Gustavo Torres

Fabian Hürzeler and Brighton with a smart solution to overcome Man City's press. Simple execution, detailed preparation. Man City have been pressing on the right side using a fullback-to-fullback jump, with the winger stepping out to the centre-back, allowing the three midfielders to take up man-oriented positions inside. As you can see in the picture, Matheus Nunes, Man City's right-back, is positioned in an intermediate position. Maresca's intention is essentially to press aggressively in a man-to-man structure while remaining slightly more conservative with the positioning of his fullback. This allows Matheus Nunes to drop quickly and provide the +1 at the back if the opposition play a long ball, for example. At the same time, he remains close enough to the opposition's left-back to jump out and press if the ball is played into the wide area, to then yes go into a full man-to-man press. Obviously, Fabian Hürzeler was aware of this and started asking his left-back to move inside. By doing so, he essentially neutralised the pressing idea. Matheus Nunes now has two options: either follow his direct opponent inside or drop back into the defensive line. There is no longer any room for an intermediate position. This is also made possible by the concept of "isolated deep build-up" that I have discussed many times. Matheus Nunes chose not to follow his opponent, leaving Brighton with a very simple 4v2 to solve in large spaces, as the remaining Brighton players are positioned higher up the pitch, dragging their markers away from the deep build-up area. It's fascinating to see how some coaches keep trying to press without fully committing to a man-to-man structure, looking to remain more conservative and protect themselves a bit more. But the level of detail in modern build-up solutions and coaching is constantly challenging these compromises, forcing teams to either commit fully to the press or drop off.

Overload the Deep Build-Up or Isolate it? Teams are increasingly taking one of two extreme approaches, but it's clear to me that the majority are moving towards an "Isolated Deep Build-up". Even the two coaches who have arguably relied more than anyone else on overloading the deep build-up, De Zerbi and Farioli, are now isolating their centre-backs and goalkeeper during build-up, while pushing the rest of the team higher up the pitch at Tottenham and Porto, as you can see in this example from Porto's last game. I'm taking yesterday's goal from FC Barcelona's high press against Aston Villa as an example of the disadvantages of overloading the deep build-up, with so many players operating in short distances. Aston Villa are about to find the free player, the left centre-back, to progress through a third-man combination, as they so often do. However, because of the short distance between the centre-back and the left-back, Lamine Yamal is able to become a "double-role presser". This wouldn't be possible if the fullback were positioned many metres higher up the pitch. With so many teams placing a strong emphasis on high pressing, and with the increasing use of highly athletic players who can repeat efforts consistently and effectively execute these "double-role presses", progressing through an overloaded deep build-up is becoming increasingly difficult. You need to be very, very accurate if you want to progress from there. I'm curious to see what Unai Emery will do with his game model. While many coaches are changing their approach towards an "isolated deep build-up", he continues to insist on "overloading the deep build-up". It makes sense for him to take those risks in the deep build-up. The idea is to drag opposition players towards his own box and then isolate players like Manzambi and Nico Jackson in 1v1 situations, allowing them to run in behind. They have scored many goals through these so-called "artificial transitions" that Emery wants to create. For me, Aston Villa have reached a point where they can still progress and succeed by overloading the deep build-up because they have focused so much on this phase of the game that they excel at it. I call them deep build-up specialists. However, teams like FC Barcelona are also improving and becoming increasingly effective at high pressing. I call them high press specialists. Think about it, this season they replaced Lewandowski with Gordon, which adds much more value to their pressing. Interestingly, and to confirm what I'm saying, the players who struggled the most yesterday in terms of execution and decision-making during Aston Villa's deep build-up were mainly Suzuki and João Gomes, two new players in the team. This is absolutely normal, and it also gives credit to the work Aston Villa have been doing. The level of execution and composure they show can only come from years of work in this phase of the game. Anyway, I'm interested to see whether Unai Emery continues doubling down on his idea or eventually moves towards a different build-up approach, as De Zerbi and Francesco Farioli have done. Coaching a team to become excellent at playing short in deep build-up requires considerably more time and work than coaching a team to become excellent at high pressing. With so many games to play and very little time to train, it was only logical to see an evolution towards fewer and fewer teams overloading the deep build-up. Isolating the deep build-up makes it easier and simpler for players to execute. It's also one of the reasons why many teams have moved away from hybrid high-pressing models, combining zonal and man-to-man principles, and towards a full man-to-man high press, making the approach easier to understand and execute. Simplification has become increasingly important in modern football due to the lack of training time.

New build-up solutions demand new pressing ideas. New pressing ideas demand new build-up solutions. The never-ending tactical battle. In the last couple of seasons, there has been a tendency in deep build-up to spread the centre-backs wide and push the fullbacks higher. This is what I call "Isolating the deep build-up". With more teams pressing man-to-man, the intention behind positioning the centre-backs so wide was to increase the distance for the “double-role presser”: the player responsible for pressing one of the centre-backs and the goalkeeper. Once the double-role presser stepped to press the goalkeeper, many teams would use the third-man concept to find the free centre-back. The goalkeeper would play into a midfielder, who would then play a bounce pass to the centre-back, now free to receive. By pushing the fullbacks higher, teams created space for the centre-backs to receive unopposed. And because of the centre-backs being wide to increase the distance, the centre-forward would often arrive too late to apply pressure back. However, during last season and this one, more teams have started to respond differently. Instead of pressing the goalkeeper horizontally, they step forward frontally, often with a midfielder jumping out to press the goalkeeper while using his cover shadow to block access to his direct opponent. The quality with which some teams now execute what I call the "Vertical Third Man" is incredible. It allows them to bypass the first line of pressure and find the free player inside. Arsenal did it against Bayern Munich, but if there is one team that has mastered this concept, it is Como under Cesc Fàbregas. Not many teams have mastered this level of execution yet, unlike the “Horizontal Third Man”, which has been refined over the years to the point that almost any team in elite football can execute it comfortably. From a pressing perspective, stepping forward frontally to press the goalkeeper can be an effective approach. Bayern Munich with Kompany were among the teams using this solution last season, while Roberto De Zerbi has also applied it with Olympique de Marseille and Tottenham Hotspur, particularly against teams that want to "isolate the build-up." At first glance, pressing the goalkeeper frontally might seem riskier than pressing horizontally. The main trade-off is that a midfielder has to step out of his position, leaving one fewer player inside. This can create a temporary numerical disadvantage in midfield, which can be more dangerous than leaving the centre-back free. However, the advantage is that the opposition often struggles to build up short. By applying direct pressure to the goalkeeper, the pressing team reduces his time to find a solution and forces him to play towards one side or go long. Unless the opposition can execute the “Vertical Third Man” concept mentioned earlier, which only a few teams currently master, frontal pressing tends to be an effective way to prevent opponents from progressing comfortably through the first phase of build-up. If you want to keep controlling games and progressing through build-up, you need to keep developing new solutions. Opponents are increasingly willing to take more risks in their pressing structures to prevent you from controlling games with the ball.