Pressure Man Defense...

In 3v3 soccer, this is the best team defense I have found, especially when you are playing a good passing team. It requires your players to be disciplined and it should only be played on your opponents defensive side or your attacking side. [Note: if your team isn't very fast, then this defense can be broken easily.]

The basic premise of this defense is one player attacks or puts pressure on the player with the ball while the other two players play man to man. There are two times when you can jump into pressure man, off a goal kick or a kickoff/kick-in pass to the back player.

Going to pressure man defense on a kickoff pass back to your opponent's back player or a kick-in pass to your opponent's back player is fairly simple. When the ball is passed deep to your opponent's back player, one of your forwards (usually the best 1v1 player) will go and apply pressure to that back player, moving in slowly while teammates move to their marks, your opponent's forwards. If the attacking player rushes in too fast, your opponent's back player will simply pass to the unmarked player. You want the attacking player to move in slowly to give your back player time to move up and cover the player he just left, or their last player who could be at midfield. It isn't unusual to have all your team on the opponents side of the field. Once your opponent's forwards are covered, your attacking forward can challenge, playing 1v1 soccer. If their back player tries to pass, your other players can jump in and intercept the ball. Many times, their back player will realize there is a problem and try to juke your attacking player. It is important that your attacking player move in just like a 1v1 game and not allow themselves to be easily beaten or the play breaks down. Because my team is good at 1v1 soccer, I don't mind setting up that situation. I can't tell you how many easy goals we get by playing pressure man. Also, your marking players need to remember to stand goal side of their marks because you don't want a through ball to beat you. Another hint, when your attacking player moves forward, have them come off their worst player. In other words, allow your back player to come up and mark their worst player.

Going into pressure man off a goal kick is a bit more complicated. Basically, you only want to mark the deepest player because you want a short pass. Your two forwards hang back about quarterfield to allow for the short pass. Once the ball is in play, your back player will cover (goal side) their deepest player. Your two forwards will move in, one marking the player without the ball, and the other coming in to play 1v1 with the opponent.

The first time we used pressure man was at a regional. It was my first year as the coach and we didn’t have all the plays I’ve been telling you about. We tried to play like everyone else. While we could win locally, at regionals we lost to a team 9-2. I'll call them team “A”. I thought we were good but there was no way we could stop team “A” because they passed too well and I had no solution for their offense. I watched team “A” blow out others while trying to figure out how to stop their potent attack. I was astonished when they actually lost, by several goals, to team “B”. I noticed that every time team “A” passed the ball back, team “B” would pressure, but their back player would also sneak up to cover the open man, intercepting passes and completely shutting down team “A”. That night, I held meetings with my players to teach them the new defense because we’d have to play team “A” again in the semi’s. While we had our chances, we lost 4-3, but team “A” didn't score any goals from their offense, instead, they scored off our mistakes, i.e. my back player trying to dribble too much. The coach of team “B” came over and told me he thought we could have won. I almost told him we copied his strategy. But the most astonishing aspect was when team “A” played team “B” in the finals. [We finished third] For some reason, Team “B” kept their back player back. He never pushed forward and they got blown out. I wanted to ask the coach of team “B” why he changed his strategy, but honestly, I don’t think he had a strategy and was allowing the kids to play. Evidently, his kids had forgotten what they used the day before. Of course, I didn’t forget, and we’ve been using pressure man ever since.