High pressing

bond19821982

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Being pressed and when we press the opponents- we are really a disaster.

Not just today, but I have been seeing for some time. It's certainly not players but its the manager or coaching. When a team like Newcastle can press so hard collectively why can't our team do it? Why can't our team play from back ? Even liverpool try to do it but we just hoof it up.

Was Jose this bad in pressing /being pressed at Chelsea ?
 

YouOnlyLiveTwice

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Yes, i agree fully. We just seem to retreat into our box whenever the opponent has the ball, no pressing on the ball-holders. I don't think all our players are ideal to that way of playing, but it would be nice to see some collective pressing from this team.
 

Crashoutcassius

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Because mourinho does't want us to. wants us to play a different style. He has been very successful with this style and won't be changing.

Everyone that watched mourinho teams before he was at united knew the football wouldn't be delightful, even if ronaldo did score 120 goals vs getafe one year with mourinho as coach.
 

Adisa

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We don't do any pressing, high low...nothing.
When we lose the ball, the only solution is to fall back into position behind the halfway ine and block all passing lanes.
The problem is there's now a huge distance between where we get the ball back and goal.
To make matters worse, our players keep taking the easy option of just hoofing it. So it takes ages before we build attacking combinations and passages of play.
 

el3mel

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We don't press because we're not a high pressing team. Some players do it on their own but it's not our plan.

Being pressed is the disastrous thing though but it shows how poor composure we have under the ball.
 

thebelfastboy

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It's because our back 4 is terrible. If we press high up the field it leaves them exposed. They are also totally incapable of passing and building from the back.

For premier league/champions league footballers who should be at the top of their game? It's embarrassingly bad. Valencia and Smalling in particular are really poor on the ball
 

Paxi

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Jose wants us to be in shape when the other teams is attacking. High pressing would mean that there is a chance we'd get dragged out of position and leave gaps. Problem is were still leaving gaps despite trying to be organised in defence.
 

FujiVice

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We're fecking dreadful to watch. We're such a boring side, and have been for years now. So few risks in a game.
 

Ban

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We don't do any pressing, high low...nothing.
When we lose the ball, the only solution is to fall back into position behind the halfway ine and block all passing lanes.
The problem is there's now a huge distance between where we get the ball back and goal.
To make matters worse, our players keep taking the easy option of just hoofing it. So it takes ages before we build attacking combinations and passages of play.
This. While defending we go too way back to cut the lines and defend and when we get the ball we'll too far away from the opposing goal.
 

Adisa

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Another reason why we are shite at playing through it is cause our off the ball movement is shite.
 

haram

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I mean we did it against Arsenal and it worked before we retreated after scoring twice. I think there just needs to be a balance in its use and who we use it against.
 

Adam-Utd

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It's all Mourinho's asking. He wants us to sit off and keep the space tight, let them get into the box and cross it.

He hopes our defence is good enough to deal with it, then try to counter attack.

It's absolute bollocks and we play awfully.
 

Infra-red

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Mourinho's sides don't press for prolonged spells - he prefers to defend the space. Fergie was much the same, incidentally.
 

YouOnlyLiveTwice

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We don't have the players for it.

Pogba, Matic, Lukaku etc aren't mobile enough to be pressing at a high level for 90 mins.
Tbf, Matic was pretty good at it in the start of the season, but he seems a different player right now. I agree with the others, and possibly Martial as well. Lingard/Alexis/Rashford/Herrera would probably be our best players if we had to press a lot.
 

el3mel

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Jose wants us to be in shape when the other teams is attacking. High pressing would mean that there is a chance we'd get dragged out of position and leave gaps. Problem is were still leaving gaps despite trying to be organised in defence.
That's the problem. Our defense has become too much open and we're back to be dependent on Dave to save us. That's not right when we're talking about a Mourinho team.
 

bond19821982

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We don't do any pressing, high low...nothing.
When we lose the ball, the only solution is to fall back into position behind the halfway ine and block all passing lanes.
The problem is there's now a huge distance between where we get the ball back and goal.
To make matters worse, our players keep taking the easy option of just hoofing it. So it takes ages before we build attacking combinations and passages of play.
Well, its not working for sure. Opposition is still finding spaces and passing lines between our players.

Worrying part is when pressed, they just hoof it up and ends up in no mans land.
 

bond19821982

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We don't have the players for it.

Pogba, Matic, Lukaku etc aren't mobile enough to be pressing at a high level for 90 mins.
Not really. Except for Matic, we are perfectly capable of high pressing.
 

SuperiorXI

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Tbf, Matic was pretty good at it in the start of the season, but he seems a different player right now. I agree with the others, and possibly Martial as well. Lingard/Alexis/Rashford/Herrera would probably be our best players if we had to press a lot.
You're right, problem with Matic is he's looked very tired.
 

Lay

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We’ve been shit against a high press for years.
 

izec

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We don't have the players for it.

Pogba, Matic, Lukaku etc aren't mobile enough to be pressing at a high level for 90 mins.
It is not the players per se, it is Mourinho who bought them. It is Mourinho that buys players that he likes. Even if we had players good at pressing, we wouldnt do it as a team. Only Herrera knows how to press from his Bilbao days
 

SuperiorXI

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It is not the players per se, it is Mourinho who bought them. It is Mourinho that buys players that he likes. Even if we had players good at pressing, we wouldnt do it as a team. Only Herrera knows how to press from his Bilbao days
I'm not so much blaming the players, I just don't think they're suited to a pressing style. As you've said, Mourinho bought them to suit his style, and he doesn't want to be high pressing.
 

puNANI

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I don't mind the way we defend but for a bunch of professional players who are meant to be playing for one of the top clubs in Europe our players are shambolic against the press. I can't count how many times Matic/Pogba/Lukaku hold the ball too long and get swarmed by 3-4 players instead of passing the ball and moving into space. Either that or we will play it back to Smalling or one of our wing backs and hoof it up to Lukaku, lose the ball and then rinse and repeat.

It's irritating and I'm getting sick of watching us.
 

berbatrick

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We’ve been shit against a high press for years.
This has been true from probably 2010 onwards. The thing is, there is no common player between that team and today's (except Valencia, now at rb) and every coach including the manager has changed.
 

BullishBull

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Mourinho doesn't buy the players for a high pressing game nor is it his style. What I have noticed lately is that the United defence is not as strong as it appears. De Gea has the second highest amount of saves in the PL. I believe only WBA have had more shots on target against them. This basically means that despite Mourinho's defensive approach, it is De Gea and not his organisation/defence that is saving you from more defeats.
 

cyberman

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High pressing is an option. It's not a necessity that you can criticise such as a poor first touch but its still only a defensive option.
Criticising our press is like criticing our 4-2-4 formation or zonal marking. How can we be criticised if we don't do it?
I actually think a high press is too volatile against the very best sides, it might explain why top English sides have a rather poor away record against each other.
 

haram

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Mourinho doesn't buy the players for a high pressing game nor is it his style. What I have noticed lately is that the United defence is not as strong as it appears. De Gea has the second highest amount of saves in the PL. I believe only WBA have had more shots on target against them. This basically means that despite Mourinho's defensive approach, it is De Gea and not his organisation/defence that is saving you from more defeats.
You have to look at context as well though. If teams are shooting like Sevilla did today it’s just inflating the stats.
 

Giggs86

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What's the point of high pressing when even if we win the ball high up we are losing it in less than 10 seconds? We have players who can't hold the ball under the minimal amount of pressure to save their lives. Some will try to dribble past 3-4 players and lose it, others will close their eyes and hoof the ball up the field. We're just so bad at winning the ball and creating space to move the ball forward under pressure.
 

Ballache

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I wouldn't give a shit about pressing if our counter attacking was lethal. However, we always end up with Lukaku very isolated or Sanchez surrounded by 3 players.
 

Web of Bissaka

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We do high pressing whenever Mourinho wants to, especially when it's ideal eg. against Chelsea last season, and it's very rare for clear reasons.

Generally in most matches, the set-up is to "contain" and soak pressure, to give more protection to our back four, since I'm sure everyone knows the real level of our defenders.

High pressing is not always the answer (which I'm a fan of), if we have awesome counter attacks. I'm tempted to blame Mourinho, but then that won't be justified since.. we don't have the players capable of initiating counter attacks successfully. Many times we counter, we lose the feckin ball and concede possession. The best time and perhaps best player we had for that is Mkhi, but we all know what happen - he's not up for it being the main man. I have high hopes of Sanchez improving this, which I believe he can, but atm he's gelling in improving chemistry with the team and finding his form. Let's be patience.
 

AidanMUFC

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We're fecking dreadful to watch. We're such a boring side, and have been for years now. So few risks in a game.
I'm not saying I agree with how we're playing, but we all knew this was going to happen when we got Jose. Am I right or wrong?
 

Canagel

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I'm don't know what we're trying to do. I wouldn't mind lack of pressing if we could at least counter attack effectively. We don't counter when we get the ball and we aren't defensively solid either because DDG has to make so many saves on a regular basis. Sevilla dominated all the stats except for the goals but one stat in particular stood out for me. The possession was almost equal between us but all the other stats show a one sided game. I lost count of how many times we lost the ball after regaining it. Being a good counter attacking team also requires composure and at the moment we are neither defending well or attacking well. Something must change.
 

Adisa

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I wouldn't give a shit about pressing if our counter attacking was lethal. However, we always end up with Lukaku very isolated or Sanchez surrounded by 3 players.
This is the crux of the matter.
For a team that depends of counter attacking from deep, we are very shite at it.
 

MadDogg

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I wouldn't give a shit about pressing if our counter attacking was lethal. However, we always end up with Lukaku very isolated or Sanchez surrounded by 3 players.
Yep. Mourinho has never minded playing like what we do when we don't have the ball. The problem, and I'm pretty sure he's pulling his hair out about it too, is with how poor we are when we do win the ball back. His teams have always had the ability to sit back and be focused on being solid defensively, but to then be absolutely devastating on the counter attack when we do win the ball back. Pretty much the same as how Ferguson had us playing for the final five or so years of his time here.

So why aren't we capable of doing it?

Is it Mourinho's deliberate tactics? I doubt it since it's always been a standout attribute in every previous team.
Is it our attackers? Not making themselves available or positioning themselves to get the ball in those times, or not knowing what to do with it when they do receive it?
Is it our midfielders? Not being able to make those quick transitions, whether it's themselves getting forward quickly or to moving the ball forward quickly? Or not positioning themselves to get the ball from the defenders or other midfielders in the first place?
Is it our defenders? Not being good enough on the ball to get the ball moving forward quickly, or the fullbacks not contributing enough going forward?
Is there something in particular there, a combination of a few of them, or do we have the ability to do it but Mourinho just hasn't been able to get a system going which would allow us to do it?
 

DomesticTadpole

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No team presses at a high level for 90mins.
They usually tire after so long, but they hope the damage has been done in that time. Not sure we have the defenders who are good enough on the ball or quick witted enough to deal with someone pressing them. Also same with most of our team to be honest. They might be physical, but not sure that some are intelligent enough or have the speed to avoid these situations.
 

Ballache

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This is the crux of the matter.
For a team that depends of counter attacking from deep, we are very shite at it.
Absolutely, this is what annoys me.
We are so slow when we transition from defence to attack. I don't want to get involved in the blame game but when so many talented forwards look average you have to start questioning the coaching.
 

KirkDuyt

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Mou's never been one to utilize high pressing, doubt he's start now. The counter attacking has to improve, but it will with Sanchez. Just give him a few more than 3 games to get used to his new team mates.