Gegenpressing: why the six seconds after losing the ball are the best time to win it back

The German word made it famous, but the idea is simple enough to state in one sentence: press hardest immediately after losing the ball. Not after retreating, not after re-forming. Immediately.

Why the moment of loss is the moment of weakness

Look at the two teams the instant the ball changes hands. The side that lost it is still in an attacking shape: full-backs high, midfielders forward, players close to the ball because they were passing it around. The side that won it has the opposite problem. Its players are facing their own goal, they were organised to defend and not to pass, and the player with the ball has just made a tackle or an interception and has not yet looked up.

That asymmetry lasts a few seconds. Counter-pressing spends those seconds on a bet: that winning the ball back here, thirty metres from goal, with the opponent disorganised, is worth more than running back to defend.

The trap

The mechanics are not eleven players chasing. They are three players closing the ball from three sides so the carrier cannot turn, while everyone else steps five metres towards the ball and stands on the nearest passing lane. The carrier has two options: play backwards under pressure, or try a forward pass into a lane that has just been closed. Both usually end with the pressing side in possession, facing goal, with the opponent's defence still stretched.

The best playmaker in the world is the counter-press.— a line attributed to Jürgen Klopp and repeated in most explanations of the idea

Two things make it work or fail. Distance: the players who lost the ball must already be within ten metres of it, which means the attack before the loss has to be compact. Speed of the first step: the trigger is the loss itself, not a coach's shout. Teams train it until it is reflex.

The two ways it fails

• The press is beaten by one pass. A carrier who stays calm and finds the one open player behind the three pressers has a team-mate running at a defence that has stepped up. This is why counter-pressing teams also need a fast goalkeeper and centre-backs who defend space, not just men.
• The legs go. Pressing costs energy every time it is triggered. Teams that do it well pick moments: press hard for a period, then sit in a mid-block, then press again. A side that presses for ninety minutes usually concedes in the last fifteen.

What to look for

• Count seconds between a turnover and the first pressure on the ball. Under two is a trained team.
• Watch the players furthest from the ball. If they step up as a line, the press is coordinated; if they drift back, it is three players running alone.
• Notice the goalkeeper's starting position. High means the team has accepted the long-ball risk on purpose.