Since his first press conference Van Gaal has repeated his desire to teach United how to perform his ‘philosophy’. However it was not until after the FA Cup quarter-final loss to Arsenal in March when Van Gaal decided to switch to his preferred 4-3-3 formation that United began to perform in a way that fitted this ‘philosophy’. One notable difference after the switch was a greater emphasis being placed on pressing opponents deep into their half. Van Gaal stated that the greater emphasis on pressing was a primarily defensive mechanism employed to help stabilise the defence. However United’s counterpressing has been quite consistent throughout the season and Van Gaal worked hard to instil the impulse and appetite for quick regains very early.

In order to make the article fully understandable I will quickly distinguish between pressing and counterpressing (Gegenpressing-German). The main difference is that counterpressing is done in defensive transitions hence the word ‘counter’, so counterpressing is pressing to win the ball back in the immediate aftermath of losing the ball regardless of the position of the ball. Pressing however is done in any phase of the game and any part of the field as well, this is why the term ‘high pressing’ is used as it refers to the height of pressing being very high. Pressing can be done in one’s own half and many teams decide to only press when their opponents cross their halfway line. Pressing is simply applying pressure to the ball and the surrounding area with the main intention being to win possession of the ball. Note If you want an in-depth analysis on pressing and counterpressing have a look at Adin Osmanbasic’s tactical theory piece here.

Pressing

In the 4-3-3 formation United’s pressing scheme is heavily man-oriented on the ball side meaning every opponent in the area is covered compressing the area and the striker aims to prevent the pass across the back line with his cover shadow. The far side is vacated in the knowledge that in the time any ball takes to travel across the pitch they can apply pressure upon its landing. At least three players are back in the defensive line and Michael Carrick often drops back to make up the number if needed. In a man-oriented pressing scheme the ball carrier is pressed by one player while the others in the area attach themselves to all the other players in close proximity (who represent passing options).

United’s win at Anfield was one of United’s best displays of pressing, and one of the best in the Premier League this season. The intensity with which United pressed the ball in the opening 45 minutes was remarkable and Liverpool simply could not keep possession for any sustained period of time. In the scene above Can is on the ball and Young presses him while Rooney attaches himself to Skrtel, Herrera sticks to Allen, Fellaini marks Henderson, Blind pushes up on Sterling and Carrick follows Lallana. Liverpool are a team that like to play out from the back yet they found themselves constantly going long from deep areas due to Man Utd’s effective pressing. With every passing option in the vicinity being closely marked it would be too risky for Can to attempt any passes. Theoretically this pressing should have given United total control as even if one does not rate Jones or Smalling it is clear that they will enjoy aerial dominance over Daniel Sturridge. However it is not practically realistic to press so intensely for long periods of time due to the amount of energy it takes. Therefore United did two things; they kept possession of the ball very well which meant they did not have to press for too long, they also chose their moments to press smartly particularly at the beginning which completely destabilised Liverpool and put United in total control.

Pressing is a major part of Louis Van Gaal’s famed tactical ‘philosophy’ and his former players credited him as the man who re-introduced the concept of pressing to Barcelona in the 1990s. Van Gaal is clearly very confident in his ability to coach a team to press as he claimed that it was done to make his team more solid defensively. However if pressing is not performed correctly it will have exactly the opposite effect. Take the image (left) for example if United attempted to press the ball like this it could easily be beaten due to the lack of attention to Allen and the lack of vertical compactness (big gap between midfield and defence). Allen could therefore pick the ball up from Can and feed a vertical pass into one of the front 3 who would be 3v3 against the defence and would thus pose a serious goal threat. Pressing therefore is a difficult process to execute effectively, it only takes one player failing to do their job to fully undermine a team’s press and put the team in danger of conceding a goal.

A glance at Man Utd’s opening goal (left) demonstrates just how dangerous a failed attempt to press can be. Liverpool’s pressing shape is actually quite good (apart from Allen’s and Moreno’s positioning) the problem was posed by Fellaini who deceived Jordan Henderson with quick movement and picked the ball up from Jones on Henderson’s inside and then fed Herrera who had space and time to play a fantastic through ball to Mata. It is only effective to overload one side of the pitch and under load the far side if you make it practically impossible for your press to be beaten. Unfortunately for Liverpool this was not the case and when their press was beaten their left side was severely understaffed and badly positioned which led to Mata putting United 1-0 up.

Several other matches including the ‘demolition derby’ showcased United’s near side man-oriented pressing scheme. An advantage of the scheme is that no passes are made without being under significant pressure which reduces the chance that the passes will be successful. However a disadvantage is that being 1v1 against individuals who excel in tight situations (‘press resistant’ or ‘needle’ players) could prove quite fruitless and possibly even dangerous. English teams are notorious around Europe for a lack of compactness especially in their pressing, without wishing to ‘pick on’ a certain team, this was particularly evident when City took on Barcelona as was pointed out by Tom Payne in his compactness article. City are employing a similarly man-oriented press on the near side however they fail to commit enough numbers and the first major problem is the lack of attention paid to Rakitic. The second major problem is that City’s midfield and defence fail to push up with the forward players which results in huge space in between the team’s layers of defence (poor compactness). Of course United did not face opposition of the calibre of Barcelona this season but it bodes well for the future that United demonstrate good compactness in their pressing and do not fail to pay attention to any players in the vicinity.

Counterpressing

Statistical analyses have demonstrated that Manchester United are the best counterpressing team in the Premier League. Michael Caley’s Gegenpressing % (above, left) is operationalised/measured by how often teams break up new possession gained by their opponents (quite wordy I know). In simple terms then it is how often a team wins the ball back or forces a throw in or free kick in the aftermath of losing possession. Colin Trainor’s table (above, right) is calculated by the average number of passes allowed to opponents who have just won possession before a defensive action (e.g. a tackle) is executed. Both of these measures put United top so how do Man Utd go about their counterpressing? The answer is it depends on the opponents and the number of players in the vicinity in relation to the number of opponents in the area. Just as with their pressing United’s counterpressing is mostly man-oriented but this is most prominent when United have at least as many players in the surrounding area as the opponents. In the cases where United have fewer players in the area than the opponents the counterpressing resembles a passing lane oriented scheme more closely. This means that the players will try to press an opponent but also use their cover shadow to block the pass to another player, this way each player can cover 2 options and compensate for the relative lack of numbers.

In this scene (left) United’s main aim seems to be to build high resistance to the forward passes and leave the backwards passes open for Silva. United are trying to force City into taking the path of least resistance which would mean United get enough time to re-organise themselves against City’s impending attack, if City do not however they risk losing the ball. Perhaps Van Gaal adapted this in recognition of City’s ability to retain the ball in tight situations and therefore aimed to prevent dangerous attacks being built. This would therefore be a case of the counterpress depending on the opponents, specifically their ability.

This scene is one whereby United have less players in the area than opponents (3 to Hull’s 5). To prevent Hull from playing around them Rooney and Herrera have to attempt to cut off 2 passing options each while Valencia focuses solely on the ball carrier (Brady). Rooney attempts to use his cover shadow to prevent the pass to Dawson (not perfectly) while simultaneously pressing Livermore. The pass to Robertson on the left is not available due to the angle Valencia is pressing Brady from and the positioning of Herrera who is also in position to prevent Curtis Davies receiving the ball.

Counterpressing does, of course, go hand in hand with a short passing style as the players are in close proximity which will assist the attempts to regain possession quickly. It is no surprise therefore that more than one of my illustrations come from one of United’s most dominant performances; the 3-0 home win over Hull. In this match United had 76% possession and completely dominated. Against Hull United executed a number of highly intense staggered/layered counterpressing moves such as this one (left). The first layer, consisting of Valencia, Herrera, Rooney and Van Persie, matches Hull 4v4, however the second layer, Fellaini, Carrick and Mata, are all covering two passing options in case the first layer is beaten. As it turned out the second layer was not required as Valencia lunges in for a tackle and Hull won a (somewhat controversial) free-kick.

Benefits

Pressing and counterpressing has various benefits and uses, it can help to create chances as teams can win the ball in advanced areas and with their opponents disorganised it can present goal scoring opportunities. As Jurgen Klopp, a famous advocate of counterpressing says ‘Gegenpressing is the best playmaker there is. The best moment to win the ball is immediately after your team just lost it’. Another potential benefit is increasing the defensive solidity of the team, counterpressing can prevent a counter attack while pressing can inhibit the opponent’s ability to build a dangerous attack. As Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt says ‘Early pressing and ‘forward-defending’ can be a useful ploy to keep the opponent out of the danger zone in the first place’. Contrary to common conception pressing can also be an energy saving tactic as it will cost a team less energy to run for around 6 seconds than it will running back several metres towards their own goal. As Johan Cruyff once said ‘pressuring high limits the amount of running players must do. When you win back the ball, there are 30 metres to goal rather than 80’. Furthermore pressing can also assist a team’s possession game which is probably the most obvious benefit as possession teams crave the ball pressing and counterpressing helps them gain possession in the rare moments in which they do not have the ball.

Overall I believe that United have enjoyed all of these benefits to varying degrees however it is United’s possession game that has benefitted most from United’s pressing and counterpressing. In the last 10 games of the season United had an average of 64% possession, in fact overall United finished top of the league for possession with 61.2% on average (courtesy of whoscored.com). Of course this is not solely due to pressing, factors such as deep defensive opponents and Van Gaal prioritising somewhat ‘sterile’ control have led to the high possession statistics. However the role of United’s pressing and counterpressing should not be underestimated after all you cannot really dominate possession if you cannot regain the ball quickly from opponents.

Along with ‘philosophy’ the word ‘process’ has been one of Van Gaal’s buzzwords in his press conferences this year. United have certainly made progress in the process of being indoctrinated with Van Gaal’s philosophy most noticeably with their passing, possession and pressing. However United have been accused of being boring which contradicts Van Gaal’s ‘philosophy’ which he says is to entertain, attack and win. High pressing teams are usually very exciting, think about Dortmund and Leverkusen however United are different as once they win the ball they aim to circulate the ball rather than attack their opponents directly. There are several theories as to why Van Gaal has chosen to favour ‘sterile domination’. I believe that one of the most plausible is that he does not feel confident in his defence and thus aims to prevent the game being an open end-to-end affair. If United can improve their defence and midfield this summer Van Gaal may choose to make United more attack-minded than possession-oriented which would improve their entertainment value. Combining an attacking mentality with control of possession (‘balance’) and the use of good pressing and counterpressing would be a major step in the process and United would finally be a team that reflects Van Gaal’s famed philosophy more accurately on a consistent basis.