Art of the press, Arriago Sacchi!

[Stonigut]

Finally, on the craft of pressing:

“Every player had to be in the right place. In the defensive phase, all of our players always had four reference points: the ball, the space, the opponent and his teammates. Every movement had to be a function of those four reference points. Each player had to decode which of the four reference points should determine his movement.

Pressing is not about running and it’s not about working hard. It’s about controlling space. I wanted my players to feel strong and the opponents to feel weak. If we let our opponents play in a way they were accustomed to, they would grow in confidence. But if we stopped them, it would hurt their confidence. Our pressing was psychological as much as physical. Our pressing was always collective. I wanted all eleven players to be in an “active” position, effecting and influencing the opposition when we did not have the ball.”


When you look up Sacchi you will see a lot of comments on one main recent racist type remark look past that and you will find the real goods on what this guy developed.



Pressing is really about disrupting rhythm of opponent, creating chaos and confusion which leads to........opportunity!!! Mcanuff is a consistent presses and disrupters when not attacking, this to me is his greatest contribution to the team, look again at the TNT Carib cup game, consistent harassment of any attacker in his vicinity with ball at foot, disrupting flow and creating chaos, Dan you imagine a jamaican team with fit, fast and physical players playing a variety of pressing styles and creating quick opportunities, it would be mayhem for opponents.

[Rockman]

Nice!

[Stonigut]

Hey, do you think any team in Jamaican football, schoolboy or rspl presses in a methodical, team like manner, where all ten players are denying space, literally creating a moving invisible wave wall.

[Me]

Press methodically? yes.

Press methodically like the Italians? Never. Completely different football culture. Most players from other countries have culture shock when they go to Italy and their are training sessions for hours and hours without the ball focused solely on positioning.

Veratti from PSG, a very talented player, is struggling to get a run under Conte for the National team because he doesn't fully get his system as yet. Even with Pirlo out.

[Stonigut]

Pressing is a very natural defensive act, yes we have all pressed to shut down space, to harass an opponents rhythm, to push the ball into space that creates a better opportunity for a turnover or shut down space so fast and so strong that it leads the opponent to fumble receipt of ball and lead to a direct turnover on the initial press. Now my question was more on whether Any team in Ja has ever systematically pressed in tandem throughout a game. I am not sure about that, I don't think it is really about culture at all, more about institution of improvement culture around this concept.

It is much easier to build, adapt, improve pressing culture on the defensive side of the ball than it is to put in place tiki taka or total football on the attacking side of the ball, which does require attaining a critical mass of talent, technical know how, talent id, execution systems to carry out on a consistent basis but pressing really requires speed, tenacity, anticipation and fitness much easier to put that combination together on the d side versus what is needed to emulate those vaunted systems on the attack side of the ball.

With speed, passing etc an excellent pressing team can also be an excellent counterattack team, this is the path for Jamaica to compete with countries we have no business competing with when you think about playing with the ball like the brazilians, the Spanish or the Dutch, even the Mexicans, the quality of movement on and off the ball takes a long time to develop into a repeatable consistent way of play.

So yes, I think it is very possible to master the Italian style and add our own twist plus the twists added by the defensive side of total football and tiki taka, we have speed and I think very good one on one open field skill which is best maximized in a counterattack style. yes it is hard and some people think jamaica is all about being laid back, I actually think the opposite that some of the hardest working people I have ever seen were jamaican, we just have to identify them, on the football field we already have a few, Austin, taxi, mcanuff and Watson to a certain degree, with fitness and Id of more players with superior work habits, speed and ballhawk tendencies, we could see jamaica develop a new standard in pressing capability combined with an excellent counterattack system.

[OJ]

Do you think environment and climate has anything with high pressure.

[Stonigut]

Yes, it may have, we can adapt it to fit what we need. It does not gave to be high energy all the time as Sacchi says, but placement and spacing and good marking can set the framework for a consistent press.