Mauricio Pochettino’s attacking philosophy and its principles - in more depth

Contribution article by Ryan Gunness (@carefreeplaceYT)

Principles

In the last decade, Mauricio Pochettino has become one of the most prominent managerial names in world football. Renowned for his teams’ ferocity and relentlessness in attacks, his philosophy is based on verticality and directness as its two major principles. Now, it’s not foreign for possession based teams to set such principles as its core, however, it is the way it is implemented by Poch that makes his style so unique. 

Very often, possession-based teams are set up in a manner whereby “patient” recycling of play is used in order to “move” the opposition and create spaces for vertical progression. In a way, such teams aim to control the game patiently then wisely choose when to bisect the opposition. With Pochettino however, this is not the case. Instead, his principles of verticality and directness is implemented in a relentless and continuous manner, throughout the entire game. Instead of patiently waiting for the “perfect” moment to progress play, Poch’s teams aim to penetrate dangerous pockets, as quickly and vigorously as possible. An approach where, instead of waiting for the perfect chance to progress play, they continuously force their way forward, every half chance or space they get. Making his teams, very difficult to defend against.

It must be noted however, as dangerous as such approach is for the opposition, it is for Poch’s teams also. As continuously progressing play through tight angles and into tiny pockets mean that, ‘distributors’ must be on point with their passing, and ‘receivers’ must be excellent in ball-retention under immense pressure. Not only so, but the tactical shape of such team must be created in a way that it compliments and eases such difficult tasks as much as possible, thus reducing potential risk and increasing potential reward. How are Poch’s teams set up?

Tactical Set Up

Within Mauricio Pochettino’s most favoured 4-2-3-1 system, he constructs his team into different structures which each serve a crucial function in making such relentless verticality and directness easier. 

1. The Vertical Launch Point

Within Poch’s 4-2-3-1,  his two CBs and DMs make up a 4-man base, which main responsibility is vertical distribution to attackers, into dangerous pockets/areas. Here, such 4 players are given the freedom to continuously alternate and rotate with each other, in order to attract the opposition’s press in various ways.  This essentially creates various angles and spaces for distribution during the entire game. Here, the most effective distributive shape within this 4-man base is a 3-1, often with one of Poch’s DMs dropping alongside the CBs.

2. The Midfield Overload

To compliment such solid distributive base, the “receivers” of such verticality are placed in close distances and favorable angles toward each other in order to make ball retention and combination play much easier. Therefore, making it more feasible for play to be progressed into the opposition’s final 3rd. 

From a vertical point of view, you can see that there is a central overload, which allows for slick, quick combination play to be possible. Furthermore, such central overload also compresses the opposition’s defense, creating space out wide for Poch’s full-backs to cause a lot of damage. 

On the other hand, from a horizontal view, you can see that within the pockets, there are receivers placed throughout the entire width of the pitch, making verticality an option from all directions, something that oppositions find difficult and consuming. 

3. Runners In Behind

The last structure or piece of this attacking puzzle, is how the runners Poch has available at his disposal. Whether it be from short or long passes, Poch sets up his teams whereby there are always near 4 players primed to run in behind into dangerous spaces. 

In this case you can see that, most popularly it is the both fullbacks, AM and ST, however, do not be surprised to see heavy positional rotation within such central overload which would see personnel alternating between who drops into the pockets, and who runs in behind.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy is one whereby the high attacking reward matches the high defensive risk. In order for his teams to reduce this risk to as little as possible, it takes tremendous and relentless work-rate on and off the ball, together with a solid attacking and defensive structure. And that is where we will continue in the other article of this 8 part series on Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy. 

Up next: Mauricio Pochettino’s defensive philosophy.

Ryan Gunness