Pressing from the front (4 replies)

Watching QPR today, there was a massive difference between how they pressed us, and how we pressed them.

They played with an energy and intensity that we simply couldn't keep up with. They pressed us really high up the pitch, ran themselves into the ground, and we simply couldn't get out. Whenever we did, they were all over Gray and Roberts. And every time it didn't work, we dropped deeper and deeper from goal kicks, and just kept inviting pressure closer to our own goal.

So much of our home play is about pressing high, winning the ball high up the pitch, being fitter than everyone else. Where is that attitude, and that energy, in these away games.

I've just watched Jimmy Dunne and Steve Cook at the back completely unbothered by our press, when we could barely get out our own half.