Is this high press or just a very aggressive mid block?

[Strikerir1]

I want to replicate a pressing I saw in a video I will leave the video down below, I usually play 4-4-2 no matter what team I'm playing, I play very many different types of 4-4-2 I can say I've mastered that formation and it's my favorite to use, this video is an analysis of the villarreal press against Liverpool in the UCL last season, and my question is to achieve this type of pressing in FM23 what type of defensive line and line of engagement/block should I use, I have a pretty good idea on how can I make it press in a diamond by using the PI mark specific position (not player, because they retreat back in to a 4-4-2 although marking position won't be perfect but it will be close enough, my only doubt is on how can I set up defensive instructions like lines and if they step up or step down instructions. 

 

[Johnny Ace]

Looks like a High Press with maybe a Much Higher Defensive Line to me?

Would be interested to see how you set this up and how it plays out  Do like a 4-4-2 myself but they're much simpler 

[Strikerir1]

Thank you for you answer, yeah it looked like a very high press, i will put it into practice but not now with the team im currently managing but i will leave a little present to the ones that read my post, i will break down how ive mastered the art of the 4-4-2 especially 4-4-2 with mid and low blocks and show results.

So i will start by thanking some threads ive read so you guys can read it too and learn about that especific formation the way ive learned.  https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/552927-a-guide-to-defending-like-a-real-442/ https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/483681-the-4-4-2-examined/

One of those threads speaks about the importance of partnerships in a 4-4-2 and the other one speaks about how 4-4-2 are used in modern football and how they can be a defensively solid formation. I will give my own way on how i build my 4-4-2's.

 

Lets start by roles and duties ,the way i look is, i will go to my attackers first and see what kind of partnership they can have , i generaly like to have a support attacker and one that focus on scoring goals, at my buxton team we have the perfect kind of strikers one can play a pressing  foward and other plays the goalscoring  AF  like this.

 
 
Other combinations that i like to use are P and TM(s) P and PF or any other supporting role with a AF. but if your team doesn't have two strikers i will use an assemetric 4-4-2 like this.

 
 Where you can have also a lot of roles combinations and, you can use your good n10 in a position that he is more comfortable in without forcing him to be a striker and still have that 4-4-2 shape, another thing that i will use on my strikers is the PI to mark specific position(not player) where i will ask my left foward to mark the right DMR and the right foward will mark the LDM this way the will recover to a defensive position and will come back deeper and support the defence.

 
Now onto the flanks on the flanks i like to have a partnership where the full back is instructed to overlap(without the ti) and other that doesn't overlap ,this is a principle that i've taken from the thread mentioned above. So my flanks look like this 
Left Flank(Overlapping Parnership) this can be a multitude of roles, a more agressive variation would be IW(s) with a WB(A) for example , but this was what suited my players best and generaly i like to be more cautious.

Right Flank (non overlaping partnership) this again can be multiple roles you can use for example a FB(s) or if you dont have a right footed winger on the right you can play an IW(A) with the PI Stay Wider.

Other PI i like to introduce on the flanks is again ask my wingers to mark a specific position on my Left Winger i like to mark the RCM and on the Right the LCM respectivaly , i use this because i like my wingers to stay more narrow and ive noticed that it works and they wont come super inside that resembles more like a box, instead they will stay narrow on the sides of both my CM's.

Midfield, on the midfield i like to have a role that focus on work rate and one that focus on playmaking and dependent on the players on my disposal i can have the playmaker the one that defends and the work rate player supports or vice versa , the playmaker supports and the work rate player defends at buxton this is what im using . 

 

Other combos that work well are DLP(D) with a BBM(S) with PI Tackle Harder, also BWM(D) with Roaming Playmaker(s) this one is very good if you have two players with high work rate, also there are other combos that will work well but my rule of thumb is a Tackler with a Playmaker Role.
So this is how the tactic looks all together in terms of roles and duties.

 

As for team instructions i like to keep it simple and have as few TI's as possible but that is not a hard and fast rule , its just the way i approach it. 
The ones that are really very important are the one's out of possesion.

My team doesnt have the fastest central defenders but still i play with a very high line, why because i really want to compress the space, if you read about a mid block the n1 rule for a mid block is to have compactness , this does leave us vunerable to balls over the top, but ive noticed that this is well set for balls over the top as well so i dont suffer it that much but is a little risk to be mindfull of.

And against better teams i will go with this 

So this is it as a bonus i will add my OI's that i use inspired by the other thread on the 4-4-2.

 
When im winning i change the opossition centerback's to never press.

 

 

[TheBeardless]

In my opinion

It's a mixture of both 

Aggressive mid block if you'll have it 

You'll get that compactness

But you'll have to consider that your trigger press on "more often" means your players would be jumping out position which in turn would be terrible since the mid block encourages them to come at you and sort of attack and since your players would press immediately they enter that zone the block gets disorganized

It's something you could escape with high block since they aren't so close to your defence or a mid block with a high or standard line