Barca’s Issues vs Rayo’s (Very Good) Pressing: Analysis and Training Session

Analysis

Rayo started off the game with high intensity, pressing high with a tight man marking scheme. As the first half went on the high pressing and high intensity slowed which can be expected but the man marking remained and was quite effective. Against this man marking set up Barcelona struggled. There was a lack of positional rotations and dismarking to create space or get open. The timing of rotations or movements to support were off and often too slow. As well the general positioning of the Barcelona players was poor.

This poor movement to get open is shown early on as Barca looks to build out. Rayo tightly man marking the Barcelona players but allowing the center back time and space with the ball. The Barca center back takes space but Rayo doesn’t look to press the center back and instead stays orientated to their man mark. With a lack of positional rotations to create space or get open for a pass the center back has no options other than the near fullback who is left open. As this pass is being played to the fullback and the ball is travelling, the Rayo winger presses out and is able to win the ball. Shortly after this sequence, Barca again look to build out. This time we have a bit of movement to try and get open with the left fullback pushing forward and the left forward dropping, however, Rayo are well organized and pass off their marks. This helps in keeping organized defensively and allows Rayo to set a pressing trap in the left half space. Once the pass is played into the Barcelona left forward, Rayo with three players near the ball receiver are able press from three different angles and win possession. Rayo also pressing with a type of counterpress as well in transition. After a ball loss high up the field the Rayo players quickly orientate themselves to a man which doesn’t allow the center back any clean passes to play out. Rayo press on the pass to opposite center back and continue to press out to the fullback.

Rayo’s organization out of possession certainly made things difficult for the Barcelona side but Barca didn’t do themselves any favors in how they were positioned or how they moved off the ball. There was one small moment early that would be good to model after. The players rotated to get open, there was a compactness to their positioning with multiple players in support near the ball. The ball was lost but with the players positioned well they were able to immediately press and win it back but unfortunately this was a rare occurrence and without looking to relocate the play after winning the ball back they were unable to exploit the space while Rayo was momentarily disorganized and ended up losing possession quickly after. As the game went on Barca had more possession but suffered from poor spacing across the field. With a lack of positioning in the center and half spaces, it prevented them from being able to relocate the ball out of pressure when one side got overloaded and they lacked support for the ball receivers in general. Timing of movement for players to get in support was too slow and players receiving were left isolated. No positioning for next pass or third man runs. Forwards dropping between lines to receive but no one filling their space to pin the defenders back or threaten the space in behind.

Some more examples as the game went on of Barca’s poor positioning and movement as well as Rayo’s very good pressing:

Here the 8 receives and plays the ball into the fullback. The two forwards both make ultimately the same run into depth which leaves the receiving fullback with very little options. Instead of making the run into depth from the right forward it would have been better to move out wide towards the sideline. This run isn’t always ideal, but it would give better support and a potential easier passing option for the receiving fullback, or it could also have dragged the Rayo defender out opening space for the center forward to run into and be a viable option for the receiving fullback. The center forwards run could have either looked to be made into depth or look to make a double movement starting a run in behind to drag his defender then dropping between the lines in support.

Here we have an example of poor positioning across the field. With no players positioned in the center or left half space, it makes it harder to move the ball and relocate it out of an overloaded side. This forced the 6 in possession of the ball to play a pass back on the same side it came from which was ultimately pressed and lost.

Two near identical examples, minutes apart, of pressing traps set by the Rayo players. Rayo do well with their reading and positioning and timing to press and close the space out of possession. In both situations the ball carrier is pressed from the side forcing play into the half space. Rayo man marking players in the center and in the wide area on the ball far side. This also helps to force play to one side and into Rayo’s trap. Their positioning allows them to have access to the wide players if they are to receive a pass but also keeps them open to appear as passing options and trigger the Rayo press. With a majority of the Barcelona players marked in the two situations, one player in the right half space appears to be left open to receive. However, as the pass is played into this player the surrounding Rayo players close in on the receiving player using the ball travel time to close the space. If Barca had better positioning and better timing of movements to support they could have played out of the press as there were spaces that could have been utilized to get out of Rayo’s pressing trap.

Here the center forward drops to receive and bounces the ball back to the supporting six. But with no one exploiting the space into the depth of the last line that gets opened up from the dropping forward, either from the ten in the left half space making the run or the eight from deep in the right half space. This left the six with little to no options and causes him to pause and hold onto the ball resulting in a ball loss form the backwards pressing forward which resulted in the games lone goal.

Training

3 Zone 10v7+Keepers

This game starts in the bottom zone with a 4v1 overload to the reds. In the central zone, we have it split into four squares with reds and blues evenly matched up in a 3v3. Players in this zone are free to go anywhere but positionally they want to look to fill three of the four squares at all times. Once the ball is played into the middle zone the players look to play into the third and last zone which is set up as a 3v3 with a keeper. Once the ball is played in here one player from the middle zone can join to help overload the attack. If/when blue wins the ball the game opens up and it’s a free game. You could also say once reds play into the last zone it becomes a free game and players are free to go into any zone. This can be more realistic and better spatially in getting the backline up to work on the rest defense and the preparation for when the ball is lost.

Coaching points: in the first zone it should be easy enough to keep the ball and circulate it around with such a large overload. It’s important that players in this zone have good body shape and pre-scanning forward into the next zone to allow them to play forward effectively. In the next zone things are a bit more difficult as there is no overload as the teams are matched up. The use of the four squares comes in here to help players positionally and spatially while also helping to coordinate players movements to get free/dismark from their opponent or create space. One player’s movement should trigger another. If a player drops into a zone that is currently occupied, then that’s my trigger to look to move out and fill the recently vacated space. If a player drops into an open square space, then that highlights the creation of new space and could be a trigger to move into that new space. Lastly in the third zone the three strikers should look to play as high as possible to allow for space to drop into to dismark and receive. Also, opposite movements of strikers so if one striker drops the other one looks to run in behind into the newly created space (similar to in the middle zone with the usage of the four squares). Once the ball is played into the third zone a fourth player from the middle zone should be looking to run in to provide support and either look for a drop pass and receive facing forward or look to make a run into depth to threaten the space in behind or pin back a defender creating time and space for the ball carrying/receiving forward.

To progress a bit from here after getting better coordination in movement from the middle three and space creation we want to look at different ways we can overload the middle. Above are several different ways that we can look to overload the middle zone with either a forward timing his movements with the midfielders to drop into the space either on the ball near or ball far side. Or we could also look to have a center back or one of the players in the first zone driving into the open space with the ball and look to draw pressure opening up a free player.

10v10 in 5 Vertical Zones

Now we move into a 10v10 game with five vertical zones separating the center, half spaces, and wide areas. These zones are there for reference points and to help players positionally but players are not limited to any certain zone. Play is a normal game but looking for the principles from the previous game of players rotation to get open from a man marking opponent, looking to overload the middle with our movement, and making runs/supporting the attack.

Our positional structure here should occupy at least four of the five zones. Players should be occupying width and depth while making sure no more than two players are in any vertical line and no more than three players in any horizontal line. This maximizes our passing options forward while creating staggering in our positioning which provides passing support and defensive cover. From here we want to look at our movement and rotations within our structure to get open and/or create space. The players movement should look to create and occupy space. This should happen where players are alternating there positioning between one another into different spaces for a short amount of time and ensure players aren’t always occupying the same space (though there is use in being static and pinning back opponents to open space). Too many rotations or constant rotations however can weaken the fixed structure of a team and leave them disorganized for different phases of play such as the attack and the transition moment to defense. This leads to only certain players rotating into certain zones depending on the moment and spacing in context to other teammates and the opponent and the positions they occupy. Below we can see examples of rotations between players to create space within our structure. One players movement should trigger another players creating a chain reaction to constantly occupy and fill spaces.

KW

Written November 2021