An important distinction to also make is that pressing does not necessarily always refer to pressing high up the pitch. Instead, it is proposed by Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s book, ‘The Methodological Basis of the Development of Training Models’ that there are three types of pressing.

The full press refers to an aggressive press high up in the opposition half, with the defensive action to win the ball back encompassing all areas of the pitch.


A half-press is where a team drops off into a formation – for example, a 4-5-1 – and then presses when a certain trigger occurs, such as the ball moving beyond halfway or the right-back receiving a pass.


Finally, Lobanovskyi proposes a false press, where one or two players pressure and the rest of the team arrange themselves in the formation.

As a full press is difficult to execute over long periods of time, a half-press is the most commonly used by teams. That is no different in the A-League. The trigger mentioned by the definition above varies depending on the opposition and the coach – it could be a back pass by the opposition or a poor first touch by the player in possession.




Thought I'd post this, which was sourced from Aussie Scout's thread on his various HAL match analyses.


I was sent the aforementioned info, word for word, from an international coach, on a large mailing list. Then I lost it.](*,)

He also said Rinus Michels and Maslov were involved as progenitors of types of pressing, with Lobanovski.

When I raised this at an FFA Advanced Education course, one of the instructors, who was also a national team coach at the time, and who I've learnt a lot from about football performance away from coaching courses, him being very knowledgeable, didn't know what these terms were.

I raised them in front of an even higher up FFA coach educator in the hierarchy, and a state TD, as I thought they were pertinent to the discussion we were having on pressing.

I was amazed he didn't seek me out to find out where the info had come from.


I've also thought the term Squeezing, was how hard one pressured the ball within a Full Press, the Half Press and the Fake or Partial Press.

It is possible to Squeeze intensively whilst employing a Half Press. The terms Full, Half and Partial are applicable to the amount of the pitch the team decides to Press, not the intensity of it.

Thanks for putting it up, Aussie Scout.







Edited by Decentric: 24/12/2014 10:59:19 PM

I have always thought that the full and half court and pressing generally is something that football has copied from basketball

Front player presses until the ball is passed from op backs forward then hunt in wolf packs ( 3 ) until the ball is carried over the halfway line, then your backs and midfield man mark.

It's rare to see many teams do a full press.

The best example I've seen in the HAL this season pressing-wise was the Brisbane-SFC game when Janko scored that wonder-volley. Sydney FC did a half-press (which at brief times turned into a full press) to perfection, and really had Brisbane under the pump.

When pressing, it is important that you don't have a weak/missing link - everyone in the team needs to be on the same page, and pulling their weight. Otherwise, good teams will find the gaps you've left and you'll be all out of formation.

I noted that too in that particular game.

It was excellent off the ball work from SFC.=d>

So true.

press from the front in bpo
squeeze from the back when in bp

but then again i see some clogs call squeezing from side to side at the time of the press.

I really enjoyed the Socceroos pressing game last night v Kuwait. Interested to see others thoughts. At time it felt like a full press.

I agree but it was definitely aided by a Kuwait team who were shocking and playing out from the back