By Emma Kemp
If you’ve heard of Ange Postecoglou, you’ve almost certainly heard of Angeball. The football philosophy has come to occupy an almost sacred presence in the imaginations of the Australian’s supporters. Aesthetically pleasing with goals guaranteed, it is Ferenc Puskas mixed with Total Football blended with tiki-taka, and a defensive line so high it will give you vertigo.
Angeball has been called many things over the years, from “brave” to “naive” and every compliment and condemnation in between. But what does it actually entail, and how has Postecoglou used it to such significant success on three different continents?
What did his A-League-winning Brisbane team do on the field to earn the nickname Roarcelona, and his Yokohama F. Marinos do to win Japan’s top-flight league, and his Celtic do to win the Scottish treble? What has he been doing this season to revolutionise a Tottenham side who just slumped to their lowest English Premier League finish in 14 years?
We take a general look at the fundamentals of Angeball since it took over north London.
Inverted full-backs
For a period of time before Postecoglou was appointed, Spurs did not even use full-backs. Predecessor Antonio Conte was wedded to a 3-4-3 formation which, more often than not, looked like a defensive-minded 5-4-1. It was little surprise, however, when Postecoglou almost immediately ripped up that blueprint and implemented a tactical characteristic for which he had become known at Celtic.
In a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation, the full-backs “invert” by moving up the field and coming inside to create a numerical overload in the midfield so that, in attack, it becomes more of a 2-3-5. This numerical advantage generates passing options through the middle – in contrast to the more traditional approach of spreading the back line wide to make the pitch as big as possible.
Postecoglou’s teams are able to play out from the back via a defensive midfielder who acts as a pivot between a back line now forming a rectangle around him. For Tottenham that player is Yves Bissouma, who was rarely used by Conte but has been a revelation this season with the eighth-highest number of touches in the Premier League after 14 appearances in 16 games (third-highest when defenders are excluded).
The above video example from August’s 2-0 win over Manchester United shows the shape regularly used in build-up play. Bissouma is near the top of the D, acting as the focal point between full-backs Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro (who have already advanced and tucked inside) and centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero (either side of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario).
The use of inverted full-backs, which has become a bit trendy in the Premier League over the past year, is not just about numbers but also patterns. If one was to draw lines connecting these five players to each other, four triangles would appear. This is important because …
… Angeball is about triangles
Geometry is vital to Postecoglou’s success, and specifically triangles because they give the passer consistent access to a third man as a means of avoiding pressure. Pay close attention to the movement and positioning of Tottenham’s players in this phase of play during September’s 2-2 North London Derby draw with Arsenal. Triangles can be drawn all over the pitch, meaning each passer always has a back-up option if they need to get out of a jam or are being shut down by an opposition’s press.
This is by no means a novel concept, but the unique element to Postecoglou’s attacking approach lies in its dynamism. Tottenham’s possession statistics have risen dramatically this season, but not just through passing sideways or backwards. Angeball is enterprising, with lots of through balls and diagonal balls and cutbacks mixed with some tiki-taka – a flurry of relentless movement designed to create space and disrupt defensive shapes. That can involve overloading one side of the pitch and then switching to the other. Or it can be the intricate movements of the midfielders who alternate between holding width on one wing and roaming free, the latter shapeshifting into spaces and forming some of those triangles with teammates across the pitch to keep the ball moving in congested areas.
Off-the-ball movement is key to opening up this space, as is pressing hard to win the ball back when it is lost. It goes without saying that this intense style of play demands from players a high level of fitness and skill at using the ball quickly.
The illusion of freedom
This clip from October’s 1-0 win over Luton Town nicely encapsulates the above two points. Both Udogie (No.38, closest) and Porro (no.23, far side) have inverted and are operating around pivot Bissouma (who is actually sent off later in this match). By the time centre-back van de Ven (far right) receives the ball for the second time, Porro is even higher up the pitch and playmaker James Maddison (No.10) suddenly drops back (shoots onto the screen from the left), bringing Luton’s Pelly Ruddock with him. That creates space behind him, where Son Heung-min is primed to receive the ball and quickly lay it off to the onrushing Porro. The unexpected run of the full-back disrupts Luton’s back line and creates space so that, when Porro passes back to Son, the latter once again has space in behind to thread the ball back to Porro once more. The only thing that went wrong with this move was Porro’s inability to score from close range.
The trick is that this whole attacking sequence appears fluid, as if the players have been given licence to roam free, when in fact these moments are usually variations on a rigid theme. Postecoglou encourages his players to seek out space and exchange roles in order to exploit it, but only within the parameters of his pre-determined framework. “What is a rigid structure looks very fluid,” Postecoglou said in August. “Guys understand that as long as there’s movement out there, and looking for spaces and other guys are filling the spaces they leave, it doesn’t matter where they pop up and where they go. There is a discipline within that, and it isn’t about running anywhere, it’s about going to the areas where we work on constantly, and if it looks fluid that makes us harder to stop.”
This illusion of freedom draws from the principles of positional play, a concept utilised heavily by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, where just about every position looks – externally at least – open to interpretation. Maddison in particular (while currently injured) is incredibly good at executing that controlled freedom.
Creating chaos
The effect of this rehearsed spontaneity on the opposition can be mayhem. In this clip, Porro can be seen dragging Manchester United defensive midfielder Casemiro out of position (towards the right of the screen). As this occurs, Dejan Kulusevski comes inside and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg pushes up. While confusion reigns on the right-hand side of the pitch, Romero releases a ball through the middle, exploiting the space where Casemiro should have been, and Spurs score their second (technically a United own goal).
In another example of Tottenham’s full-backs positioning themselves daringly high, left-back Udogie and right-back Porro took up advanced, narrow spaces behind Newcastle United’s midfield in last weekend’s 4-1 win. It meant that, when Romero played a line-breaking pass to an untracked Kulusevski, the subsequent pass to Porro and Porro’s pass to Udogie dragged Newcastle players out of position and left Kieran Trippier isolated when Udogie fed Son on the left (shown above). Then, while Son was out-tricking Trippier via some silky stepovers, Udogie used his licence for controlled freedom and slipped between United’s back line just in time to poke home the South Korean’s cutback for his first Premier League goal.
The high-wire act
The obvious potential pitfall in Postecoglou’s philosophy is that his attack-at-all-costs method can come at the expense of defensive robustness. Asking your players to hold such a high line, regardless of the situation, can also be asking for an opponent to hit you on transition – or, as Chelsea did, send ball after ball into the space behind for Raheem Sterling to attack. Even after Spurs went down to nine men in November’s eventual 4-1 loss, they held their absurdly high line – see 0-7-1 formation above – earning Postecoglou both plaudits for bravery and accusations of naivety.
It’s a mindset
In that sense, Angeball is not just a system, but also an ideology of sorts. One which dictates that whenever a player receives the ball, regardless of role or position on the pitch, the mindset must be proactively looking for a way to play it forward and make something happen. There were exhibits aplenty of this in December’s helter-skelter twice-come-from-behind 3-3 draw with Manchester City.
The above clip shows Bissouma attempting audaciously to Houdini himself from a circle of four City shirts inside Tottenham’s goal third. He fails and Jack Grealish scores as a result. The below clip shows Bryan Gil taking a similar risk by eschewing other options to pass sideways or backwards in favour of taking on Phil Foden. He managed to spin away from him and start the counter-attack which led to Son’s opener.
It was also in this match that Postecoglou displayed his capacity to adapt his system when required, even in the throes of an injury crisis. Because City tend to press their opponents man for man, Bissouma found himself under intense pressure during the first half, and Spurs went into half-time with 38 per cent possession. Straight after the break, Postecoglou brought on Hojbjerg and deployed him alongside Bissouma, which allowed Spurs more room to move in build-up play and a second-half possession share of 54 per cent.
Of the two examples from the City game, one conceded a goal and the other helped score one. Both were playing Angeball. Both took risks in the knowledge they may concede goals but will probably score a whole lot more. “It goes beyond winning, because sometimes you can win and not really enjoy a game of football, but no one ever does not enjoy a goal,” Postecoglou said in April, while still at Celtic. “Even the most scrambly, ugliest of goals still get celebrated.”
Watch every match of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League on Stan Sport. All the action streaming ad-free, live and on demand, with select matches in 4K UHD.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.