Solving A Pressing Issue

In our ever-evolving game, it is no surprise that footballing stratagems go in and out of fashion. It wasn't that long ago that Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team employed a style of possession football that was easy to admire but incredibly difficult to emulate. Tiki-Taka, with its endless passing combinations, seemed like the ultimate style of play and it served to be the gold standard for a few years until gegenpressing came along with Jürgen Klopp as its pioneer. This tactical trend prioritizes pressing heavily right after losing the ball and it has been proven to be effective. As with anything that is successful, gegenpressing has been emulated and altered over the years to the point that many of the top teams are employing similar styles. In the current version of football where defensive styles are evolving, high pressing football is all the rage and the lines between different phases of play are being blurred, a stat to measure a team's pressing ability has become increasingly important. This is where Passes Allowed Per Defensive Action comes in.

Passes Allowed Per Defensive Action (PPDA) is very self-explanatory. We take all the passes allowed in the opposition's defensive half and divide it by the defensive actions. Defensive Actions can be defined as  any of the following:

• Tackles 
• Interceptions 
• Challenges (failed tackles) 
• Fouls

This calculation will yield a number that indicates the frequency at which the defending team attempts to win the ball from the opposition, thus giving us a useful metric for measuring the effectiveness of a team's pressing game. The more a team presses, the lower the PPDA and vice versa.

Here, we can take a look at the PPDA for teams so far in the Premier League. 

[Sky Sports]

This graph essentially shows the spectrum on which we can compare the styles of play in the Premier League and what role pressing plays in said style. Leeds United, a Marcelo Bielsa-led team, prioritizes quick passes that can be utilized in fast sequences in order to destabilize the opponent’s defense. Without the ball, they possess the same aim of destabilizing the opponent's defense and they do this through their incredible pressing game (8.4 PPDA).  Anyone who has watched Leeds this season will surely comment on how impressive it is that a promoted team could employ such a brilliant display of attacking football. They will also probably mention how often they leave themselves vulnerable at the back. With this in mind, it comes as no shock that Leeds followed up a 6-2 loss earlier this season with a 5-0 win nine days later.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Newcastle United. The Magpies are everything that Leeds United aren't. Under Steve Bruce, the football they have played is reminiscent of a side engaged in a relegation battle. They sit back in a deep block, trying to invite as much pressure as possible and when an opportunity presents itself, they look to capitalize on any mistakes their opponents may make with clinical counter attack. They also play long balls since they lack the ability to play out of the back. It comes as no shock that they have the highest PPDA in the Premier League so far this season (21.4 PPDA). They have drawn a lot of ire from their fans this season, with many of them calling the football negative and unproductive.

Despite all that has been said, PPDA is not correlated with the entertainment value you get from watching a team or the amount of success that team has had. Leeds is not secretly the best team in the league and Newcastle is not the worst team in the league. Leicester (16.4 PPDA) and West Ham (17 PPDA) are currently having great seasons with styles of play that don't necessarily involve constant pressing. What PPDA does is add an element of objectivity to an area of discussion in football that has usually been left to subjective interpretations.

Football is a game that never stands still. High intensity pressing is in vogue but there will come a time when a new, innovative style of play will take the footballing world by storm. When that time comes, it will surely spread through the leagues like wildfire and then a new problem will arise of how best to quantify any team's ability to perform this style. Hopefully, the issue won't be too pressing.