Split press

[ThomasHK1979]

Can someone help me setting up a split pressure tactic. How should it be and how should my "ou of possesion" and "in transition" setting be like?

[Guv'nor]

Who do you want to do the pressing and where do you want to set the trigger (higher, lower et? 
 

[YLSFM00]

From what I've seen, the split press OOP instructions are to use High DL and Standard LOE, and leave pressing intensity on default.  don't think anything else is involved.

In transition I'm not sure.

Edited March 21, 2021 by YLSFM00
Extra detail

[Experienced Defender]

Split press/block is when you leave the team pressing urgency on default and then ask your 3-5 most advanced players to close down more in their PIs. It works best when you have the optimal level of compactness - i.e. when the DL is just one notch higher than LOE. 

So in the OP's tactic, the split block would mean:

higher D-line + standard LOE + the front 4 players told to close down more.

But that's a defensive strategy, not a tactical style.

[ThomasHK1979]

15 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Split press/block is when you leave the team pressing urgency on default and then ask your 3-5 most advanced players to close down more in their PIs. It works best when you have the optimal level of compactness - i.e. when the DL is just one notch higher than LOE. 

So in the OP's tactic, the split block would mean:

higher D-line + standard LOE + the front 4 players told to close down more.

But that's a defensive strategy, not a tactical style.

Thanks. Would you apply counter pressing, prevent GK distr., offside trap and tighter marking or non of them?

[Christopher S]

16 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Split press/block is when you leave the team pressing urgency on default and then ask your 3-5 most advanced players to close down more in their PIs. It works best when you have the optimal level of compactness - i.e. when the DL is just one notch higher than LOE. 

So in the OP's tactic, the split block would mean:

higher D-line + standard LOE + the front 4 players told to close down more.

But that's a defensive strategy, not a tactical style.

While we're on the topic, how do you find other defensive PIs interact/work alongside a split block? Ie. Tigher Marking and Harder Tackling? I suspect the answer is "it depends", but I'd be interested to see if you've made some observations. My immediate thought is that telling the front players to tackler harder alongside a split block might lead to them getting skinned more, but I haven't really tried it. Have you?

[Experienced Defender]

5 hours ago, ThomasHK1979 said:

Thanks. Would you apply counter pressing, prevent GK distr., offside trap and tighter marking or non of them?

When I use a split block as part of a tactic, I may apply counter-press (although not necessarily and not against every opposition), but would definitely avoid both prevent GKD and especially tight marking. 

Offside trap, on the other hand, has nothing to do with the split block. 

[Experienced Defender]

4 hours ago, Christopher S said:

While we're on the topic, how do you find other defensive PIs interact/work alongside a split block? Ie. Tigher Marking and Harder Tackling?

Tight marking and/or hard tackling can be part of a split block as player instructions along with the close down more. That depends on how aggressive you want your split block to be. 

 

4 hours ago, Christopher S said:

My immediate thought is that telling the front players to tackler harder alongside a split block might lead to them getting skinned more, but I haven't really tried it. Have you?

I personally rarely/almost never use hard tackling and tight marking within a split block, but that does not mean it's necessarily wrong to use these PIs. Like anything else, depends entirely on what you want and how much risk you are willing to take.

I may consider adding hard tackling and/or tight marking to the split block as an in-match tweak when desperately chasing a goal, but not as a regular part of a tactic.

[Christopher S]

10 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Tight marking and/or hard tackling can be part of a split block as player instructions along with the close down more. That depends on how aggressive you want your split block to be. 

 

I personally rarely/almost never use hard tackling and tight marking within a split block, but that does not mean it's necessarily wrong to use these PIs. Like anything else, depends entirely on what you want and how much risk you are willing to take.

I may consider adding hard tackling and/or tight marking to the split block as an in-match tweak when desperately chasing a goal, but not as a regular part of a tactic.

Fair enough, but none of that answers my questions, really. How does combining the PIs affect a split block, from your experience? What are the observable differences?

[Experienced Defender]

31 minutes ago, Christopher S said:

Fair enough, but none of that answers my questions, really. How does combining the PIs affect a split block, from your experience? What are the observable differences?

The best way to find out is to try it yourself and see.