As expected from anyone with Red Bull leanings, Gerhard Struber’s Wolfsberger and Barnsley teams played quickly and directly but with composure and control. A cursory viewing of Barnsley’s matches could yield an opinion that it’s simple “Route One soccer,” with the movement almost wholly vertical and nearly wasteful. While this admittedly looks very similar, a closer look reveals Struber’s attacking tactics as not only a contrast to the English lower league milieu he existed in for the last year, but a slight wrinkle (or “variation”) from the broader Red Bull school of high-octane attack.
Like most soccer strategies, the purpose of the high press is to generate a plethora of scoring opportunities.