Lol I'm a sub contractor and unfortunately I come across all types of people including Gooners, sad I know but they about and they have no shame they don't even hide away or try to be inconspicuous.Why were you speaking to a Gooner at work???
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Management Ange Postecoglou
- Thread starter The Fighting Cock
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I wonder what the majority would be, if they voted on it, to carry that through.
Even if it did, how would it effect clubs like Chelsea, Utd, City, the goons who would likely already massively exceed whatever the cap would be. You can't tell the players on massive wages that they'll have to take a pay cut.
Would you have to wait until the last player's contract ran down ? That'll be around 8 years then, after Chelsea lost the plot.
Would this prevent the mega rich clubs from dishing out a handsome signing on fee? The whole thing is a farce if that is allowed, as nothing really changes.
Would it kill off the Prem as a dominant force? If Spanish, German, Italian clubs are able to offer better wages, as their league isn't capped, then the Premiership dies a slow death when the rats start jumping if the enormous signing on fees are blocked.
I'm struggling to see how this will gain legs. It's potentially killing the fatted calf as I see it. The Prem is absolutely dominant in World Football, because it's awash with money from a number of Billionaires. If they suddenly find that they're not able to attract the absolute best through wages, I think they'd eventually jump ship too, and the Prem can't afford that.
I reckon VAR is going to be VERY busy next season, 'looking after' those clubs that were against the proposal.
Probably not in the long run. When interest in the Prem. from abroad dies off, so does the TV revenue.
Our wage to income is something like 54% right? I think we'd actually lose money.
When did Gooners become people??
No different to people thought about them employing Wenger.
And that didn't turn out too badly for them
If it works anything like the caps in US sports there will be a "luxury tax" that teams are allowed to pay if they wish to go beyond the cap. And that is then pooled and redistributed to the other teams in the league that aren't above the cap. But even that I think is only allowed to a certain time and I assume that you can't go completely insane with paying it.I wonder what the majority would be, if they voted on it, to carry that through.
Even if it did, how would it effect clubs like Chelsea, Utd, City, the goons who would likely already massively exceed whatever the cap would be. You can't tell the players on massive wages that they'll have to take a pay cut.
Would you have to wait until the last player's contract ran down ? That'll be around 8 years then, after Chelsea lost the plot.
Would this prevent the mega rich clubs from dishing out a handsome signing on fee? The whole thing is a farce if that is allowed, as nothing really changes.
Would it kill off the Prem as a dominant force? If Spanish, German, Italian clubs are able to offer better wages, as their league isn't capped, then the Premiership dies a slow death when the rats start jumping if the enormous signing on fees are blocked.
I'm struggling to see how this will gain legs. It's potentially killing the fatted calf as I see it. The Prem is absolutely dominant in World Football, because it's awash with money from a number of Billionaires. If they suddenly find that they're not able to attract the absolute best through wages, I think they'd eventually jump ship too, and the Prem can't afford that.
I reckon VAR is going to be VERY busy next season, 'looking after' those clubs that were against the proposal.
City board to Haaland.
"We can only pay you £100k p/week due to the new rules......but if you do a 10 minute talk in Saudi for us we'll pay you a gazillion quid over the length of your contract".
Have I joined the mass delusion. I think Ange is a very good manager but ultimately decided he is definitely fail because their is no buy in from the board. Our Transfer targets don't seem to have changed to suit Ange.
What type of players do you think would suit Ange?
Not sure but not Ibanez or Maddison. Ibanez seems like he is a perfect defender for a back 3 and would struggle in a 2. Maddison seems like a Levy obsession like David Bentley was. Someone on the board has identified him on Motd and we have become heavily interested in him.
Seems like Levy does not understand what buy-in to manager is still.
A pretty long Athletic piece for tactic nerds...there's too many pics so will have to split it up...
theathletic.com
Mark Carey, Ahmed Walid
11–14 minutes
When a 12-year-old Ange Postecoglou realised that his high-school football coach in Melbourne wasn’t interested in the training sessions, and was instead focusing on his other occupation as the school’s music teacher, he decided to take over the session.
That was Postecoglou’s first taste of coaching. It would not be his last.
Postecoglou’s itinerant coaching career has taken him to Greece, Japan and Scotland with multiple stints in between managing domestic clubs in Australia, Australia’s youth teams, and the Australian national team.
Over 27 years of dedication to his craft has finally taken Postecoglou to the top level of football; he is the first Australian manager in Premier League history.
Tottenham is his destination, and in the last couple of years Spurs couldn’t be further away from how Postecoglou views the game: a team that has progressively lost its attacking presence and proactivity off the ball after the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino in 2019.
Influenced by his father, Postecoglou’s attacking playing style revolves around the ball and nothing but the ball. “There are some core beliefs that had been there from day one of my coaching (career) and are still there today,” he told Hudl’s High Performance Insights in 2020.
“For me, it starts with the ball, everything that we coach and preach in terms of the way we want to play starts with the ball.
“There are certain things that are non-negotiable, and the first one is (that) I want my teams to have the ball. So, our attacking philosophy, our defensive philosophy is all sort of measured around that.”
Postecoglou wants his teams to dominate the game on and off the ball, and not just control it, but keep going forward whenever possible. “The end goal is (that) we just want to score more goals than everyone else. Me winning 4-3 is more exciting than winning 1-0.”
This will be an alien approach to the Tottenham side of last year, but one that they should be looking forward to. After a toxic season where only Harry Kane’s brilliance and Spurs’ prowess at set pieces kept them in the top half, a different playing style would be more than welcomed — even if it has its downfalls.
Looking back on Postecoglou’s time at Celtic, his insistence on dominating the ball couldn’t be clearer. More importantly, the new Tottenham head coach knows that it’s not only about dominating the ball. “Possession is important, but it’s not just possession because if we just kept the ball with no real purpose we wouldn’t be successful, and that wouldn’t be exciting,” said Postecoglou.
“It’s not about just having the ball, but we have to have the ball to do what I want us to do as a team.”
At Celtic, Postecoglou mainly favoured a 4-3-3 formation, looking to dominate the wide areas through passing combinations between the full-back, No 8 and winger, in addition to roaming players who were looking to overload the side where the ball was present.
In his two seasons in Scotland, Postecoglou’s side relied heavily on wing play, using the wide areas to break down opponents’ defensive blocks. More than half of Celtic’s final third entries in 2021-22 and 2022-23 came from the two widest channels of the pitch.
The half-spaces and the wings were the main creative hubs for Postecoglou’s Celtic. In 2022-23, 45 per cent of Celtic’s open-play chances came from the half-spaces.
The full-backs are essential to this attacking approach. Celtic’s full-backs were the pillars of Postecoglou’s attacking game, not only in terms of creating chances but also in moving the ball up the field.
Whether it was Greg Taylor, Josip Juranovic, Anthony Ralston, Alistair Johnston or Alexandro Bernabei, every Celtic full-back had an idea of how to perform the role and where to position themselves according to the position of the ball.
In the build-up phase, one of the Celtic full-backs — or occasionally both — would invert inside to provide a passing option next to Callum McGregor (Celtic’s No 6).
Here, Juranovic inverts to position himself next to McGregor as Taylor, Celtic’s left-back, is occupying a narrow position on the other side.
The narrow positioning of Celtic’s full-backs means that they could present themselves as a free passing option between the lines if the opponent doesn’t react quickly. In this example against Aberdeen last month, Taylor moves inside from his initial left-back position as Tomoki Iwata plays the ball into McGregor…
… who then finds Taylor between the lines…
… and the left-back assists Kyogo Furuhashi, who opens the scoring for Celtic.
The idea of inverting is simple, but crucially Postecoglou’s full-backs knew when to invert — their timing as important as the positioning. In another example against Livingston on October 30, Taylor initially starts the attack from his left-back area, but when the ball is moved to the other side of the pitch, he moves inside into the free space to provide a progressive passing option.
Before Ralston, Celtic’s right-back, plays the pass into Taylor, Kyogo is actually signalling for the ball to be played to his team-mate…
…and the Japan forward makes a run into space once Taylor receives the ball. The left-back puts Kyogo through on goal…
…and he then puts the ball into the back of the net.
The narrow positioning of Celtic’s full-backs also meant that they could make underlapping runs when the ball is out wide. That is aided by the fact that a big part of Celtic’s progression of the ball under Postecoglou centres around finding the wingers (green) directly after the inversion of the full-back (yellow) opens up the passing lane…
… or by finding the dropping No 8 (green) when the opponent’s winger (blue) moves inside to focus on the inverted full-back (yellow).
Here’s how it worked below: Taylor’s narrow positioning opens up the passing lane from the centre-backs directly towards Jota.
Once the ball reaches the Portuguese winger, Taylor makes an underlapping run into the space with Hearts’ defence focusing on Jota and David Turnbull (Celtic’s left-sided No 8). The run is found by Jota…
… but Taylor fails to capitalise.
theathletic.com
How does an Ange Postecoglou team play – and will it work in the Premier League?
Mark Carey, Ahmed Walid
11–14 minutes
When a 12-year-old Ange Postecoglou realised that his high-school football coach in Melbourne wasn’t interested in the training sessions, and was instead focusing on his other occupation as the school’s music teacher, he decided to take over the session.
That was Postecoglou’s first taste of coaching. It would not be his last.
Postecoglou’s itinerant coaching career has taken him to Greece, Japan and Scotland with multiple stints in between managing domestic clubs in Australia, Australia’s youth teams, and the Australian national team.
Over 27 years of dedication to his craft has finally taken Postecoglou to the top level of football; he is the first Australian manager in Premier League history.
Tottenham is his destination, and in the last couple of years Spurs couldn’t be further away from how Postecoglou views the game: a team that has progressively lost its attacking presence and proactivity off the ball after the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino in 2019.
Influenced by his father, Postecoglou’s attacking playing style revolves around the ball and nothing but the ball. “There are some core beliefs that had been there from day one of my coaching (career) and are still there today,” he told Hudl’s High Performance Insights in 2020.
“For me, it starts with the ball, everything that we coach and preach in terms of the way we want to play starts with the ball.
“There are certain things that are non-negotiable, and the first one is (that) I want my teams to have the ball. So, our attacking philosophy, our defensive philosophy is all sort of measured around that.”
Postecoglou wants his teams to dominate the game on and off the ball, and not just control it, but keep going forward whenever possible. “The end goal is (that) we just want to score more goals than everyone else. Me winning 4-3 is more exciting than winning 1-0.”
This will be an alien approach to the Tottenham side of last year, but one that they should be looking forward to. After a toxic season where only Harry Kane’s brilliance and Spurs’ prowess at set pieces kept them in the top half, a different playing style would be more than welcomed — even if it has its downfalls.
Looking back on Postecoglou’s time at Celtic, his insistence on dominating the ball couldn’t be clearer. More importantly, the new Tottenham head coach knows that it’s not only about dominating the ball. “Possession is important, but it’s not just possession because if we just kept the ball with no real purpose we wouldn’t be successful, and that wouldn’t be exciting,” said Postecoglou.
“It’s not about just having the ball, but we have to have the ball to do what I want us to do as a team.”
At Celtic, Postecoglou mainly favoured a 4-3-3 formation, looking to dominate the wide areas through passing combinations between the full-back, No 8 and winger, in addition to roaming players who were looking to overload the side where the ball was present.
In his two seasons in Scotland, Postecoglou’s side relied heavily on wing play, using the wide areas to break down opponents’ defensive blocks. More than half of Celtic’s final third entries in 2021-22 and 2022-23 came from the two widest channels of the pitch.
The half-spaces and the wings were the main creative hubs for Postecoglou’s Celtic. In 2022-23, 45 per cent of Celtic’s open-play chances came from the half-spaces.
The full-backs are essential to this attacking approach. Celtic’s full-backs were the pillars of Postecoglou’s attacking game, not only in terms of creating chances but also in moving the ball up the field.
Whether it was Greg Taylor, Josip Juranovic, Anthony Ralston, Alistair Johnston or Alexandro Bernabei, every Celtic full-back had an idea of how to perform the role and where to position themselves according to the position of the ball.
In the build-up phase, one of the Celtic full-backs — or occasionally both — would invert inside to provide a passing option next to Callum McGregor (Celtic’s No 6).
Here, Juranovic inverts to position himself next to McGregor as Taylor, Celtic’s left-back, is occupying a narrow position on the other side.
The narrow positioning of Celtic’s full-backs means that they could present themselves as a free passing option between the lines if the opponent doesn’t react quickly. In this example against Aberdeen last month, Taylor moves inside from his initial left-back position as Tomoki Iwata plays the ball into McGregor…
… who then finds Taylor between the lines…
… and the left-back assists Kyogo Furuhashi, who opens the scoring for Celtic.
The idea of inverting is simple, but crucially Postecoglou’s full-backs knew when to invert — their timing as important as the positioning. In another example against Livingston on October 30, Taylor initially starts the attack from his left-back area, but when the ball is moved to the other side of the pitch, he moves inside into the free space to provide a progressive passing option.
Before Ralston, Celtic’s right-back, plays the pass into Taylor, Kyogo is actually signalling for the ball to be played to his team-mate…
…and the Japan forward makes a run into space once Taylor receives the ball. The left-back puts Kyogo through on goal…
…and he then puts the ball into the back of the net.
The narrow positioning of Celtic’s full-backs also meant that they could make underlapping runs when the ball is out wide. That is aided by the fact that a big part of Celtic’s progression of the ball under Postecoglou centres around finding the wingers (green) directly after the inversion of the full-back (yellow) opens up the passing lane…
… or by finding the dropping No 8 (green) when the opponent’s winger (blue) moves inside to focus on the inverted full-back (yellow).
Here’s how it worked below: Taylor’s narrow positioning opens up the passing lane from the centre-backs directly towards Jota.
Once the ball reaches the Portuguese winger, Taylor makes an underlapping run into the space with Hearts’ defence focusing on Jota and David Turnbull (Celtic’s left-sided No 8). The run is found by Jota…
… but Taylor fails to capitalise.
A good defender can defend in a 3 or a 4.
Ange likes a creative AM
That's what Maddison is.
Daizen Maeda’s goal away to Kilmarnock on April 16 is another example of how important the full-backs are to Postecoglou. Here, Johnston, Celtic’s right-back on the day, positions himself deep in the right half-space as McGregor is on the other side. Celtic’s captain plays the ball into the dropping Matt O’Riley…
… who switches the play to Sead Haksabanovic on the right side. Meanwhile, Johnston is still occupying a narrow position…
… and from there he attacks the space in Kilmarnock’s defence, when their left-back moves up towards Haksabanovic. The Montenegrin forward finds Johnston’s run…
… and the right-back puts in a cross towards the far post, which is headed in by Maeda.
The significance of Postecoglou’s full-backs is that they are involved in every part of the attacking play, even when they don’t touch the ball. And this brings us nicely to the next feature of Celtic’s attacking game under the Australian.
Often playing as the deepest of a midfield three, McGregor would roam to either of the half-spaces — depending on where the ball is — to support the wide combinations on that side. Covering for him would be the full-back on the other side (yellow), who would take a more central position to defend the central space and help with ball circulation.
This was seen in the lead-up to Celtic’s second goal against Rangers in the League Cup final in February. Initially, McGregor is in the centre of the pitch with Johnston taking a narrow position on the right side.
McGregor then combines with Taylor, before dribbling forward in the left half-space…
… and sliding the ball to Aaron Mooy behind Rangers’ midfield. The reason McGregor could be this aggressive on the ball is that Johnston is in a position to counter-press and defend the central area if needed.
From here, Mooy finds Reo Hatate’s run…
… and the Japanese midfielder squares the ball to his compatriot Kyogo, who doubles Celtic’s lead.
Celtic’s No 8s — Mooy and Hatate on that day — occupying the same vertical space in midfield is another quirk of Postecoglou’s side. His No 8s can be in their normal positions in a 4-3-3…
… but they can also roam to overload the same area of the pitch to complement Celtic’s combinations down the wing.
In the League Cup final, Celtic’s first goal originated from this overload. With Taylor starting the attack from the left, Mooy moves from his right-side position in Celtic’s midfield to overload the left half-space.
Hatate, the left-sided midfielder, finds the free Mooy, while Taylor makes an overlapping third-man run down the left wing.
Mooy then finds Taylor…
… and the left-back crosses the ball into the box for Kyogo to make it 1-0.
… who switches the play to Sead Haksabanovic on the right side. Meanwhile, Johnston is still occupying a narrow position…
… and from there he attacks the space in Kilmarnock’s defence, when their left-back moves up towards Haksabanovic. The Montenegrin forward finds Johnston’s run…
… and the right-back puts in a cross towards the far post, which is headed in by Maeda.
The significance of Postecoglou’s full-backs is that they are involved in every part of the attacking play, even when they don’t touch the ball. And this brings us nicely to the next feature of Celtic’s attacking game under the Australian.
Often playing as the deepest of a midfield three, McGregor would roam to either of the half-spaces — depending on where the ball is — to support the wide combinations on that side. Covering for him would be the full-back on the other side (yellow), who would take a more central position to defend the central space and help with ball circulation.
This was seen in the lead-up to Celtic’s second goal against Rangers in the League Cup final in February. Initially, McGregor is in the centre of the pitch with Johnston taking a narrow position on the right side.
McGregor then combines with Taylor, before dribbling forward in the left half-space…
… and sliding the ball to Aaron Mooy behind Rangers’ midfield. The reason McGregor could be this aggressive on the ball is that Johnston is in a position to counter-press and defend the central area if needed.
From here, Mooy finds Reo Hatate’s run…
… and the Japanese midfielder squares the ball to his compatriot Kyogo, who doubles Celtic’s lead.
Celtic’s No 8s — Mooy and Hatate on that day — occupying the same vertical space in midfield is another quirk of Postecoglou’s side. His No 8s can be in their normal positions in a 4-3-3…
… but they can also roam to overload the same area of the pitch to complement Celtic’s combinations down the wing.
In the League Cup final, Celtic’s first goal originated from this overload. With Taylor starting the attack from the left, Mooy moves from his right-side position in Celtic’s midfield to overload the left half-space.
Hatate, the left-sided midfielder, finds the free Mooy, while Taylor makes an overlapping third-man run down the left wing.
Mooy then finds Taylor…
… and the left-back crosses the ball into the box for Kyogo to make it 1-0.
All of these features of Postecoglou’s on-ball game help his teams dominate the wing areas — and goals from crosses featured heavily in the manager’s two seasons in Glasgow.
Just like Kyogo, Harry Kane would massively benefit from this approach. The England striker’s smart positioning in the box and aerial ability would work well with Postecoglou’s dependence on wing play.
Another aspect that Celtic’s attacking line excelled at was the winger on the opposite side of the ball making inside runs to meet the cross.
In this example against Kilmarnock on January 7, Jota is in his normal position on the right wing as Bernabei, Celtic’s left-back, is on the ball on the other side.
From a narrow position, Bernabei finds Maeda’s run behind the defence while Jota, out of shot in the below picture, is making a diagonal run inside the penalty area…
… which is found by Maeda’s low delivery, and the Portuguese winger scores to make it 1-0.
When Celtic lose the ball, their instant reaction is to regain it. But rather than striking on the transition, Postecoglou’s side looks to organise themselves with possession and reset the attack. This season, only six per cent of all the shots they took after regaining the ball in the attacking 60 per cent of the pitch came within 10 seconds of the turnover.
In terms of counter-pressing, 43.3 per cent of Celtic’s possession regains in the attacking 60 per cent of the pitch came within eight seconds of losing the ball in 2022-23 — a four per cent improvement on the previous season.
Comparing across leagues isn’t recommended, and the difference in level between the Premier League and the Scottish Premiership means that these numbers should be taken with a heavy pinch of salt. However, the below graphic is indicative of Postecoglou’s style of play when his team loses the ball.
Pressing-wise, a Postecoglou team always looks to win the ball high up the pitch. “The defending side is really about the ball,” the new Spurs manager has said.
“As a coach, when I am watching the game, I am just not comfortable when the opposition has the ball. So our whole defensive setup is, ‘Let’s get the ball back off them as quickly as possible’.”
The 4-3-3 shape morphs into a 4-4-2 when pressing opponents, with one of the No 8s (O’Riley below) moving up next to the striker.
Postecoglou’s high press is aggressive, to the extent that both the striker and the No 8 can be seen pressing the opponents’ centre-backs, but the ultimate test will come in the Premier League next season against elite sides that have perfected the build-up phase.
On top of that, counter-attacks and transitions in the Scottish Premiership just aren’t the same as they are in the Premier League, and Celtic’s European games have indicated some problems when counter-pressing high-level opponents.
This Tottenham side will need work in the transfer window as well as on the pitch to adapt to a different type of football.
Postecoglou might not have been Tottenham’s first choice for the role of manager, but the positives on and off the field surely outweigh the negatives. Only time will tell whether the Australian will succeed or not. But if one thing is certain, it’s that it will be entertaining… and different.
(Top photo: Getty Images. Design: Sam Richardson)
Just like Kyogo, Harry Kane would massively benefit from this approach. The England striker’s smart positioning in the box and aerial ability would work well with Postecoglou’s dependence on wing play.
Another aspect that Celtic’s attacking line excelled at was the winger on the opposite side of the ball making inside runs to meet the cross.
In this example against Kilmarnock on January 7, Jota is in his normal position on the right wing as Bernabei, Celtic’s left-back, is on the ball on the other side.
From a narrow position, Bernabei finds Maeda’s run behind the defence while Jota, out of shot in the below picture, is making a diagonal run inside the penalty area…
… which is found by Maeda’s low delivery, and the Portuguese winger scores to make it 1-0.
When Celtic lose the ball, their instant reaction is to regain it. But rather than striking on the transition, Postecoglou’s side looks to organise themselves with possession and reset the attack. This season, only six per cent of all the shots they took after regaining the ball in the attacking 60 per cent of the pitch came within 10 seconds of the turnover.
In terms of counter-pressing, 43.3 per cent of Celtic’s possession regains in the attacking 60 per cent of the pitch came within eight seconds of losing the ball in 2022-23 — a four per cent improvement on the previous season.
Comparing across leagues isn’t recommended, and the difference in level between the Premier League and the Scottish Premiership means that these numbers should be taken with a heavy pinch of salt. However, the below graphic is indicative of Postecoglou’s style of play when his team loses the ball.
Pressing-wise, a Postecoglou team always looks to win the ball high up the pitch. “The defending side is really about the ball,” the new Spurs manager has said.
“As a coach, when I am watching the game, I am just not comfortable when the opposition has the ball. So our whole defensive setup is, ‘Let’s get the ball back off them as quickly as possible’.”
The 4-3-3 shape morphs into a 4-4-2 when pressing opponents, with one of the No 8s (O’Riley below) moving up next to the striker.
Postecoglou’s high press is aggressive, to the extent that both the striker and the No 8 can be seen pressing the opponents’ centre-backs, but the ultimate test will come in the Premier League next season against elite sides that have perfected the build-up phase.
On top of that, counter-attacks and transitions in the Scottish Premiership just aren’t the same as they are in the Premier League, and Celtic’s European games have indicated some problems when counter-pressing high-level opponents.
This Tottenham side will need work in the transfer window as well as on the pitch to adapt to a different type of football.
Postecoglou might not have been Tottenham’s first choice for the role of manager, but the positives on and off the field surely outweigh the negatives. Only time will tell whether the Australian will succeed or not. But if one thing is certain, it’s that it will be entertaining… and different.
(Top photo: Getty Images. Design: Sam Richardson)
Maddison is a player who is great and skilful but he is not a box to box player. He is now 26 turning 27 and we are going to be asking him to change his game, I just don't see it. We have been linked to him for the last 3/4 Weeks before we even knew who our future manager was
Youre not sure what players suit Anges system. But you've ruled out two?
How does that work?
We've already got a striker in Kane that doesn't suit an Ange system. Maybe he'll look to adapt
The players are perfectly capable of that regardeless.
So we have been linked to both Ibanez and Maddison for over a year and magically they are two of the first players we are linked to when we get a new manager
Some people are just shook by the sudden coining of the phrase "players comittee/leadership group" when the truth is it's been going on for decades already.
In some scenarios player power is obviously a legit concern, but it still comes down to what those upstairs are prepared to indulge.
+ The whole Mason's Mates thing is an ongoing shit-fest of stupidity and mis-information that some ignorantly cannot let go of.
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