Some time ago, Ángel Cappa said something that is a declaration of intent: “you press to play, you don’t play to press” (Almenara, 2108, https://bit.ly/38rvLMD ).

This phrase reflects the more ambitious approach that this course wants to convey, the approach of the proactive perception of high-press, that of recovering the ball in the opponent’s field to attack the opponent quickly and disorganise as close as possible to their goal.

The other approach, that of reactivity, is a consequence of the impossibility of recovering the ball. If there is no ball recovery, then we will try to obstruct the opponent so that he loses the ball because of the pressure applied.

Another great coach, Pep Guardiola, comments:

When you do a good high-press you defend much less in low defensive zones … and, if you make a good build-up play, the rest flows in a much more natural way. The consequence of the two up and down phases contributes to what you have to defend, but in less time in a game. (GOL, 2019, https://bit.ly/3qBAvFq).

From this phrase, we can assume that a good high-press will allow you to take possession of the ball more quickly to be able to attack again. This will translate into less effort for the opponent when they chase the ball, trying to recover it for exceptionally long periods in a defensive phase.

From the idea of proactive defence and from the initiative of pressing high to take possession of the ball as soon as possible and with less effort, we are going to divide this course into four modules:

1, Module 1. High-press. Theoretical framework.

2, Module 2. Most common defensive structures in high-press in football.

3, Module 3. High-press training methodology in football.

4, Module 4. Data for a good interpretation in the analysis of high-press in football.