The popularity of gegenpressing is arguably the biggest tactical switch in football over the last 5 years. That’s not to say that it’s a new concept of course. The reasons for its prevalence at the top-tier of European football are the same reasons for its rise during the 70s and 80s under Michels and Sacchi.

Cruyff famously said that he wanted to maximise the space for his team to play in, while minimising the space for the opposition. This is because in a constricted area the technical, mental and physical superiority of his side would shine through, while any weakness in the opposition would be cruelly exposed.

The point of gegenpressing, as described by Adin Osmanbasic in a fantastic video that inspired this blog, is to force an opposition action.

The concept is simple yet brilliant. Within seconds, the player on the ball will be swarmed from all directions. Within seconds, men will be surging at him from all directions, and with teammates covered and options limited, the player on the ball will be forced into an action. Normally, this is an inaccurate clearance which should fall back to the pressing team. But, if he tries to play in his panicked state, there is a greater chance of him making a mistake, either being tackled or playing an inaccurate pass. If he plays an accurate pass to a teammate, then the cycle starts again. This cycle usually ends up with the pressing team regaining possession.

To try and explain the concept a bit further, I’ll first try and explain the four phases of the game.

The majority of the game can be split into the possession-based phases, when one team is either in or out of possession. Between these two phases, there are two transitional phases, representing when a team either wins or loses the ball. These are the phases in which gegenpressing operates. (If the wording’s a bit vague, I think of the ‘in possession’ represent stable possession, while ‘transition into possession’ represents unstable possession). If you imagine, as above, that the four phases work in a cyclic motion, then gegenpressing looks to win the ball back during the ‘transition out of possession’ phase. This is to ensure the opposition can’t build-up stable possession, and therefore cannot counter-attack. (gegenpressing translates as countering the counter).

Now that we know about the phases, let’s discuss how gegenpressing works within these phases. It’s quite hard to explain simply, so I created a flowchart which can be seen below. (The underlined phrases summarise the main goal of each phase).

In Possession

Well, I guess this depends on the manager. The overall goal of this phase though is to gain control of the ball and ultimately score goals. One advantage of gegenpressing is that it guarantees a large chunk of possession in the opposition’s half beause the opponent can’t effectively counter-attack. This allows the attacking team to pin the opposition defence back and create numerical superiorities in the positions they want. Another advantage of essentially playing in the opposition’s half is that there should always be a few players in the immediate vicinity to press if the ball is won. (I’ll discuss Guardiola’s 15-pass rule in the next blog post).

Transition out of possession

As stated before, the goal of this phase is to win the ball back. When the ball is lost, the attacking structure should ensure that there are a number of players able to press immediately. Osmanbasic suggested that when setting Klopp set his team up to attack, the shape was just as focused on winning the ball back quickly rather than scoring.

Out of possession

Once the opposition has achieved stable possession, the end-goal remains the same, but the intensity of the press is reduced slightly.

Transition into possession

When the ball is won back in dangerous areas, the team drives forward at speed. This is to create positive forward momentum, while forcing the opposition to run towards their own goal. This panicked state inhibits the oppositions positional sense and decision making, create gaps to be exploited.

One thing that Adin Osmanbasic emphasised in his video (view below) was the 4 aspects of gegenpressing.

The top two are described as ‘on the ball’, meaning that they are ‘active processes’, engaging with the ball. Attacking the ball carrier reduces his time on the ball but leaves gaps in the defensive shape. Intercepting the pass may be better for the shape of the team, but with the caveat that the intercepting player will face immediate pressure from the recipient.

Alternatively, off the ball actions are more passive processes, looking at controlling space rather than actively seeking to win the ball. In the process of cover pressing, midfielders and defenders cover any gaps left by the pressing attackers, achieving greater solidity but reducing the number of players pressing. Covering passing lanes is arguably the most widespread aspect of gegenpressing used worldwide. With his options blocked, the player in possession panics, and resorts to an inaccurate clearance. The obvious downside is that it gives the player in possession more time on the ball, leaving you vulnerable to technically gifted players.

The 4 types of gegenpressing

There are four main types of gegenpressing, as discussed here by René Maric in his article for spielverlagerung.

Ball orientated

Practised in schoolyards everywhere, ball-orientated pressing is the concept of gegenpressing in its simplest form. It’s a blind, unstructured rush towards the ball. When first used by the Dutch during the 80s, it proved fairly effective due to the technical weakness of the opposition and the limited level of tactical knowledge at the time. Unsurprisingly, this technique is rarely used anymore due to the physical effort required, and how easily several players can be taken out of the game.

just look at them go!

Space orientated

Space-orientated pressing is similar in many ways to ball-orientated pressing in that the ball carrier is principally targeted. The idea, as executed brilliantly by Klopp’s Dortmund, is to close in on the ball carrier from all directions, exerting maximum pressure. Not only is the player immediately pressured, but all passing options are immediately cut-off. This kind of press is incredibly hard for the unlucky player to escape. Furthermore, efficient set-up and good structure mean that if done correctly, the rest of the team should be on hand to sweep up if the press is evaded.

Man and lane oriented

I’ve combined these two as they both focus on reducing the options of the player in possession. In a man-orientated system, the ball-carrier is pressured by one, maybe two players, while the rest of the defending team man-marks his possible passing options. Therefore if he tried to find one of his marked teammates, there will be an opponent on hand to intercept the ball or tackle the recipient. Lane orientated, as seen in Pep’s Barcelona, is far more sophisticated and therefore much harder to train and pull-off. While one or two players press the ball-carrier, passing lanes are strategically blocked or left-tantalisingly open, with a player ready to intercept just out of view. Without wanting to sound like a broken record, the two end-goals are the same. Either the player punts an aimless ball upfield, or he loses possession in a dangerous area.

Why FM19? well, for one thing, FM19, beta, Liverpool and gegenpressing are a search engine’s wet-dream (capitalism, bitch). More seriously, major changes have been made to the training and tactics systems. Attempting an ambitious project like this should hopefully let me learn the ropes of the new mechanics by the team the full game drops on November 2nd.

On that note, I’m still interested in any suggestions for how I could spice up my journeyman save. Any suggestions are appreciated down in the comments below or on my twitter @ScottishFMer.

next time:

Why I chose Liverpool

Squad overview

look at new training system

look at new tactical system

tactical ideas to consider

Thanks for reading!