Ange Postecoglou’s tactics haven’t quite revolutionized the Premier League just yet. But they’ve certainly given analysts plenty to talk about. With the Australian manager promising some measure of success in his second season as manager of Tottenham, it’s time to dig deep into the tactical setup of, certainly, one of the most charismatic managers operating in the EPL today.
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Career Prior to Managing Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou’s career is certainly one of the most interesting of any manager in the Premier League. However, it is not the typical route to the best football league in the world.
Postecoglou’s coaching career began as assistant manager of South Melbourne, the club for whom he had played as a right-back. To the surprise of many, he was the next manager of the Australian youth team and several other local clubs before getting the job as manager of the Australian senior team in 2013.
Postecoglou handled, likely, the most successful period in Australian football’s history. The team qualified for the World Cup in 2014 and 2018 and won the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
In 2018, he was the manager of one of the Japanese league’s bigger clubs, Yokohama Marinos, before heading to Europe to coach Celtic Glasgow. Two Scottish Premiership campaigns followed. The latter, in 2023, involved winning a treble. It was the impetus, presumably, for Daniel Levy and the Spurs board to hire Postecoglou as their club’s manager.
Football Philosophy
Yes, Ange Postecoglou has a football style that he has implemented practically on every team he has managed. It’s a bruised and battering philosophy. When it works, it makes for a great box office.
The Australian manager tends to favour a 4-3-3 formation and wants his teams to play fluid counter-attacking football. His teams like to take advantage of sharp transitions and move the ball quickly into dangerous situations using short, fast passing.
Postecoglou’s teams are brave. The team builds up from the back and presses from the front. It’s an aggressive approach that the manager generally refuses to change even when the odds are against his team. He used this even when Tottenham went down to 10 men in his first season, and he used it when Australia faced mighty Brazil.
Formations and Adaptability
As mentioned, Ange Postecoglou likes his team to set up in a 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 formation. This is meant to encourage aggressive pressing, quick transitions, and a possession-based game where the goal is to move the ball quickly into dangerous areas.
Postecoglou has shown willing to adapt to opponents however. He used a 4-2-3-1 formation against Newcastle earlier this season, but when this resulted in a defeat, he reverted back to his previous tactics, or he was chosen to flood the flanks in the memorable defeat against Manchester United.
These changes are, for the most part, designed to bring Tottenham a numerical advantage in certain phases of the game. Ideally, when it attack, Postecoglou wants to have five of his Spurs players facing against four defenders. Similarly, when building up, players, such as the full-backs, may change roles in order to create additional passing opportunities.
Tottenham in Defense
Ange Postecoglou has set up Tottenham to play in a four-man-defense. While the manager has delved deep into the transfer market early into his reign to fill these positions, he has, whenever possible, used the same players for this setup.
When defending, the objective for Spurs is to make space as hard to come by for the opponents as possible. Tottenham presses aggressively and intensely. The central areas are usually flooded with players which forces the opposition to take risks out on the flank. Spurs have, however, struggled against the more technical teams that accepted that they would have to find space between the lines.
Central to Tottenham’s tactics is the defensive partnership between Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. Both are very good on the ball, allowing the team to build from the back. Both are good at tackling and closing down play. Romero offers greater security in aerial duels, while van de Ven’s speed allows him to run with the ball into more of a midfielder role when needed.
The team’s inverted full-backs also bring a lot of the energy needed to play the kind of football that Postecoglou’s tactics advertise. Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie can play attacking roles, but they are often used to shift into a central position and force opposition players to commit errors.
The Ball-Playing Goalkeeper
In fact, this frantic pace of the pressing has been one of the things that has worked best for Spurs under Postecoglou. While this is not the best team in the league in terms of pressing, and while most top teams in the EPL use a similar approach, Tottenham have been one of the best at forcing errors and gaining back possession against the opposition.
Finally, when mentioning Tottenham’s defence, we also have to mention the attackers and goalkeeper. The team’s attacking players are expected to press from the front and cut out passing lanes. Playmaker James Maddison and hard-working striker Song-Heung Min have been particularly effective at doing this.
Finally, the arrival of Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli seems to have been an inspired idea courtesy of the scouting department. Bought for €35.00m, Vicario shows real promise. This season, he has led one of the better defences in the EPL, has one of the lowest post-shot expected goals in the top leagues and has, generally, been a stabilizing factor.
More clean sheets and greater involvement in the passing of the team are surely needed for Vicario to compete with players like Ederson or Alisson, but there is certainly potential there.
Tottenham in Attack
As frustrating as Tottenham’s attackers have been at times, this season, the team has registered the highest number of goals apart from Manchester City. This proves that, at least in part, Ange Postecoglou’s tactical principles are being soaked up by the team.
Typically, Tottenham starts in a 4-3-3. When in possession, and especially when benefiting from a transition, the three attackers are joined by the wide midfielders, typically Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison. The purpose is to create numeric superiority against the four defenders of the opposition.
The goal is to bring the ball into the final third quickly but through controlled passes. Typically, Spurs attack down the centre of the pitch, which overloads players. However, the clever use of van de Ven in wide areas to create superiority in attack has let some teams like Manchester United stunned when playing against Spurs.
The departure of Harry Kane more than one year ago had a profound effect on Tottenham. But it’s also meant that other players have needed to step up.
Of course, Son remains the team’s most important goal threat typically. He has managed three goals this season and nearly every attacking phase looks for the South Korean as the best option.
However, this season has also seen the emergence of Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke. The first was transferred from Nottingham Forest and is coming good on his wunderkind potential. The latter was injured in the first part of the season but can provide just the kind of robust finishing that Spurs need.
Also, while Timo Werner isn’t the most reliable finisher, his work rate and tactical knowledge are enough to give defenders a real headache and provide an additional attacking option to Ange Postecoglou’s tactics.
Build Up Phase
Spurs generally like to build from the back. Vicario is the player who makes the first pass and should have three options around him at all times. This means that one of the two fullbacks will revert to a more central area, while Bissouma also drops deeper to receive the next pass.
This movement creates triangle shapes on the field. This, together with the skill of players like Udogie and Porro, who are able to retain possession in tight spaces, has been integral to the way that Tottenham has built its attacks.
The other important factor has been the addition of James Maddison, the former playmaker for Leicester City. Maddison is an extremely mobile player. He will naturally and comfortably switch roles and move into any position required of him while asking for the ball and looking to link up play.
What is next for Postecoglou and Tottenham?
Ange Postecoglou seems fated to become a cult hero at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The team plays brave, attacking football and is often extremely entertaining.
But what about the results? Tottenham has improved on a lot of fronts. However, the EPL has never been more competitive. There is a sense that some teams, like Arsenal and even Aston Villa, have made the leap to the top of the Premier League food chain faster than Spurs have.
Will not winning a trophy or securing a Champions League qualification be enough to warrant a change of managers? Possibly not, but stranger things have happened.
What is clear is that, for now, the players and the supporters believe in Postecoglou’s radical tactics and that the team still has opportunities to come good on its potential.
