A theory as to why Pochettino was hired...

[LukeBB]

The only thing that worries me about the high intensity pressing is the effect it will have on our lazier players (ie Ade) and I believe there was a stat which showed whenever Southampton went behind, they never won a game last season leading to a lot of people moaning there was no plan B as well as towards the latter stages of games the Southampton players didn't have the energy to fight back. However, we have better facilities and can provide more funding at Spurs for Poch and his team to find and train the right players to make this pressing system work.

Regarding Soldado, I'm very hopeful for him next season as Poch's system encourages the ball to be played to the strikers as quickly as possible and provide as many crosses into the box as possible which is almost the stark opposite to how AVB's team played last season, which featured slow build up play between the midfield and the CBs allowing the opposition to regain their defensive shape and therefore minimise the space for Soldado and either mark him out of the game or force him to drop deep to get on the ball.

I'm very excited for both Kane's and Bentaleb's development next season as I believe they both fit Poch's system almost perfectly.

I worry a little for Sigurdsson and Paulinho next season. Sigurdsson may find a place behind the front 3 but I believe he is behind Holtby and Eriksen here, likewise on the left we have Chadli and Eriksen. Pauilnho is quite different to any midfielder Poch uses. Paulinho is built for a 4-3-3, he was an AVB signing, and Poch requires disciplined holding midfielders who are willing to throw themselves into a tackle and not burst forward into the box leaving themselves short at the back if we lose the ball and are countered on. However, I reckon Poch will enjoy having Paulinho as an option, having a more attack minded CM who loves to both drop deep and pop up into the box, he could be a plan B and we may see Poch tweek his system to accommodate such a player. Saying this, we have horrific injury luck, so I reckon both players (if they aren't sold) will see more than enough playing time.

I know I wrote a similar post last year regarding AVB's 4-3-3 which I thought we were going to switch to due to the players we'd signed and how he played at Porto, and I bigged it up and made us sound like a right force but you can never predict the effect of transfers (Bale) and new arrivals (Baldini) and the effect of injuries on a managers thought process, AVB was forced to play his 4-2-3-1 last year because we were slowly introducing Sandro back from knee injury, Capoue had to play CB, Rose got injured forcing Naughton or Jan out wide and neither Chadli or Lamela hit the ground running.

But please enjoy this post because it helps understand Poch's mindset and starts to give us a feel for how our players will play and train next season, Poch needs our support because he wasn't everyone's first choice (I must say he wasn't mine) and there will be a lot of bitterness and nervousness amongst supporters so we need to convince people that Poch can be a good thing for Tottenham Hotspur and after a long while we can finally see exciting attacking play at White Hart Lane next season without some c*** on the sideline shouting, "Facking run around a bit!" and proceed to attack his gilet

 

[Gbspurs]

It is good to mix it up at times but I don't want 'hitting crouchy' to be our thing ever again

Yeah me neither, CL football was well shit bruv.

 

[jambreck]

Stunning OP.

Thanks for the insight and effort, LukeBB.

 

[Gbspurs]

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 anythingbutpenalties.com, diagrams by me)

Been mentioned already but this post is seriously impressive. I hope you are studying in sports journalism or something. If you're not, you should be!

 

[double0]

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 anythingbutpenalties.com, diagrams by me)

Well done LukeBB really enjoy your threads

 

[LukeBB]

Been mentioned already but this post is seriously impressive. I hope you are studying in sports journalism or something. If your not, you should be!

It's something I'm looking into which I'll give more attention to once I've finished Sixth form, right now I'm more focused on my coaching badges and looking at an apprenticeship in teaching.

Thank you for the support

 

[weststandvoice]

Superb analysis, that leaves me with two obvious concerns: if accurate, how come Saints only finished 8th and I really hope the mental image I have of Dawson hoofing it at Ade can, with counseling, be removed from my mind.

 

[B.E.A.S.T.]

Can't see Soldado is a good choice for a 4231 as he has very limited ability to 'do' hold up play.

Of the current strikers, both Adebayor and Kane would be better bets.

Think we would need one of the 2 CM's to be a decent passer - and neither of Dembele and Sandro are not, and neither is Paulhino whilst Capoue is ok but not great. . Not sure we would want to rely on Tom Carroll or Ryan Mason (although both could be good back ups) so think we'd need to buy a crerative passing CM, possibly losing one of Dembele and Paulhino.

Our injury problems at CB last season obviosly need consideration - do we need another non injury prone CB - as well as LB position, but these are probably generic to almost all sides and formations.

Completely agree with this. IMO Poch may look to sell Soldado - not his fit of striker. To be honest, even though I really wanted him to succeed, it may be best to cut our losses, esp. if a. he is not performing b. Atletico are interested and willing to pay c. he is not exactly wanted by the new manager.

I also hope, to be honest, he looks to move on Dembele - doesn't fit the passing style and isn't really the kind of player we should be using. I've become kind of disillusioned with him lately, as I don't really see what he brings apart from power... he can't score, can't pass, can't defend all too well... maybe I'm wrong but if someone offered a decent amount for him I would bite their hand off.

The rest - LB, CB - is obvious.

 

[Gbspurs]

It's something I'm looking into which I'll give more attention to once I've finished Sixth form, right now I'm more focused on my coaching badges and looking at an apprenticeship in teaching.

Thank you for the support

Bear in mind that AVB started off preparing scouting dossiers etc. Best of luck whatever you do!

 

[Gbspurs]

Superb analysis, that leaves me with two obvious concerns: if accurate, how come Saints only finished 8th and I really hope the mental image I have of Dawson hoofing it at Ade can, with counseling, be removed from my mind.

They have a relatively high goal conceded stat don't they? Probably another curse of the high line!

 

[LukeBB]

Superb analysis, that leaves me with two obvious concerns: if accurate, how come Saints only finished 8th and I really hope the mental image I have of Dawson hoofing it at Ade can, with counseling, be removed from my mind.

Simply because of the lack of depth and quality in their squad. They had little support from the bench in terms of quality and substitutions were usually made to save legs. They had the likes of Lallana, Shaw, Rodriguez, Lambert, Scheiderlin and Fonte start nearly every game for them, using this system without proper rotation these lads fatigued towards the end of the campaign. The had little quality in goal as well, Boruc was solid but he's no Lloris and he was injured for quite a bit of the campaign forcing Gazzaniga or Kelvin Davis in goal instead. This could be another reason why Poch "ignored" the cups because he couldn't afford a lengthy cup run due to the lack of depth in the squad.
At Spurs he will have quality and depth in abundance (bar LB) so it will be very interesting to see how we do in the Europa League and the domestic cups.

 

[weststandvoice]

They have a relatively high goal conceded stat don't they? Probably another curse of the high line!

The high line requires really well drilled personnel for it to work properly. Shots conceded doesn't give you a true picture, it's how many go in, because one/both of your CB's were still on the half way line...

 

[StanSpur]

So we are looking at a formation of

Lloris
Walker Verts/Chiriches Kaboul/an.other LB
Sandro/Capoue Paulinho/Benteleb
Lamela Eriksen Chadli/an.other
Soldado/Kane

Can't see spaces for Sig, Daws or Dembele because of their lack of pace and/or fitness to play the style outlined
Lennon and Townsend may not be seen to be technically good enough to play this style

However the rest of the team isn't too far off. AVB was trying to get in athletes and that is what Poch seems to like, just needing to blend in the skills too. Holtby missing from the team but would be the alternate for Eriksen i would guess. I can see us wanting to get shot of Lennon and Townsend and replace with a quick skillful player to replace Chadli in this lineup and then he'd become alternate for the front three also. Another powerful and quick CB would be needed as well as LB as the high line will require recovery pace - rose has this but is too error prone to play the high line imo.

good read

 

[Dundalk_Spur]

The high line can work given the men in front put the required pressure on the opposition, which is what we lacked.

Having at least one quick centre half and two clever, quick full backs would also help.

 

[avonspurs]

It's something I'm looking into which I'll give more attention to once I've finished Sixth form, right now I'm more focused on my coaching badges and looking at an apprenticeship in teaching.

Thank you for the support

On behalf of all us 'oldies', I hate you!!


Not really of course - I love reading your posts but, by god, you are too young!

 

[buttons]

Brilliant post and a fascinating read - i wrote less than that for my dissertation at uni i think!

The high line frightens me but i hope he'll be more succesful in coaching it than AVB and/or will buy a couple of CB's that suit the system. I think we have the players to suit a high pressing game, AVB did at least buy plenty of players to suit that - Sandro (not AVB), Capoue, Chadli, Dembele, Pauli (less so perhaps), of the others Lennon will certainly do this and i am sure i saw RS9 close down at least one defender last season

Southampton got whalloped far less than we did last year and they also had some decent results agianst the big boys under Poch - reasons to be cheerful.

 

[mpickard2087]

They have a relatively high goal conceded stat don't they? Probably another curse of the high line!

6th best defensive record in the league...

Also, having seen a fair bit of Southampton this year, I wouldn't say they always stuck to a high line no matter what. Yes they did press high up the pitch but if the ball wasn't won back they got themselves in to a solid unit behind the ball. In fact this was one of my criticisms of them in their tougher games... With the ball against the likes of City and Chelsea etc they were very impressive, but I felt they retreated too much and could have been a bit braver, rather than sat back and invited pressure. The game against us was a good example of this, they did well when they had the ball but once the game got level they were happy to put up the barricades rather than have another go at us.

 

[faymantaray]

Very excited about next season now....

Oh fuck it's happening again!

 

[buttons]

The high line can work given the men in front put the required pressure on the opposition, which is what we lacked.

Having at least one quick centre half and two clever, quick full backs would also help.

Exactly. A high line with no pressure on the ball is suicide - as demonstrated v City (three times), Liverpool (twice) and Chelsea.

 

[avonspurs]

Exactly. A high line with no pressure on the ball is suicide - as demonstrated v City (three times), Liverpool (twice) and Chelsea.

Oh god, that really happened didn't it? Those games weren't just nightmarish figments of my imagination.....