Funnel pressing and how Swindon Town stopped Salford City from playing

Swindon Town managed to stop Salford City from playing as they got their first win of the Jody Morris-era 2-1 at the Peninsular Stadium. Total Sport’s Joe Acklam analysed how Swindon looked to press the Ammies.

Morris made a big deal upon arrival at the County Ground that his team would be asked to be aggressive without the ball in ways they had not previously been asked to do.

He said: “When we [Morris and Frank Lampard] first went in at Derby we were told they wouldn’t be able to get after the ball in a high press and we were one of the better pressing teams in the league.

“At Chelsea we were second to Liverpool in high pitch regains, which was totally against what they were doing previously.

“Derby and certainly the first year at Chelsea was a fair representation of the work I did off the ball and that is what we want to do here.”

Swindon rank ninth in League Two for PPDA this season (passes per defensive action- a measure of how quickly the ball is regained) according to The Analyst, and circumstances have transpired that Morris turning Swindon into a team that presses more agressively has been tough to see in Morris’ first three games at the helm at the County Ground.

Having ten men for 75 minutes against Newport County, and then playing two more defensive and direct teams in Doncaster Rovers and Sutton United were not the scenarios in which fans could see a dramatic shift to greater energy off the ball.

However, against Salford Swindon started to look like a team who had been coached to be “nasty” to play against, in the words of their head coach, and unsettled Salford, who have the third highest average possession in League Two behind Leyton Orient and Swindon themselves, averaging 57.1% of the ball.

Pressing is not about merely charging after people, it takes a lot of coaching to know when to press and when to sit off so as not to be left exposed, and Town were using defenders having multiple touches as their triggers to apply pressure.

When the Ammies tried to counter quickly, Swindon would sit back in their shape and try not to allow space in behind, but when Jason Lowe and Theo Vassell decided to put their foot on the ball and survey their options, then Town would surge forward as a team and make life difficult for them.

Town pressed in two different shapes either side of Frazer Blake-Tracy’s injury as they switched from a back three to a back four.

In the first half Swindon played a 3412, and out of possession George McEachran pushed forward into the front line with Charlie Austin and Jacob Wakeling to constrict the space the defenders had to work in.

The front three would try and create a box around the player in possession to funnel them towards dead ends, as they did this the rest of the team would squeeze up onto any players ahead of them, forcing the player to either go long or risk losing possession.

This example from the 21st minute shows the plan, Salford looked to take goal kick short, so McEachran closed down his man after the ball was passed short and forced a ball into the full-back.

Austin then covered in behind him to put pressure on the full-back to force him inside.

Jacob Wakeling came across from the right to cut off any pass across the field, as this happened the rest of the team pushed up to force a long ball forward where Tom Clayton and Ciaran Brennan had played Matt Smith offside.

Town caught Salford offside on five occasions during the game, and a lot of those situations arose when they had quickly stepped up when they had caught the hosts in a pressing trap and forced them to play long.

Once Blake-Tracy came off, Morris changed to a 4231 with McEachran and Wakeling playing as the wingers and Ronan Darcy playing off Charlie Austin, the pressing plan stayed the same but with an extra player committed into the front line as Swindon defended in a 424.

This example from the 54th minute, again from a goal-kick, saw Vassell receiving the ball short and as he slowly carried the ball forward, Ronan Darcy (in full scrappy-doo mode) decided to initiate the press.

He had to play square to Lowe as McEachran had covered off the pass to Ibou Touray, and as he did this Wakeling and Austin blocked off the forward passes.

Lowe then played back to Alex Cairns, and with nowhere to go he miscued an aimless ball forward which went to McEachran, and 50 seconds later Swindon got their second goal.

This pressing was very effective as, before the final 15 minutes when Salford became increasingly direct, they struggled to maintain attacks and Sol Brynn only had a few rudimentary saves to make.

This funnelling style of pressing itself was working more as a defensive than offensive weapon, which would be the next phase of this progression, as Salford were wise enough to clear their lines when they were under pressure and so it did not result in any turnovers high up the field.

But it stopped Salford from playing and often gave Town the ball back in positions where they could build attacks of their own, either from a deep free-kick or a throw-in.

As Morris spends longer in his role and the players become more proficient in his pressing style, Swindon will see this coordination continue to improve and it should be a reliable form of chance creation, as well as disrupting the opposition’s attacks.