

However, if a team wants to counter-press, that will come into their thinking when they have the ball. The aim is to increase the space to play in and the distances that the opposition have to cover when defending.

In general, teams make the pitch as big as possible when in possession by placing players all over the pitch. When adopting a counter-pressing strategy, what do the players do when in possession? Many German coaches, including Wolfgang Frank, Ralf Rangnick, Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann, have developed and used this strategy at various clubs. More specifically, counter-pressing is a translation from the German word ‘gegenpress'. It grew in prominence from the 1960s onwards, when the likes of Viktor Maslov, Ernst Happel, Rinus Michels, Valeriy Lobanovskyi and Arrigo Sacchi all had their teams adopt an aggressive press. Pressing, or applying pressure to the ball, is one of the five defensive principles of play, and has been an aspect of the game since football was invented. Where does the term ‘counter-pressing’ originate? The aim is to win possession back as quickly as possible, before the opposition can settle on the ball. It involves aggressively pressing the ball and the opponents near to the ball with several players. Counter-pressing is a strategy used to disrupt the opposition as soon as possession is lost – the point of defensive transition.
