Pressing, as a tactic

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Hoddle is a god

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It was noticeable, against Swansea, how every outfield player pressed the opposition, as soon as they got the ball, especially in their half. It was a tactic that worked very well for us, what with the supreme fitness of our squad and the subs we were able to bring on towards the end of the match, and I am certain that it was the major contributing factor to our winning the match.

It makes me wonder why we don't employ this tactic all the time?

We are perhaps the most dangerous side in the EPL when it comes to counter-attacking the opposition, and to win the ball in their half (which is the whole point of pressing all over the park) adds greater impact to those counter-attacks, because the opposition is usually caught out of position, and our players have less distance to travel to their box.

I hope Harry uses this tactic for the rest of the season, especially away from home.
 
It's quite a difficult and draining tactic to use every week, I think.
It worked very well against Swansea, but we'd probably need to rotate more often for it to become our standard way of playing and I'm not sure we've got the squad for it.
It was very interesting to see it in action, though.
 
it worked against Swansea because they are ball keepers like us..that is why we struggle against teams that pack the midfield etc....they like us need room to play their game...we couldnt employ such a tactic against hoofers as they would take out up to 3 or 4 of our players with one long punt up the field...then the players have to run back into position more times than not..as oppose to pressing footballing teams mean one of the pressers can intercept the ball on the ground.
 
Well for sure it worked well enough yesterday because we won the game, but I didn't feel the players adapted to it naturally. I don't know if the TV cameras showed this, but the coaching staff, particuarly Jordan, were on their feet for much of the game, bellowing out reminders to the players of what their responsibilities were. Sandro in particular, looked somewhat perplexed as to what his role should be yesterday.

I am inclined to agree with PNP on this, and say that we possibly don't have the squad to play this game every week.
 
Is it a tactic that we should be employing against Chelsea, at Wembley?
 
Hoddle Is A God said:
Is it a tactic that we should be employing against Chelsea, at Wembley?
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As said earlier by PNP, it's a draining game to play, and Wembley is not the pitch to play a draining type of game, so for me, it would be a no. Also, there were times yesterday (the first 15 minutes of the second half) when we struggled to get the ball from Swansea, and for that alone I would be hesitant at using it against Chelsea.
 
It's also quite risky against very physical teams. It's a tactic often used against us because they know we are a footballing side as are Swansea but against teams like Stoke it isn't really needed.
 
Spurf said:
It's also quite risky against very physical teams. It's a tactic often used against us because they know we are a footballing side as are Swansea but against teams like Stoke it isn't really needed.
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Good point Spurf, I agree with that.
 
As I recall we successfully adopted the same tactic in some of the early games this season (after the first two of course).
I think that it is a tactic that we should and can adopt against the 'footballing' teams although we would get bypassed against a Stoke or Blackburn. With the emphasis of this style on the efforts of the front 6 it does require that we utilise the squad much better - both between games and also with use of subs: we need to trust the likes of Jake, Defoe and Saha to play a bigger role and share the work burden with the regular first 11. (I really don't think that Nico has it in his armoury and I am worried that Rose is still not fully up to speed.)
But with only 7 PL games to go and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it should surely be possible to run with this plan in 4 or 5 of those?
 
One of Harrys basic tenets is that all players should graft for the team, even Defoe gets back to defend nowadays, that's Harry.
 
all we need to do against Chelsea is play the way we did at Stamford bridge,with two differences,score a couple of goals and not concede
 
PleaseNotPoll said:
It's quite a difficult and draining tactic to use every week, I think.
It worked very well against Swansea, but we'd probably need to rotate more often for it to become our standard way of playing and I'm not sure we've got the squad for it.
It was very interesting to see it in action, though.
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As you know, PNP, It's a tactic that Barca use to great effect. If they somehow give the ball away, they hunt down the opposition until they get it back. Our problem is learning to keep the ball better, the we wouldn't need to spend so much time chasing the opposition to try and get it back.
 
That's true NSIS, but we also do very well when we attack teams at pace on the break, which often requires taking risks and either results in a chance or losing the ball.
It's a tricky balance to strike.

We played some nice, patient stuff at times against Swansea, which meant a lot of sideways and backwards passing, which the crowd doesn't always appreciate.
Other sides won't always allow us time to do that.
 
Hoddle Is A God said:
Is it a tactic that we should be employing against Chelsea, at Wembley?
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Probably not, given their game isn't about passing and retaining the ball. Pressing works against teams that like to pass it around, for example Arsenal, Swansea, and Manchester United - but it won't work against Stoke. Chelsea's game is more physical, so there's a lot less to be gained from pressing them - especially as there's little creativity in their midfield, Mata aside.
 
PleaseNotPoll said:
That's true NSIS, but we also do very well when we attack teams at pace on the break, which often requires taking risks and either results in a chance or losing the ball.
It's a tricky balance to strike.

We played some nice, patient stuff at times against Swansea, which meant a lot of sideways and backwards passing, which the crowd doesn't always appreciate.
Other sides won't always allow us time to do that.
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It's true that to attack the way we do, at times, requires taking the risk of losing the ball. However, I'm still convinced that we concede far too much possession, needlessly. As for the pressing issue, if you're good enough, it doesn't work. Ask all the teams who have tried to harry Barca out of their stride.
 
The only problem with pinning sides back is that it makes a lot more difficult to counter attack. The thing that a lot of teams worry about with us is our ability to break out of our own half at speed. Also we really are not fit enough as a squad to employ it as a tactic every week.
 
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littleDinosaurLuke said:
Doesn't every team press when the opposition have the ball?
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Theoretically, yes Luke. It's just that some are far more effective at doing it. Plus, as I've already said, if you don't make a habit of giving the ball away, you don't have to expend as much energy trying to get it back.
 
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