Opposition instructions - necessary?

[ca14g44]

I've noticed that despite having the team instruction to trigger press as often as possible, my players only seem to press if the opposition instructions also call for an individual to be pressed.

 

Is this the way it's meant to work? I assumed that the team instruction would override but my coaches always tell me to trigger specific opponent players so I'm confused now.

[Jaye]

Players press when certain conditions are fulfilled, like a bad touch or someone turning their back on play and going backwards. It's not something we can directly control, insofar as we can't tell our team exactly when they need to press. 

OIs don't make your players press any more or less intensely. They're more like a plan for your team to target specific players. For example, if I tell my team to press an opposition's back three with OIs, they'll pay special attention to those players and will press when there is a trigger. 

Without OIs, who your players target is up to them. They'll follow the team instructions to press more and the line of engagement will determine when they should do it, but everything else is down to their attributes. 

OIs aren't strictly necessary, but they do help refine your press.