Pressing session: pressing zones

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Nov 17, 2025

Session intentions

This is week three of the press, tackle and cover session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

learn to work out when and how to press the ball
understand the importance of compactness in central areas
communicate with teammates.

If you're short on time, this structured training programme can be used as it is. Pitch sizes in this programme are shown as how long the pitch is x how wide it is, but these are just suggestions.

To make the programme more effective, adapt it to suit your players, your numbers and the space you have. If you want to skip, repeat or amend these sessions – that's fine. It’s up to you how you use this resource.

If you like this idea, download the session plan and give it a go. And don't forget to share your experience on the England Football Community. We'd love to know how you got on.

Session setup

In our example, this is what we’ve used to set up this session. But adapt it to suit your team and the space available to you. Please note that we adapted to frequent changes in player numbers when recording this session.

40x30-yard pitch

10-17 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Pressing zones

Small-sided games: Set up three pitches. On pitch one, keeping a clean sheet is worth three goals. On pitch two, winning the ball in the opponent's half and scoring is worth three goals. On pitch three, winning the ball and scoring on the counter is worth three goals.
Pressing zones: Two teams, including a goalkeeper, are on one pitch, which is divided into nine even zones. The aim is to press and win back the ball. The number of players in the zone from the same team when the ball is won equals the number of goals the team gets if they then go on to score.
Defend for glory: Mark out your pitch into even thirds. Play a regular game, but teams will be awarded goals depending on where they win the ball. Three points are awarded in the attacking third, two in the middle third, and one in the defensive third.

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On the pitch

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out this video to see what it can look like on the pitch.

Make it easier

Using the STEP framework (Youth Sports Trust, 2002) can help keep things fun, engaging, and appropriate.

To make this session easier, you could:

decrease the size of the pitch to make it easier to press
when allocating players to pitches during the arrival activity, put them against players of a similar ability
overload a side to make it easier for them to press and experience success.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

increase the size of the pitch to make it more physically demanding to press
underload a side to make it more challenging to press and offer the right cover.

Coaching points

Encourage players to communicate with each other when pressing and covering. Players need to work together to be compact in central areas to avoid being played through.

Remind players to think about when to press. If an opponent takes a heavy touch, is hesitant on the ball, is facing their own goal, or plays a slow pass, these are good triggers to press.

Get players to think about how they approach an opponent when pressing. Curving their run can help them cut off passing lanes and dictate how the opponent acts on the ball. For instance, the angle of their press can force an opponent inside or outside. Players then need to think about deceleration. If there isn’t a trigger to press, they should slow down and delay the opponent.

Players need to think about how they work together to press successfully. The first player or players to press are likely the disrupters. The second line of pressers are likely to be the ones to intercept the ball.