LukeBB
Well-Known Member
- Aug 4, 2013
- 488
- 1,793
This post will look at Pochettino's philosophy and tactical ideology which he will likely implement at Tottenham Hotspur. Based on his work at Espanyol and Southampton, his tutelage under Marco "El Loco" Bielsa and the type of players he employs on the pitch.
(I cannot guarantee this is how Spurs will play, you never know with young coaches how they will develop as a coach and how they will edit their system among a different group of players.)
Let's start with a likely starting XI:
On paper, Mauricio Pochettino's team usually sets out in a 4-2-3-1 shape. The team presses very high up the pitch, a la Bielsa. The back 4 and 2 holding mids push the team forward as quickly as possible in the game before the 2 CB's take up their positions close to/ on the halfway line (Dawson will play in a high line again!
). The idea behind this is to win the ball back up the pitch as high as possible, to keep the opposition away from our goal and to maximise the chances created through winning the ball closer to the oppositions goal. It's a high paced, exciting brand of football which requires a lot of energy and fitness from our own players. While this can lead to an entertaining and dominating brand of football, it will require a lot of effort from our players and, if, executed poorly can lead to our team fading in the later stages of games. However it is important to realise Mauricio Pochettino has been employing this style of play for all of his management career and with better players and facilities at his disposal, I'm sure he can make it work at Tottenham Hotspur.
Pochettino's Southampton enjoyed the highest average amount of possession during last seasons Premier League:
Rank Team Average Possession
1 Southampton 58.6%
2 Manchester City 57.6%
3 Swansea 57.3%
4 Arsenal 56.8%
5 Liverpool 55.8%
6 Everton 55.6%
This is a very impressive statistic which is also vital to ensure that when Poch's teams lose the ball, they still have the energy to pressure their opponents and win the ball back as soon as possible. High amounts of possession are always beneficial to teams in the Premier League because of the quality of the opposition, 8 times out of 10 the premier league side you come up against has a player on the other team who can change the game in an instant, so it is important to minimise the time the opposition has the ball. Even more impressive is this statistic when you realise how many long balls on average Southampton played last season:
Rank Team Long Balls per game
1 Aston Villa 71
2 Southampton 70
3 Everton 68
4 Fulham 68
5 Hull 67
6 Sunderland 66
7 West Ham 66
This stat will be enjoyed by those who grew frustrated with AVB's patient build-up play between the CB's which often slowed down the tempo of our play and allowing the opposition to restore their defensive shape. This is another piece of evidence of Poch incorporating Bielsa's philosophy into his own game. Instead of patient build-up play which features a lot of sideways passing, Poch's team looks to play vertical passes at every opportunity to speed up play and catch the opposition out of shape. This ppoint is supported also by these statistics:
Rank Team Short Passes per game
1 Arsenal 524
2 Swansea 506
3 Manchester City 502
4 Liverpool 469
5 Southampton 457
6 Manchester United 447
7 Chelsea 432
Rank Pass Success% Rank Possession % Team Difference between ranks
1 2 Manchester City 1
2 4 Arsenal 2
3 3 Swansea 0
4 5 Liverpool 1
5 7 Manchester United 2
6 6 Everton 0
7 8 Chelsea 1
8 9 Tottenham 1
9 1 Southampton 8
These show that Southampton have been remarkably capable of maintaining an overwhelming and dominant style of play without boring the opposition to death, instead by coming at them time and time again in a direct and unsubtle fashion.
Southampton played many of these long balls to Rickie Lambert, who could use his heading ability to either flick the ball on or play it down to an onrushing Rodriguez or Lallana. At Spurs, Adebayor is the closest we have to Rickie Lambert, and I'm fully expecting Ade to be moved on this summer (wages, attitude, Monaco
) so either we buy a similar type of forward to Lambert or we'll see Poch adapt to vertical passes played along the floor to Soldado.
In possession, it's likely we'll see Spurs take this shape:
A1: The 2 CB's spread wide in order to martial the halfway line and provide support to the WBs and the two holding mids.
A2: This line of 4 support the front men and offer maximal protection allowing the WBs to push forward with the front men. They offer a solid base from which to retain possession, preventing this job to be done by the CBs therefore speeding up play and allowing the CBs to pull the opposition strikers wide with them, removing them from the danger areas.
A3: The front 4 are again evidence of Bielsa's influence on Pochettino. The front 4 feature 1 playmaker, 2 inverted wingers and one striker. The playmaker allows for the front 3 to interchange positions efficiently as the playmaker occupies any space opened up by the forwards movements. The playmaker is also tasked with linking midfield to attack, it is likely this role will be occupied by Eriksen or Holtby next season.
A4: This is where the front 3, supported by the playmaker, look to fill up the box and overload the opposing CBs, also dragging the opposition WBs inside with them, creating space for the WBs to run into and provide crosses into the box making use of the amount of people in the box to aim at. The front 3 next season are likely to be Chadli, Soldado and Lamela, players who can all operate inside the box and between the lines of defense and midfield, all are able to get on the end of crosses and make intelligent runs to create and exploit space.
In defense, Pochettino's Southampton were one of the most organised and effective units in the premier league, coming second to the eventual champions, Manchester City:
Rank Team Shots conceded per game
1 Manchester City 9.5
2 Southampton 9.6
3 Chelsea 10.4
4 Tottenham 11.2
5 Manchester United 11.9
In defense, Pochettino's side looked to minimise the space occupied by the oppositions creative players, playing a narrow formation resembling something like this:
D1: This space is closed down and minimised by the 2 Cbs and 2 holding mids, meaning the opposition has little space from which to play killer balls and have shots at goal.
D2: This is where the ball is looked to be won back if the ball was not previously won back further up the pitch. If the ball is won here, the arrows demonstrate the counter attacking movement, this is the area where Poch's side likes to pressure an opposition midfielder into making a mistake so they can break at speed with the two strikers pulling out wide to stretch the caught out opposition CBs.
This is where I find hope for a reconciliation of the destructive midfield partnership of Dembele and Sandro. Both are great complements to the other and are easily capable of winning the ball back effectively and moving it out wide or forwards. Pochettino's sode relys on effective tacklers, at Southampton, Schneiderlin and Wanyama were the midfield partnership when both were fit and their job was to provide the ball to the likes of Steve Davis or Lallana so they could take the ball forwards:
Rank Team Tackles per game
1 Liverpool 22.3
2 Crystal Palace 22.2
3 Southampton 21.2
4 Stoke 20.8
5 Manchester City 19.9
As we can see, Pochettino's teams have a very diverse and exciting brand of football which features:
1) A lot of possession
2) Many vertical passes
3) An organised defense
4) Many tackles
and
5)Little shots conceded
Now it is important for us to support our new leader even if he picks up some bad results earlier on. I know a lot of our fans are disappointed considering we were linked with huge names such as Louis Van Gaal and Frank De Boer but believe me, we have a very exciting coach who has a lot of potential to grow with us as a team. His man management skills are highly praised and he is incredibly intelligent. He is wary of the untrustworthy English media, it's why he used a translator to this date, so it is unlikely he'll embarrass us with Sherwood-esque soundbites. He is a respectful and modest coach who'll represent and lead us with dignity and grace. He'll likely realise the potential in our academy which is important in these modern times of financial fair play, it could be exciting times ahead with the emergence of the likes of Kane, Bentaleb, Pritchard, Carroll, Veljkovic and Coulthirst on the horizon.
Mourinho on Pochettino: "He shows so much passion for the game. He's excited to work, and a pleasure to watch."
Guardiola on Pochettino: "There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you: Espanyol look for you."
Pep Guardiola on Pochettino's Espanyol: "I feel very close to Espanyol's style of football"
(Stats via http://anythingbutpenalties.com/2014/05/24/mauricio-pochettino-through-statistics/ , diagrams by me)
(I cannot guarantee this is how Spurs will play, you never know with young coaches how they will develop as a coach and how they will edit their system among a different group of players.)
Let's start with a likely starting XI:
On paper, Mauricio Pochettino's team usually sets out in a 4-2-3-1 shape. The team presses very high up the pitch, a la Bielsa. The back 4 and 2 holding mids push the team forward as quickly as possible in the game before the 2 CB's take up their positions close to/ on the halfway line (Dawson will play in a high line again!
). The idea behind this is to win the ball back up the pitch as high as possible, to keep the opposition away from our goal and to maximise the chances created through winning the ball closer to the oppositions goal. It's a high paced, exciting brand of football which requires a lot of energy and fitness from our own players. While this can lead to an entertaining and dominating brand of football, it will require a lot of effort from our players and, if, executed poorly can lead to our team fading in the later stages of games. However it is important to realise Mauricio Pochettino has been employing this style of play for all of his management career and with better players and facilities at his disposal, I'm sure he can make it work at Tottenham Hotspur.Pochettino's Southampton enjoyed the highest average amount of possession during last seasons Premier League:
Rank Team Average Possession
1 Southampton 58.6%
2 Manchester City 57.6%
3 Swansea 57.3%
4 Arsenal 56.8%
5 Liverpool 55.8%
6 Everton 55.6%
This is a very impressive statistic which is also vital to ensure that when Poch's teams lose the ball, they still have the energy to pressure their opponents and win the ball back as soon as possible. High amounts of possession are always beneficial to teams in the Premier League because of the quality of the opposition, 8 times out of 10 the premier league side you come up against has a player on the other team who can change the game in an instant, so it is important to minimise the time the opposition has the ball. Even more impressive is this statistic when you realise how many long balls on average Southampton played last season:
Rank Team Long Balls per game
1 Aston Villa 71
2 Southampton 70
3 Everton 68
4 Fulham 68
5 Hull 67
6 Sunderland 66
7 West Ham 66
This stat will be enjoyed by those who grew frustrated with AVB's patient build-up play between the CB's which often slowed down the tempo of our play and allowing the opposition to restore their defensive shape. This is another piece of evidence of Poch incorporating Bielsa's philosophy into his own game. Instead of patient build-up play which features a lot of sideways passing, Poch's team looks to play vertical passes at every opportunity to speed up play and catch the opposition out of shape. This ppoint is supported also by these statistics:
Rank Team Short Passes per game
1 Arsenal 524
2 Swansea 506
3 Manchester City 502
4 Liverpool 469
5 Southampton 457
6 Manchester United 447
7 Chelsea 432
Rank Pass Success% Rank Possession % Team Difference between ranks
1 2 Manchester City 1
2 4 Arsenal 2
3 3 Swansea 0
4 5 Liverpool 1
5 7 Manchester United 2
6 6 Everton 0
7 8 Chelsea 1
8 9 Tottenham 1
9 1 Southampton 8
These show that Southampton have been remarkably capable of maintaining an overwhelming and dominant style of play without boring the opposition to death, instead by coming at them time and time again in a direct and unsubtle fashion.
Southampton played many of these long balls to Rickie Lambert, who could use his heading ability to either flick the ball on or play it down to an onrushing Rodriguez or Lallana. At Spurs, Adebayor is the closest we have to Rickie Lambert, and I'm fully expecting Ade to be moved on this summer (wages, attitude, Monaco
) so either we buy a similar type of forward to Lambert or we'll see Poch adapt to vertical passes played along the floor to Soldado.In possession, it's likely we'll see Spurs take this shape:
A1: The 2 CB's spread wide in order to martial the halfway line and provide support to the WBs and the two holding mids.
A2: This line of 4 support the front men and offer maximal protection allowing the WBs to push forward with the front men. They offer a solid base from which to retain possession, preventing this job to be done by the CBs therefore speeding up play and allowing the CBs to pull the opposition strikers wide with them, removing them from the danger areas.
A3: The front 4 are again evidence of Bielsa's influence on Pochettino. The front 4 feature 1 playmaker, 2 inverted wingers and one striker. The playmaker allows for the front 3 to interchange positions efficiently as the playmaker occupies any space opened up by the forwards movements. The playmaker is also tasked with linking midfield to attack, it is likely this role will be occupied by Eriksen or Holtby next season.
A4: This is where the front 3, supported by the playmaker, look to fill up the box and overload the opposing CBs, also dragging the opposition WBs inside with them, creating space for the WBs to run into and provide crosses into the box making use of the amount of people in the box to aim at. The front 3 next season are likely to be Chadli, Soldado and Lamela, players who can all operate inside the box and between the lines of defense and midfield, all are able to get on the end of crosses and make intelligent runs to create and exploit space.
In defense, Pochettino's Southampton were one of the most organised and effective units in the premier league, coming second to the eventual champions, Manchester City:
Rank Team Shots conceded per game
1 Manchester City 9.5
2 Southampton 9.6
3 Chelsea 10.4
4 Tottenham 11.2
5 Manchester United 11.9
In defense, Pochettino's side looked to minimise the space occupied by the oppositions creative players, playing a narrow formation resembling something like this:
D1: This space is closed down and minimised by the 2 Cbs and 2 holding mids, meaning the opposition has little space from which to play killer balls and have shots at goal.
D2: This is where the ball is looked to be won back if the ball was not previously won back further up the pitch. If the ball is won here, the arrows demonstrate the counter attacking movement, this is the area where Poch's side likes to pressure an opposition midfielder into making a mistake so they can break at speed with the two strikers pulling out wide to stretch the caught out opposition CBs.
This is where I find hope for a reconciliation of the destructive midfield partnership of Dembele and Sandro. Both are great complements to the other and are easily capable of winning the ball back effectively and moving it out wide or forwards. Pochettino's sode relys on effective tacklers, at Southampton, Schneiderlin and Wanyama were the midfield partnership when both were fit and their job was to provide the ball to the likes of Steve Davis or Lallana so they could take the ball forwards:
Rank Team Tackles per game
1 Liverpool 22.3
2 Crystal Palace 22.2
3 Southampton 21.2
4 Stoke 20.8
5 Manchester City 19.9
As we can see, Pochettino's teams have a very diverse and exciting brand of football which features:
1) A lot of possession
2) Many vertical passes
3) An organised defense
4) Many tackles
and
5)Little shots conceded
Now it is important for us to support our new leader even if he picks up some bad results earlier on. I know a lot of our fans are disappointed considering we were linked with huge names such as Louis Van Gaal and Frank De Boer but believe me, we have a very exciting coach who has a lot of potential to grow with us as a team. His man management skills are highly praised and he is incredibly intelligent. He is wary of the untrustworthy English media, it's why he used a translator to this date, so it is unlikely he'll embarrass us with Sherwood-esque soundbites. He is a respectful and modest coach who'll represent and lead us with dignity and grace. He'll likely realise the potential in our academy which is important in these modern times of financial fair play, it could be exciting times ahead with the emergence of the likes of Kane, Bentaleb, Pritchard, Carroll, Veljkovic and Coulthirst on the horizon.
Mourinho on Pochettino: "He shows so much passion for the game. He's excited to work, and a pleasure to watch."
Guardiola on Pochettino: "There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you: Espanyol look for you."
Pep Guardiola on Pochettino's Espanyol: "I feel very close to Espanyol's style of football"
(Stats via http://anythingbutpenalties.com/2014/05/24/mauricio-pochettino-through-statistics/ , diagrams by me)
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