‘AngeBall’ apparently is quite addicting. The moment Tottenham’s season began without Harry Kane away at Brentford, even the most deluded Spurs optimist would not have had a prediction of back-to-back sweeps of player and manager of the month awards.
Ange Postecoglou via Getty Images
The buzz words that would have circled the Tottenham camp last season would have included something along the lines of ‘ageing squad’ or ‘weak mentality’. That would be difficult to argue against, in all fairness.
Not even five months later and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are sat proudly at the summit of the Premier League. It is all academic, and many will brand the first eight games as a honeymoon period, but something feels like its brewing in N17 this time.
Antonio Conte’s side was on 17 points at this stage last season, with Nuno Espirito Santo the year before that on 15 points. Both managers were sacked during that season as the team showed a lack of progress and future, unlike how Ange Postecoglou has started.
During the 2021/22 season, Tottenham finished the season with the fourth oldest squad, with an average age of 27.1. So far this year, Postecoglou’s youthful approach has seen an absolute U-turn, with the squad’s average age two years younger at 25.1 and now the fourth youngest behind Chelsea and Burnley, who have taken a particular focus to youth, and Arsenal, who have built a successful project off a youthful approach.
Hence the excitement. Watching a young side playing with the upmost maturity marries fans, players, and managers into optimism for future success. The hard fought win at Luton last weekend acted as a catalyst for increased excitement, as a result was grinded out against adversity, a characteristic which famously has failed the club repeatedly.
Ange Postecoglou clearly has the entire Spurs squad working hard, and for him. The likeable, forward-thinking attitude which the Australian offers has the players dedicated to earning results. The style certainly gives a level of freedom you would not get with a regimented low block, for example.
Below are some Spurs stats in comparison to the season prior, albeit it has only been eight games in comparison to the typical full season.
Possession Average: 61.4% / 49.8% (Up 11.6%)
Shots Per Game: 19.1 / 13.6 (Up 5.5)
Average xG: 2.20 / 1.62 (Up 0.58)
Via Opta Analyst
Key: Spurs / Opposition / Contested
Tottenham’s dominance over the pitch has been accentuated in their confidence. The ability to dominate the pitch, particularly against typically challenging outfits such as Liverpool and Arsenal, the job which is being done is just more impressive.
Stats have influenced the new strategy at Tottenham Hotspur and the recent decisions, whether that be in the transfer market or on the pitch have been largely data driven, and undoubtedly a large team at the club is exhausting every last piece of data to improve results.
The Telegraph reported in May that Daniel Levy was holding talks with experts to change what was a failed transfer strategy into a revolutionised system which targeted overperforming footballers in smaller leagues.
The athleticism of summer signing Micky van de Ven, for example, was always likely to catch the eye of the scouts, as it allows Tottenham to play a high-line and take greater risk in order to play with more fluidity. The Dutch centre back’s partnership with Cristian Romero, who has a superb understanding of Ange’s system already has elevated performance.
The likes of Alejo Veliz, and most recently, Luka Vuskovic was not someone who would have been on Tottenham’s radar as early as six months ago, but the new strategy is full proof and strictly planned for the immediate future and in the years to come.
Statistically, Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham is ticking the boxes for what we brand as ‘exciting football’ in the modern game. Patterns have been appearing more regularly in the recent games, with the idea that the manager pitched before he joined coming to fruition.
Most obviously – Inverted fullbacks. Ange opts for Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, who fit like a glove to the modern-day full back. No, the plan is not just to copy Pep for this side. While the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko at Arsenal completely integrate into midfield, Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro’s movements into the middle are only typical at the start of an attacking phase.
Guglielmo Vicario’s sharp thinking and equally strong distribution has allowed the wing backs to tuck into pockets to receive the ball, and their sharp turns has helped Spurs quickly transition from back to front. When the full-backs come inside to receive, midfielders Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma will shift to the wings to support the full-backs, always thinking ahead. This also allows Porro and Udogie to drive and advance the ball into the middle third.
Mostly however, they will operate on the flanks in the final third making overlapping runs for crosses, which Spurs certainly do not perform as much nowadays. Casting back to the 2-0 win against Bournemouth, Destiny Udogie’s movement for the second goal at the byline were superb.
James Maddison has been pivotal to the goals Spurs have scored so far in this Premier League season, with the creative advanced midfielder involving himself in seven of the 18 goals scored so far. He is granted a free-roam role, sort of the likes which we saw at Leicester beforehand.
Whether that is the vision of Ange or not, Maddison’s desire to retrieve the ball at every opportunity was something that was desperately absent of the last few years and is the crown jewel in the way Tottenham play.
The true unpredictability is sourced from the wings of the system. Dejan Kulusevski and what has felt like a different winger each week on the other side of the pitch have not truly got a regimented pattern.
They are typically supportive in the build-up, but certainly do not always cross, or always attack the box. The enigma of that pattern creates unpredictability, which I suppose is powerful when the opposition spend the entire week analysing you.
The Ange Postecoglou train is continuing to pick up passengers, but everyone is expecting that train to fall off the track. The more it prolongs, the more unfathomable it gets. Irrelevant of the current form, the feeling of pride and ambition has changed drastically already.
Spurs next face Fulham at home in ten days, with the fans desperate for the game to arrive so they can watch a team they genuinely have passion about play football. Who would have thought?
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