Having pressure to the ball is a starting point to any dominant defense. A simple concept but many times difficult to execute effectively. It takes a large physical commitment from the individual, and a ton of rehearsal as a team to get the movements and timing just right. Over the past two matches, this is an area identified that needs improvement.
In the Real Salt Lake game, throughout the entire match our pressure and synchronized team movements to close the ball down were not executed. Against New York City FC, there was a better commitment to take those last extra steps to make the attacker uncomfortable and our team movements were more coordinated, but overall still inconsistent over a 90 minute match.