Portsmouth’s evolution after leaving Liverpool, Leeds United, Chelsea, Manchester City and rest of the English football in shade

When it came to the intensity of their high press, no one could touch Danny Cowley’s Pompey side - Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester City & Co included.

Bielsa ball and Jurgen Klopp’s gegenpressing couldn’t get near to the Cowley Charge, as his players went in search of the ball in relentless fashion.

That fact was clearly back up by the stats and, in particular, the metric which measures pressing intensity.

Passes per defensive action (PPDA) is calculated by dividing the number of passes made by the opposition by the number of their defensive actions. The lower the number, the more a side are being proactive in winning the ball back.

Pompey’s was as low as eight in Cowley’s first full season at the helm, which was well ahead of the rest.

Things appear to be changing this term, however, with the latest stats showing a drop to 12.9 for the Blues.

Cowley pointed to the circumstances behind that, after his side’s successful opening to the campaign.

He said: ‘Sometimes it comes down to personnel.

‘We had John Marquis this time last year, who had a super strength in that area (pressing).

‘That allowed us to go together more often.

‘In this group we either go together or we stay together.

‘We’re always on the prowl and looking for the moment, the pressing trigger, but it’s always to do it as a collective group.

‘What you have to remember as well is it sometimes depends on the opponent.

‘Also In the early part of the season the sample size is different.

‘With the PPDA stat it’s harder to achieve, when you’re playing against the direct teams it can look very different to the possession based teams.

‘You always have to consider the opponent.’

Cowley highlighted another positive this term from his players has been the manner in which they’ve made more of the opportunities, when they’ve turned over the ball high up the pitch.

That’s something which has been missing at times in his Fratton tenure to date.

He added: ‘Even when we defend we want to attack, so our ambition is to press at every opportunity and win the ball back.

‘We want to press as high up the pitch as we can to win it and then go to goal.

‘We’ve actually done that better. Last year we won it a lot but weren’t then able to transition to goalscoring moments.

‘This year we’ve done that better, like Michael Jacobs’ goal against Cambridge for example.

‘We’re respectful we can’t always do that, so when we can’t do that it’s for us to keep our distances, stay together and not let them play through us.

‘There’s many different ways to defend. If there was one way and it was infallible we’d all be doing it.

‘The reality with any defensive system is to know what it is, make sure the players have clarity over their roles in it and then know where the weaknesses lie so if teams expose you then you’re then ready to deal with it.’