Pressing Effectiveness & Efficiency — Championship 2021/22

Pressing is a crucial part of football, all teams have to put press at some point. Some teams prefer to sit back and only press when the ball is moved in and around their 18 yard-box, others prefer to try and win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible.

A general pattern is that most of the best teams (and managers) in the world right now operate a high press — for example Klopp, Tuchel, Pochettino and Guardiola to name a few.

If the ball is won high up the pitch then you’re closer to the opponent’s goal and generally have less defensive lines to bypass, meaning it is easier to score.

As well as the benefit of having an increased chance of scoring, pressing high can also lead to the opposition having less of the ball — especially if gegenpressing is used — meaning that you can have more control of the game and its tempo.

Obviously there can be drawbacks of a high press — if it’s bypassed then the opposition can find themselves with a numerical advantage going forward, and attacking an unorganised defensive structure. A high press usually needs a high defensive line, this then leaves space in behind that quick players will exploit.

High pressing can also be very physically demanding on players, potentially leading to fatigue later on in games or possibly even injuries.

Passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA) is a good metric to look at which teams use a high press.

“PPDA is the number of opposition passes allowed outside of the pressing team’s own defensive third, divided by the number of defensive actions by the pressing team outside of their own defensive third. A lower figure indicates a higher level of pressing, while a higher figure indicates a lower level of pressing.”

(Definition from The Analyst)

So who is the team with the highest press in the Championship?

West Bromwich Albion.

It was said when Ismaël joined Albion that a high and aggressive press was one of the cornerstones of his system and this is proving to be true, with Albion having the lowest PPDA in the league.

As well as having the most aggressive press, Ismaël’s men lead the way for high turnovers per match, winning the ball within 40m of the opposition’s goal 9 times per game.

Other teams that have an effective high press are Barnsley and Luton — Barnsley carrying on from Ismaël’s work there last year, with a squad that has been built for it over a number of years planning.

Reading, Derby and Peterborough all go down as teams that don’t try and press high and consequently don’t win the ball high up the pitch very often.

Winning the ball high up the pitch can give you a better chance of scoring, as mentioned earlier, but efficiency when winning the ball back is key. It’s vital that once the ball has been won high up the pitch that this is then turned into a chance, otherwise a large part of the benefits to a high press aren’t utilised.

Interestingly, the two most efficient teams once the ball’s been turned over don’t achieve many high turnovers, and also don’t rank as aggressive pressers on the previous vis. Nevertheless Forest and QPR are very efficient once the ball has been turned over in the final third.

Forest and QPR only win the ball back within 40m of the opposition’s goal about 5 times per match, but when they do they get shots off around about 25% of the time.

This could be because they don’t regularly press high so their opposition’s defence doesn’t have the cover required to defend against high turnovers, meaning it is easier for Forest and QPR to get shots off when they occasionally do decide to press.

Preston North End are comfortably the least efficient with the ball once they’ve completed a high turnover, making their high pressing efforts look almost worthless.

The three teams mentioned above for being effective with their pressing aren’t efficient once the ball has been won. Albion, Luton and Barnsley all appear in the bottom right quadrant, — for teams that achieve a high number of high turnovers but fail to turn these into shots regularly.

Despite Albion’s pretty average efficiency for creating shots from high turnovers, they do come in at 5th for the actual number of high turnovers ending in shots per match due to the sheer volume of high turnovers that Albion force.

Fulham, Bournemouth, Coventry and Birmingham are proving to be the most efficient pressers in the league, they win the ball high up the pitch very often and turn these turnovers into shots at a good rate.

They’ve got goals to show for it as well, especially Fulham. Fulham have scored 8 goals in sequences starting from a high turnover — the most in the league.

However, goals scored is arguably not a reliable way to measure efficiency with the ball after it’s been won high up the pitch. A team could create lots of good chances from their high turnovers but be on an awful run of form in front of goal and not take their chances. Hence shots from high turnovers is a better representation of efficiency.

Expected goals and xG/ shot from high turnovers would be a step better, as it would tell you whether the shots created from high turnovers are good ones or just long shots. The data is unfortunately not available though.

Albion are the most effective in the league with their pressing, they win the ball high up the pitch more often than any other team, but they need to be more efficient in generating shots from those high turnovers.

Fulham and Bournemouth are arguably the two best teams in terms of pressing. They operate with an aggressive press and are successful at winning the ball high up the pitch and then creating shots from there. It’s unsurprising to see these two lead the way for automatic promotion.

Blackburn are level on points with Bournemouth but operate their pressing in a different way. Blackburn are one of the least aggressive pressers, allowing the opposition 15 passes before they try and win the ball back, over 4 more passes than Bournemouth allow their opponents. However, Blackburn create shots from their high turnovers at a similar rate to Bournemouth.

Much like Forest, who don’t attempt a high press but get plenty of shots from the times that they do win the ball back in the attacking third.

Preston press high and do so effectively but really struggle when it comes to creating chances after that, they’re probably better saving their legs.

Peterborough just don’t seem to care about winning the ball high up the pitch.

With thanks to The Analyst (theanalyst.com)for the data.