Is it too quickly to name Manchester Metropolis vs. Liverpool the perfect rivalry on Earth?
It won’t have the standard of 2010’s Actual vs Barca, nor the vitality of AC Milan vs. Inter. It doesn’t have the sheer violence and bloodshed of Purple Star and Partizan.
But, it could have the 2 brightest managers alive in Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.
Guardiola vs Klopp
Guardiola, who has managed Barcelona, Bayern, and Metropolis, has ceaselessly butted heads with Klopp, supervisor of Mainz, Dortmund, and Liverpool.
“There are some managers, Jürgen is one, to problem you to maneuver a step ahead,” Guardiola confided earlier than a match at Anfield a 12 months in the past. The 2 have molded what we consider soccer at the moment with their revolutionary methods.
Considered one of their largest successes has been the revival of gegenpressing in trendy soccer. They each used the tactic, and with important success. The beliefs of the gegenpress have been used far and large, from native rec leagues to the World Cup.
Heaps and many operating
The gegenpress could be lowered to operating. Heaps and many operating. The title gegenpress, or counter-press in German, borrows its title from the ideologies of the technique; to stress. It primarily tries to do that by sending a number of gamers to retain possession after successful the ball.
Though you may positively hyperlink gegenpressing to Klopp and Guardiola, the fundamental tenets of the concept began within the Nineteen Sixties with the Netherlands and Italy.
The “Complete Soccer” groups of the 60s popularized urgent when the opponent was susceptible to incoming assaults. Italian sides like Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan, struggling to attain on conservative, sluggish offense would press sides continuous, particularly when offenses have been near the aim.
These two previous kinds of soccer, mixed with the tiki-taka type of play at Barca and in Spain, led Klopp to pioneer the gegenpress whereas at Mainz.
It led to near-immediate success, with Mainz successful promotion to the Bundesliga and qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
Not solely did Klopp’s adoption of the gegenpress straight result in a golden period of soccer for Mainz, nevertheless it earned him jobs at Dortmund and Liverpool as effectively.
With completely different managers come completely different variations of gegenpressing. The place Klopp likes throwing as many gamers as attainable after shedding the ball, Guardiola likes blocking different gamers near the individual with the ball and slowly converging on the participant.
Klopp likes to right away counter-attack after successful again the ball, pressuring the already-weak protection much more. However Guardiola likes forcing an enormous clearance and enjoying out of the again because of his expertise with tiki-taka.
The nice
The nice half in regards to the gegenpress is that it catches folks off-guard, bodily and mentally. By swarming a participant that has solely simply obtained the ball, you allow them disoriented and overwhelmed, leading to not solely a loss in possession but in addition an opportunity to counter-attack from a great spot.
A superb instance of the advantages of the excessive press was Metropolis’s second aim of their 3-1 win over Leeds. After two Metropolis attackers press Pascal Struijk, Struijk has to play it again to Liam Cooper. Erling Haaland presses Cooper and blocks the one accessible passing lane, forcing Cooper into an error.
Not solely does a profitable gegenpress end in an excellent probability excessive up the pitch, nevertheless it stifles the opposing offense. By swarming the protection, the press ought to minimize off the again line from the midfield, that means that the protection has nowhere to ship the ball however away.
It’s the rationale why Metropolis and Liverpool are first and second(respectively) in complete touches and common proportion of possession.
You additionally don’t depend on a central playmaker as a lot with the gegenpress.
Though it’s good to have a De Bruyne or a Saka in your squad to create objectives, you don’t want to have them create alternatives if you have already got the ball in an ideal place.
Gegenpressing permits you to win again the ball nearer to the aim. It’s just one go away from a extremely good alternative. No playmaker on the planet could be nearly as good as an excellent gegenpressing state of affairs, and that’s why it’s so necessary.
Jurgen Klopp talks about the advantages of gegenpressing.
The dangerous
Some European sides don’t just like the gegenpress regardless of its apparent advantages; and for good purpose. The gegenpress takes a bodily toll on gamers. Each participant; not simply the attackers needs to be match.
Once you press so aggressively, it leaves holes in an otherwise-solid formation that must be plugged. So there’s numerous transferring items which have to suit collectively for the gegenpress to work.
Not solely that, however the gamers have to be coordinated and tactically clever to make it work. Gamers have to acknowledge when the perfect moments are to press; a nasty contact, a shaky back-pass, a participant compelled onto his weak foot. If every thing isn’t sychronized, the again line can beat the press, with disastrous results.
A superb instance of the excessive press gone unsuitable was the counter-attack that Brentford launched on Spurs of their 2-2 Boxing Day draw.
After Ben Mee finds the area to ship a protracted ball to Ivan Toney whereas preventing off the excessive Tottenham front-line, Toney can discover Bryan Mbeumo on an overlapping runs. The 4-on-5 counter-attacks outcomes with Mbeumo discovering Mathias Jensen on the again put up.
Fraser Forster saves Jensen’s shot, however Vitaly Janelt converts the rebound to provide Brentford the opener.
How the gegenpress will assist groups in 2023
In a lot of the Prime 5 Leagues, there are a handful of groups wanting to make use of the gegenpress to mount a title problem. In Ligue 1, perennial champions PSG are the one contending workforce that constantly makes use of the gegenpress, though Lyon(eighth), Lille(sixth), and Toulouse(thirteenth) additionally use the tactic.
Bayern is the principle gegenpressing workforce within the Bundesliga, clearly impressed by the earlier press-heavy managers of Pep Guardiola and Hansi Flick. Frankfurt(4th), Werder Bremen(ninth), Bochum(seventeenth) are additionally press-heavy groups, who’ve used the excessive line with differing ranges of success.
Serie A has seen league leaders Napoli undertake the gegenpressing techniques, together with sides like Fiorentina(tenth), Cremonese(seventeenth), and Bologna(eleventh) additionally pressuring folks excessive up the pitch.
LaLiga’s extra conservative method to the gegenpress has seen groups like Athletic Membership(fifth), Espanyol(sixteenth), and league leaders Barcelona be extra aggressive.
Within the Premier League, the place yow will discover parts of the gegenpress in either side, yow will discover the gegenpress with groups like Metropolis, Liverpool, Spurs, Southampton, and Leeds, nonetheless impressed by membership legend Marcelo Bielsa.
The league positions of various gegenpressing sides reveals that the gegenpress isn’t an computerized cheat code. It’s a testomony to the tactical ingenuity of Pep, Klopp, Ralf Rangnick, and extra that they’ve been capable of elevate their groups to increased ranges.
Picture credit score: IMAGO / Colorsport
