and celebrate ‘large recovery efforts’ while ignoring the fundamental: the game, the ‘continuum’’. Barca recovers the ball well after losing it, not because their players work hard, but because in the moments before the turnover they had a number of good passes that permitted the team and players to be positioned close together and their opposition were disorganized and forced to retreat.” – Raul Caneda.
As attack and defence are simply two sides of the same scale, they go together and are not separate. The offensive plan determines the defensive setup. It is because the Socceroos maintain possession that they are able to press so effectively and dominate the game. It is a flowing cycle, a “continuum” as Caneda mentions, which ensures that one aspect manifests the other and vice versa.

Postecoglou has created a belief in his squad that they do, in fact, have the tools necessary to keep the ball in tight areas. That confidence has developed into some of the beautiful attacking moves that we have seen throughout the Asian Cup, extremely nimble combinations, one and two-touch passages and interchanges which make the opponent’s defensive system resemble melting butter, sliced apart by the bluntest of knives.

More importantly, Postecoglou’s approach ensures that there are attacking players always in close proximity to the ball, with the exception of one or two players who stay away and act as a free man. This allows for the team, the players, positions and the ball to move close together as a fluid unit. The consequence of this is that when the Socceroos lose the ball, they are already close together and can press more easily after losing it. This becomes very difficult to counter against.

Think back to the hordes of coaches and analysts who unsuccessfully tried to deduce how it was that two of the game’s great artists Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez were able to press so aggressively under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona. Most of us looked to the team’s defensive “structure” or “pressing traps” while others simply resorted to believing that Pep had magically imbued them with a dramatically increased work rate and defensive urgency. It is now well known that Guardiola requires 15 consecutive passes from his players in order to properly set up an attack. This approach also fortifies the team’s ability to advance as a unit, close together.

Closer to home, players like Troisi, Luongo and Kruse – perhaps not renowned for their defensive effort or discipline out of possession – look as if that part of their game is now second nature to them. Swarms of green and gold surround opposition players within seconds of the ball being turned over, the new ball carrier often stripped of possession so quickly that it resembles a cartoon character falling into a river of voracious piranhas.

The Socceroos’ successful and highly aggressive pressing game has very little to do with buzz words like “intensity” and “commitment” and is reliant instead on a more integrated view of the national team’s tactical approach under Postecoglou. In short, the attacking approach determines the way of defending and also alters the game plan of the opposition. This then allows a team to dominate territorially and increase the percentage of chances created.

Rather than trying to identify the team’s defensive organisation once the ball has already been lost, coaches and analysts should look to what is happening before the ball is given away. At where and how the players are positioned when the team is in possession and how that affects the ability to recover the ball if it is lost.

Holistically, the Socceroos’ fresh new attitude under Postecoglou provides the framework for an energetic, assertive yet controlled game plan which has resonated profoundly with the Australian public, who love nothing more than seeing their national team ‘have a go’.


http://leopoldmethod.com.au/dominate-to-press-press-to-dominate-the-integrated-cycle-behind-the-socceroos-success/

Edited by Damo Baresi: 1/2/2015 07:38:46 PM

great post =d>

Agree.:)

Excellent stuff!!!

But how would I start teaching this to 16-17 year olds?? What sort of drills/exercises have people used to introduce some of these pressing concepts??

Its mentioned a couple of times here but this resource will help.

http://www.ffacoachingresource.com.au

It is not easy.

One needs to devise segments of the pitch, so in a Full Press, the attacking line trio pressure the opposition as soon as they get the ball moving in defence in the opposition Ball Possession or their Attacking Transition.

It is the timing that is important. In the defensive team's Ball Possession or Defensive Transition, as one player closes down one opposition player, the other three or four off the ball team-mates close to other defensive players, need to be able to time their closing down of the opposition defenders as, or just before, they receive the ball.

Optimum timing of the closing down of space, then creates time and space pressure. There is a greater likelihood of the opposition making a mistake in their Ball Possession, or Attacking Transition.

This is pretty advanced.

If you are working on 16 and 17 year olds it is probably still more worthwhile working on their Ball Possession as a priority. That is unless they are elite players who are playing more advanced tactics. At this level, there is usually assistance available through club TDs or FFA staff coaches.

To coach a Half Press is much easier.

1.use the 3 zone passing exercise but with a larger pitch with 4 players in each zone,end zones pass to each other thru the defending zone in the middle who initially send 1 player into the end zone, stop and question how the defending team could get the the ball quicker, answer more players to press the end zones, play again.
2.Simple ssg 6 v 6 6 second game, win the ball in the oppo half and score within 6 seconds and the goal counts double.
3. match day look for the trigger to press, which is letting the weakest defender having the ball, usually the right footed left centre back.

I've done something similar using three zones, with the BP team losing the ball, suddenly becoming the team in BPO.

It is basically extrapolated from the state youth coach who took my rep team for quite a few sessions, and the state head SAP coach. It certainly worked well and kept training at a very high intensity. I've also used it for adults successfully. They loved the intensity.

A lot of the pressing/squeezing can still be done at an older age level, whereas technique acquisition is hard to acquire as successfully as the years 9-13, every continuing on to 14-17.

It is better to spend time on technique acquisition in those earlier years.


Pressing/squeezing is a lot easier to coach at a later stage, namely adults. If one looks at the first graduates of the Skills Acquisition Program in the Australian under 16s/17s, they have far more advanced technical qualities than any previous Aussie generations. That has been the focus of their coaches.

Their off the ball work can be developed in pro clubs.






Edited by Decentric: 15/2/2015 10:16:39 AM

Nice read

technique, what do you think the team with the ball is doing, just because you as a coach are focusing on pressing doesn't mean the players with ball are not practising technique !

2nd session

1. use 4 + 4 v4 possession game, but again concentrate on the v4 players, first have a set time ie 90 secs as the v4, then progress the change over when the team that loses possession becomes the v4, so transition is then added to the exercise.

2. a rework of the 3 zone exercise , this time add a goalkeeper at one end to start the session and a pop up goal at the other. have players 2 3 45 in first zone and get GK to start, the middle zone can consists of the 7 9 10 and 11.
The 2345 have to pass to the other e3nd zone who then have 2 touches to score in pugg goal, the 7 9 10 and 11 if they win the ball can have a shot in 2/3 touches.

Again just as a coach you are working on BPO doesn't mean the players with the ball aren't practising technique.:p

One of drawbacks of the NC , is the retreat zone in ssf and very little pressing in 11 v 11.
When a couple of Aussie teams played in spain tournament it was seen that Aus players defenders still have trouble being confident on the ball under pressure.

True.

But technique acquisition isn't the focus of the session.




Edited by Decentric: 15/2/2015 11:24:45 PM

Bump.

Just as a side note (i am constantly telling my players that just because a player passes you the ball does not mean you cant pass it back to him) yesterday 2 players played passing back and forth so many times i lost count and then to a 3rd player who began an attack. also the back line and mids passed it at least 15 times to each other making the other team move all over the park was brilliant. So proud, lost the game because they could not keep it up but still great.

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=102632&p=2

Try this.

Last post on page 1 and first post on page 2.

Music to my ears, mate.:)