PRESSING AFTER LOSS: training exercise
Three teams participate in this exercise:
- The pink team maintains possession of the ball, while the green team tries to take it away.
- When the green team recovers the ball, their goal becomes to maintain possession. It is then that the white team comes into play, responsible for immediate pressing after loss.
- The white team operates like an elite unit specialized in ball recovery: invisible while the pink team keeps possession, but deadly as soon as it is lost. It activates like a pack of hungry wolves: coordinated, fast, and voracious in regaining the ball.
Variations to enrich the exercise:
- Allow the white team to finish on goal if they manage to recover the ball.
- Have the green team organize into a predefined defensive block when they lose possession.
- Introduce time constraints to train the team to recover the ball within a maximum of 6–8 seconds.
- Adjust the size of the space to work in smaller or larger contexts.
This exercise trains defensive transitions and is one of the hallmarks of my teams. I like to instill a “hungry wolves” mentality, so that the reaction to losing the ball is immediate and collective coordination is total. Every lost ball should trigger our instinct: recover it as quickly as possible (maximum 6–8 seconds), and if that’s not possible, the pack immediately reorganizes into a defensive block.
