A closer look at pressing in Ligue 1
Key to understanding the game of football pressing is very regularly evoked when it comes to analyzing the ball-free game of a team. This is also one of the statistics that we see appear more and more often during the matches of, with different degrees of pressing such as high intensity pressings. So what exactly is pressing?
Different Levels of Intensity
Pressing occurs when a player from the defending team approaches the player in possession of the ball with the aim of either winning possession or limiting their passing options. During a single play, several players can press the ball carrier simultaneously (up to a maximum of three). The intensity levels of pressing vary depending on several factors, such as the distance, speed, and direction of the pressing player's approach.
In this particular aspect, in Ligue 1 McDonald's this season, the team with the most pressing is (quite by a wide margin) Angers. But can we characterize Le SCO's game as being based on pressing immediately after losing possession? Not necessarily. In fact, pressing is correlated with possession, or rather, the lack thereof. To be in a position to press, you must, by definition, not be in possession of the ball. Thus, the ranking of pressing applied in the league this season is almost the inverse of the possession ranking.
Therefore, other metrics are needed to understand a team's playing style, such as the proportion of high-intensity pressing out of the total number of presses, or the percentage of balls touched by the opponent under high-intensity pressing. Two charts offer a more precise analysis of each team's use of pressing and highlight the playing style favored by coaches like Luis Enrique, Bruno Génésio, and Luis Castro.
The raw data should therefore be interpreted with caution, but not dismissed entirely. At the player level, this allows us, for example, to highlight individuals who spare no effort in defensive situations:
Players who press the most:
1. Adrien Thomasson (RC Lens): 1103 presses
2. Joaquín Panichelli (RC Strasbourg Alsace): 1008
3. Frank Magri (Toulouse FC): 966
4. Yann Gboho (Toulouse FC): 959
5. Haris Belkebla (Angers SCO): 922
