The Real Betis Match Revealed A Lot About Real Madrid

Gengen Pressing

Hailed by many as the ultimate reliable defensive method for an attacking minded team, counter pressing (or gengen pressing as it’s called in Germany) is one of the most complicated tactics in football. However, it’s a massive addition to any team when executed properly.

So what’s counter pressing precisely? Well, it’s the literal application to the famous quote “attack is the best form of defense”. When possession is lost, the players don’t return to their positions to defend. Instead they press the player holding the ball and close any passing lanes. It’s a tactic Jurgen Klopp is very famous for. He is currently applying it to Liverpool and it’s doing wonders for them.

Counter pressing can have an immense positive effect on Real Madrid for the following reasons:

1. The team has a suitable environment for such tactic in the form of extremely intelligent midfielders. Mainly my line up of choice in the midfield would be James, Modric, Kroos and Isco.
2. It’s the most powerful way to utilize Kroos as a defensive midfielder. Kroos is by all means a genius footballer so he understands spaces and passing lanes. He probably knows how to close them just as much as he knows how to create them. Also this means Kroos would depend more on his positional sense and less on his physicality and aggression. Which in return means masking Kroos’s defensive deficiencies as an individual near completely.

However, counter pressing has its own cons (like nearly everything in this world):

1. It’s EXTREMELY risky. Counter pressing might be the fastest and most elegant way to win back possession, but if it’s not won after 5-6 seconds, things could go nasty (but then who cares? We have Sergio Ramos!).
2. Zidane isn’t the most experienced coach around. He might not be ready to take his tactics to that level right now. If he does, his percentage of failure in on paper higher than other coaches like Ancelotti or Klopp.

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