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High press

High press

A

Alpine White

Determined to save our club
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Messages
3,526
Location
French/Swiss border
Many of us have surely been asking ourselves the same question - why can't we score goals?

I've started to wonder if, paradoxically, it could be related to our very high pressing game.

Basically the high press means we are forcing the other team to be more compressed - they can't easily play from the back through midfield so the midfielders drop back.

PNE don't have a quality striker available who is capable of weaving through closely packed defenders and scoring. (Nmecha has shown some hope that he might be able to do this)

We do, however, have lots of pace, but pace is not so useful when the opponents are already pushed back. It's no accident that Barkhuizen has got a good number of goals when we are away and is struggling now.

So, I'm wondering if we shouldn't wind the high press back 20 yards or so.

Two positive thoughts though:
- Maguire will be back and may do this job
- I expect us to be under the cosh at Derby and to win with counter attacking strikes
 
Good points.

If you notice we do also have spells when we play the ball back, and pass across the back line,to draw teams out. (A bit like they do to us!)

In contrast, Grayson played deep, invited pressure and meekly defended one-nil leads.

There's a time and a place for both.

Smart teams can switch between the two and make smart decision when to do it.

So, how smart are we?
 
The issue at Norwich was there was just no desire or urgency in the play, it was way to pedestrian when we broke away. Prime example being when Robinson went on his run and ended up hitting the bar - he had hardly anyone else around him. With teams that will sit, they need to be invited out and then switch to the high press, not high press from the moment we kick off till the final whistle.
 
Having watched a few games, when the players click we play a nice passing game in front of teams and they sit back at let us do so as that does not hurt. In the second halves, Both stoke and Norwich played the game we played under Grayson, let the opposition press you high remain tight and play it over the top of our midfield on the break.

Effectively we are struggling against the game we played well and have changed from.

Staying with the current tactic needs playing the ball out to a good crosser of the ball out wide with a big header of the ball in the middle front. Alternatively a big imposing ball holding centre forward.

And as others have said we don’t have one yet.
 
We didn’t press against Norwich, instead sitting in and making two banks of four.

So no, I think the fact we hardly score is down to our lack of creativity, not our off the ball defensive work.
 
kingpne said:
We didn’t press against Norwich, instead sitting in and making two banks of four.

So no, I think the fact we hardly score is down to our lack of creativity, not our off the ball defensive work.
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I agree with you.

In theory the high press should help create more goal scoring opportunities since the team will be forcing errors and winning the ball in the attacking third of the pitch.

Really hope AN can get the players working as hard and effectively to this strategy as we saw them do for much of last season starting tomorrow.

It's a big game for us, we don't want to lose and extend a fairly poor start to the season, but IMHO we should be positive from the start, take the game to them and battle hard for the WIN.
 
kingpne said:
We didn’t press against Norwich, instead sitting in and making two banks of four.

So no, I think the fact we hardly score is down to our lack of creativity, not our off the ball defensive work.
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I'm a bit surprised by this..I thought we did press quite high.

Anyway, I'm in full agreement about the lack of creativity. I really want to see what Harrop can do - he looked totally bemused at being given 30 seconds against Norwich - it was almost timewasting to bring him on.
 
I can't remember us really going all High press since the dreadful bout of injuries sustained last season. Its one part of our game in AN's early days here that i wish we would return to.
 
Schofe said:
I can't remember us really going all High press since the dreadful bout of injuries sustained last season. Its one part of our game in AN's early days here that i wish we would return to.
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I agree. In fact, I don’t ever recall it being as evident as some seemed to think. But even putting aside the high press, I have literally no idea what our preferred style or identity is supposed to be.
 
High press effectively it’s about stopping the opposition from playing and that’s as far as our identity goes, we have been found out and it’s just not working.
 
Final Stand said:
High press effectively it’s about stopping the opposition from playing and that’s as far as our identity goes, we have been found out and it’s just not working.
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We seem to be playing a deep sitting game though now and opponents are put under very little pressure as they build from the back.
 
Final Stand said:
So now we have no identity and the results reflect this?
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Absolutely. We seem to have lost our way somewhat.

Maybe we should take a good luck at Millwall who seem to have a clear and effective strategy on a modest budget.

Back to basics for us now.
 
We pressed high up numerous times particular in the first half, and won the ball back in dangerous areas. Sadly our lack of quality showed and once we won it back in a 3 v 3 situation, either Ledson would smack it out of play, Harrop would pass it to a Derby player or Burke would cross it to the keeper.
 
kingpne said:
We pressed high up numerous times particular in the first half, and won the ball back in dangerous areas. Sadly our lack of quality showed and once we won it back in a 3 v 3 situation, either Ledson would smack it out of play, Harrop would pass it to a Derby player or Burke would cross it to the keeper.
Click to expand...

lol it really is shit at the moment isn't it?
 
Hitman31 said:
I agree. In fact, I don’t ever recall it being as evident as some seemed to think. But even putting aside the high press, I have literally no idea what our preferred style or identity is supposed to be.
Click to expand...
The one thing that’s been a constant under AN whether we are in form or not... is that we just do not score goals in the first 20 minutes of games. I think it’s something like 3 league goals in 50+ league games. Our overall first 45 mins record is pretty poor too. This isn’t related to formations or Trevor’s spending. This is down to a manager who prefers to take zero risks during the early part of games. I think that’s the main identity. And with that mindset when goals dry up it’s no surprise defeats follow.
 
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