“Even the best defences don’t press high all the time. Sometimes they hardly do it at all. Like a veteran boxer backing against the ropes, a lot of the best pressing sides spend long stretches of the game crouched in a mid-block, tightening ranks in midfield while they wait for the right opening to come out swinging. Players watch for a ‘trigger’, their cue to burst forward and catch the team in possession off guard. They may plan to spring a ‘trap’, luring the ball toward some designated area where the defence will snap shut on it, but the most important principle in pressing tactics is an underappreciated third T: tempo. …”
The Athletic