Atalanta and Leeds press man-to-man only because someone covers behind the first jump
13 June 2026
Press man-to-man across the pitch and you leave space behind every defender who jumps. Atalanta and Leeds both played that way and stayed hard to break down, because the defenders behind the first jump always knew where their cover came from.
Atalanta made the clearest recent version of that choice in the 2024 Europa League final. Gian Piero Gasperini’s team locked onto Leverkusen across the pitch and accepted 1v1s on the back line rather than keeping a spare defender. 1
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