One Presses, One Covers

1. Mark a pitch 12 metres wide and 24 long with a mini goal in the middle of each end, no keepers. Lay a line of cones 8 metres in front of each goal: that is each team's covering line. Play 2v2, with as many pitches side by side as you need. With an odd number, one pitch gets a floater who always plays for the team with the ball.
2. Score in the other team's mini goal.
3. The one rule: whenever your team does not have the ball, one of you must be on your own covering line. The other presses.
4. The player on the line can slide along it and win the ball from it, but cannot step off it until your team has the ball again. A teammate can take over the line at any moment; once they are on it, you are free to go and press.
5. After a goal, the team that conceded dribbles in from its own goal. When the ball goes off the side, dribble it back in. Play games of four minutes, then change opponents.

With one defender always on the line, two against two becomes two against one in the middle. So the presser cannot win the ball by charging in alone. They slow the dribbler down, show them towards the side where the cover is waiting, and go in on a heavy touch, a player turned towards their own goal, or a slow pass. The player on the line watches the ball and their partner at once and slides to stay between the ball and the goal, ready to cut out the pass. When the ball is lost, both decide in a second who takes the line, usually whoever is nearer to it, and say so out loud. The attackers face the same picture from the other side: two against one in the middle, so go at the presser or pass before the cover is set.