Aston Villa keep scoring goals season after season through simple but effective solutions. When a centre-back drives inside, the midfielders move diagonally. This positioning forces the opposition midfielders to choose: protect the space or stay closer to their man. If they stay central to protect space, Villa's midfielders are free to receive. If they become man-oriented, straight passing lanes open up towards the front line. In Serie A, teams have long tried to manipulate man-to-man systems by moving midfielders into wide areas to open direct passing lanes towards the front players. However, this comes with a risk: losing the ball can leave midfielders out of position and expose the team in transition. Aston Villa approach this differently. They understand that vertical progression from the defensive line towards the front line during the deep build-up carries an inherent risk of losing possession. That's why, in their 4-2-2-2, the midfielders remain central, providing protection in case the ball is lost. Pau Torres feints to play around his direct opponent before driving inside. The midfielders move diagonally to open up space. McGinn receives between the lines and uses his body to protect the ball, while two other attackers begin intelligent runs in behind, timing them to exploit the defenders' blind sides. I don't know how many times I have seen this in Villa's games. Same game model season after season, but with individual details refined every year. Opponents know what's coming, but Villa keep doing it, and it keeps working.

New build-up solutions demand new pressing ideas. New pressing ideas demand new build-up solutions. The never-ending tactical battle. In the last couple of seasons, there has been a tendency in deep build-up to spread the centre-backs wide and push the fullbacks higher. This is what I call "Isolating the deep build-up". With more teams pressing man-to-man, the intention behind positioning the centre-backs so wide was to increase the distance for the “double-role presser”: the player responsible for pressing one of the centre-backs and the goalkeeper. Once the double-role presser stepped to press the goalkeeper, many teams would use the third-man concept to find the free centre-back. The goalkeeper would play into a midfielder, who would then play a bounce pass to the centre-back, now free to receive. By pushing the fullbacks higher, teams created space for the centre-backs to receive unopposed. And because of the centre-backs being wide to increase the distance, the centre-forward would often arrive too late to apply pressure back. However, during last season and this one, more teams have started to respond differently. Instead of pressing the goalkeeper horizontally, they step forward frontally, often with a midfielder jumping out to press the goalkeeper while using his cover shadow to block access to his direct opponent. The quality with which some teams now execute what I call the "Vertical Third Man" is incredible. It allows them to bypass the first line of pressure and find the free player inside. Arsenal did it against Bayern Munich, but if there is one team that has mastered this concept, it is Como under Cesc Fàbregas. Not many teams have mastered this level of execution yet, unlike the “Horizontal Third Man”, which has been refined over the years to the point that almost any team in elite football can execute it comfortably. From a pressing perspective, stepping forward frontally to press the goalkeeper can be an effective approach. Bayern Munich with Kompany were among the teams using this solution last season, while Roberto De Zerbi has also applied it with Olympique de Marseille and Tottenham Hotspur, particularly against teams that want to "isolate the build-up." At first glance, pressing the goalkeeper frontally might seem riskier than pressing horizontally. The main trade-off is that a midfielder has to step out of his position, leaving one fewer player inside. This can create a temporary numerical disadvantage in midfield, which can be more dangerous than leaving the centre-back free. However, the advantage is that the opposition often struggles to build up short. By applying direct pressure to the goalkeeper, the pressing team reduces his time to find a solution and forces him to play towards one side or go long. Unless the opposition can execute the “Vertical Third Man” concept mentioned earlier, which only a few teams currently master, frontal pressing tends to be an effective way to prevent opponents from progressing comfortably through the first phase of build-up. If you want to keep controlling games and progressing through build-up, you need to keep developing new solutions. Opponents are increasingly willing to take more risks in their pressing structures to prevent you from controlling games with the ball.