Don't Get Anxious When Defending - Pressley

Last updated : 23 January 2015 By Covsupport News Service

Coventry City manager Steven Pressley has told his players not to get anxious when defending.

Defending has been a feature of this week's training and the City boss said to the Coventry Telegraph's Andy Turner: “We’ve done some work on defending as a unit this week and the message has been about not being anxious.

“When you watch a team like Chelsea and they are put under a lot of pressure they are very calm and look comfortable defending a lead. They enjoy that side of it and there’s no panic to the way they handle pressure because they know that if they absorb it they will get an opportunity.

“Sometimes you’ll not dominate games like we did in the first half at Gillingham but you have to be comfortable in your shape and understand that you don’t always need to have the ball in the game to actually be in control.

“Sometimes you can do that without being in possession because the game suits you, and then you can break.

“So the message is not to get too anxious in our defending, especially when you’re playing away and the home team are always going to have periods of pressure. I just felt in the last 15 minutes of the game on Saturday that we got anxious and we caused our own downfall, not Gillingham.”

More on this - http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/coventry-city-boss-tells-team-8500213