We haven't pressed high up the pitch for over a season now, that's primarily down to *probably* needing to look after Kane, Son and an injured Dele. So, the press has been dropped into midfield (a mid-block). There were signs of a high press being played in pre-season and in both Newcastle and Villa games, but as we ended up with near 80% possession there simply is nothing to press. When teams sit deep it's not about pressing, it's about moving the ball quickly, and using the width of the pitch. We should also be setting traps for the oppo to build, to get out of their defensive shape in the hope we can win the ball back by counter-pressing (doubt that would have happened against Newcastle but it did against Villa). The ONLY team that is consistently good at breaking down teams that put 10-11 behind the ball are City, what they move the ball quickly and use the width of the pitch so well, but one standout feature is they have rehearsed set of plays that get them the goals in every game, and that's a timed late run to the back post, this run is made from deep and made before the ball is even played, hello De Bruyne & Sterling combo.
We still have a major issue with Winks and Sissoko allowing players to run off them and them not engaging the player on the ball. Winks improved massively with this throughout last year. But the issue is exaggerated when the oppo by-pass the midfield with a long ball upfield, this is hard for either of them to be in position as they would be squeezing the space up the pitch. This is where we weren't aggressive enough, higher up the pitch, to stop the long ball. Winks actually picked up a "good" yellow when he pulled one of their players back to prevent them from building or playing that ball, we needed Son, Lucas in particular to do that. Again, look at City they will foul the fuck out of the oppo as soon as they lose possession (they conceded 14 fouls vs our 4 when we played them and look how much of the ball they had!!!).
We will continue to concede shots on our goal if we aren't putting pressure on the oppo when they are on the ball. This is the issue.