Spring a coordinated press off a trigger. Hold the mid-block until the back-pass, then press the receiver with the nearest player while the unit steps up to squeeze and intercept.
The pressing team holds a compact mid-block. The opponents circulate until one plays a backward pass, the trigger. On that cue the nearest player sprints to press the receiver and the whole unit steps up to squeeze the space and jump the next pass to win it high. Emphasise patience until the trigger, then an explosive, together press. Vary the trigger and rotate the teams.
Knowing when not to press is considerably harder to coach than pressing, and it is the half that decides whether a team can sustain it. A side that presses on instinct spends ninety minutes chasing, arrives exhausted by the hour mark, and leaves gaps every time an individual goes without the others. A trigger converts pressing from an attitude into a decision.
A back-pass is the cleanest trigger there is, and it is worth understanding why. The ball is travelling away from the opponent's goal, which means every one of their players is momentarily facing the wrong way. The receiver has his back to the pitch, his options are limited to a keeper and a square ball, and the pass itself takes a second and a half to arrive, which is a second and a half the pressing team gets for free.
The hard discipline is everything before the trigger. Holding a compact mid-block, staying connected, and letting the opponent have the ball in areas that do not hurt is uncomfortable for players who have been told pressing is effort. The instruction that helps is that the block is not passive, it is loaded.
When the trigger comes, the unit springs together. The nearest player presses the receiver, the others step up to squeeze the space rather than to chase, and the line moves as one. One player pressing alone on a trigger is worse than nobody pressing, because the gap he leaves is the pass that beats the whole block.
Save it to your private drills, then change the animation, adjust positions, swap equipment, or drop it into a session block. Or start from a blank pitch and build your own.