Tactics to look out for this season: Anti-positional football, Xabi Alonso and Middlesbrough

April 14, 2024

Title races are dying out in Europe’s top leagues.

Arsenal pushed Manchester City last season but Pep Guardiola’s club have now won five of the past six Premier Leagues. Borussia Dortmund somehow failed to win the 2022-23 Bundesliga on its final day, giving Bayern Munich their 11th consecutive championship. Paris Saint-Germain have finished top of Ligue 1 nine times in 11 years.

But if you’re worried that it’s all getting a little bit repetitive, worry not, for there are lots of other areas where things are constantly changing, such as the tactical approaches we’re about to look at.

They include Xabi Alonso’s incisive Bayer Leverkusen, the “anti-positional” approach being employed in Brazil, Sofyan Amrabat’s quarterback role and… Middlesbrough.

This list is by no means exhaustive and if there’s a standout team you like please add recommendations in the comments for everyone to check out.

Let’s go.

Bayer Leverkusen, Germany

Xabi Alonso is heading into his first full season in charge of Bayer Leverkusen. “I just knew that he had the quality to improve the team,” said the Bundesliga club’s director of sport Simon Rolfes when Alonso was appointed last October.

From his first game, a 4-0 win over Schalke, Alonso has favoured a 3-4-3 with a box midfield and advanced wing-backs. Central midfielders, outside centre-backs, wing-backs and No 10s formed wide diamonds which allowed incisive passing patterns to get in behind defences.

Here, right centre-back Odilon Kossounou plays a one-two with wing-back Jeremie Frimpong, baiting pressure and releasing No 10 Moussa Diaby on a third-man run.

Diaby skips away down the line and crosses low for Frimpong, who has underlapped him, to score.

Leverkusen always flood the box, with five in there in this example, including both wing-backs (sometime centre-back Piero Hincapie played left wing-back in the match concerned) at the same time.

Across Alonso’s 26 Bundesliga games last season, Leverkusen earned the joint-fourth most points (45) in the division, and he became their first head coach in over 20 years to win seven consecutive games, helping them get to the Europa League semi-finals.

Leverkusen finished sixth and beat three of the eventual top four at home: Bayern Munich (2-1), RB Leipzig (2-0), Union Berlin (5-0).

Their opening goal that day against Leipzig is a perfection of Alonso’s 3-4-3 — centre-back to central midfielder, through ball to the No 10 and a cutback for the No 9 to apply a one-touch finish.

There was variety to both Leverkusen’s goalscoring — 11 different players got four or more in all competitions — and goal types. “We have fast players so if we are compact and work hard, we can beat teams on transition,” said Rolfes.

Only Qarabag (50) had more direct attacks than Leverkusen’s 49 across the Europa League and Champions League last season.

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Lens, France

Franck Haise’s side were the great disruptors in Ligue 1 last season. “We’re not like PSG. We’re not an all-star team. It’s a team effort,” said Lens’ club president Joseph Oughourlian.

They were like Paris Saint-Germain in terms of points, finishing just one behind the champions, 85 to 84. Lens’ super-strength was their defence, the French league’s best for fewest goals conceded (29), most clean sheets (15) and fewest losses (four).

The tactic: a 3-4-3, defending as a 5-4-1. Lens attacked expansively (averaging 55.6 per cent possession), pressed high and counter-attacked in equal measure.

Here’s the 3-4-3 while in possession against PSG. The wing-backs push on and two No 10s play in advance of a double pivot — they progress the ball through wide triangles/diamonds.

And here’s the 5-4-1 mid-block.

They lost just once at home last season (1-0 to Nice), winning 17 of 19 games at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis: 41 goals scored, just 13 conceded with eight clean sheets must qualify it as a fortress.

Their 3-1 win at home to PSG on New Year’s Day encapsulated their season. It was Haise’s 100th match in charge and ended the visitors’ 23-match unbeaten run.

Lens had the most successful open-play crosses into the box (105) in Ligue 1 last season, and their first goal that day was assisted with a cross. They dissect the PSG midfield as central midfielder Seko Fofana plays a round-the-corner pass to Florian Sotoca, one of their No 10s.

Lens can build up patiently but, once they beat your midfield, they go straight for goal. Sotoca’s cross is overhit but left wing-back Massadio Haidara, one of six men forward in this move, locks off the back post.

He hooks the ball back into the middle and Przemyslaw Frankowski is on hand to open the scoring.

The second goal is a lightning transition. Centre-back Kevin Danso blocks a pass in to Kylian Mbappe on the edge of the Lens penalty area, and the ball ricochets to Fofana. He dribbles out of pressure and the counter begins.

Lens are excellent at getting early forward runners in transition, leaving No 9 Lois Openda upfield when defending. Fofana declines the easier passes to both No 10s (the red arrows), and instead splits PSG’s centre-backs to release the Belgium international.

Openda keeps composure, chopping inside the recovering Marquinhos and finding the far corner.

The elephant in the room: Lens have since lost Openda (top scorer last season with 21 league goals) to Germany’s RB Leipzig and Fofana to Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia. This is not a new scenario for them. They finished as runners-up last season despite losing their 2021-22 side’s top scorer Arnaud Kalimuendo (who was on loan from PSG and is now with Rennes) and top assister Jonathan Clauss (who was sold to Marseille).

Lens’ third that night against the champions: a high-press goal (they had nine goal-ending high turnovers last season, the second-most in Ligue 1 behind Rennes’ 11).

Haidara and Fofana jump onto Fabian Ruiz as he receives with his back to goal. Haidara tackles him and the ball falls to Openda.

Openda backheels it to Frankowski and he picks out the bottom corner.

Lens are in the Champions League this season for the first time in 20 years. Whichever three opponents they get drawn with, their group-stage games are not to be missed.

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AZ Alkmaar, the Netherlands

“They’re a possession-based team, they know how to work it,” said West Ham’s Michail Antonio last season. Eventual competition winners West Ham eliminated them in the Europa Conference League semi-finals but they caused plenty of problems for plenty of teams in getting that far.

Their 4-3-3 is quintessentially Dutch, with Jordy Clasie at the base of a midfield triangle, high-and-wide wingers and narrow full-backs. AZ’s style is “about pressing, it is about being dominant, being disciplined but with room for creativity,” according to head coach Pascal Jansen.

That can be seen in their opening goal at home to RKC Waalwijk in April. With left-back Milos Kerkez playing inside, AZ recycle the ball on the edge of the visitors’ box.

They play from right to left, then back, with right-back Yukinari Sugawara eventually crossing from deep in the half-space for midfielder Sven Mijnans, running from deep to score. Sugawara’s eight league assists were the joint-most by any AZ player last season but they had 17 different players set up at least one goal.

AZ ranked third in the 2022-23 Eredivisie for open-play sequences of 10-plus passes (408) and second for those sequences which ended with a shot/touch in the opposition box (115).

The opening goal in their 5-0 spanking of Excelsior in February is a perfect example of AZ’s rotations and wide-area play. Right winger Jonas Odgaard rolls inside, with left-back Kerkez (who has since joined Bournemouth in the Premier League) moving up in the half-space.

Sensing this, left-winger Jesper Karlsson (who scores some spectacular goals) drops deeper, receiving from left centre-back Pantelis Chatzidiakos and playing a first-time pass in-behind to Mijnans.

Mijnans dribbles inside and picks out the bottom corner.

There is a well-established pathway from AZ’s academy to the first team, proven by Kerkez but also the likes of Owen Wijndal (now at Ajax), Myron Boadu (Monaco), Teun Koopmeiners (Atalanta), Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan), Calvin Stengs (Feyenoord), who have all graduated from their youth ranks. They won the UEFA Youth League last season, and those talented youngsters are set to establish themselves in the senior side this season.

AZ are a selling club and expected to finish highly without ever pushing on and winning the league, but they are excellent when they come against the other “big four” teams in the Netherlands. If we put them, Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven into a four-team mini-league across the past four seasons, AZ have won the most games (13 out of 22) and taken the most points (41).

Fluminense, Brazil

Some of the most fascinating tactical approaches can be found a long way from Europe. Fernando Diniz’s Fluminense epitomise this. Diniz is also the interim head coach of the Brazil men’s national team while they wait on Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival next summer.

Modern European tactics are positional — concerned with the occupation of space, player/unit locations and team shapes — whereas at Fluminense they are relational.

In Diniz’s words, the Rio de Janeiro club’s style is “anti-positional. Players are allowed to migrate positions, the field stays more open, it’s a freer game (than positional play). In certain moments, players all move together in the same parts of the field, and even within that section of the field, players switch positions.“

That one-sided clustering can be seen in two grabs below, both of which result in goals after incisive passing moves.

Having players closer to each other facilitates quick passing combinations and creates overloads, while presumably confusing defenders and defences who are unable to predict just how Fluminense will attack them.

In even better news, the Brazilian Serie A calendar runs from May to December. So you can watch them now. After 17 games, Fluminense are fourth on 28 points, just three behind second-place Gremio.

Only Sao Paulo (59.4 per cent) average higher possession than their 59.2 per cent, while Fluminense have attempted the most dribbles.

Some of their most interesting moves come at free kicks.

Take their final goal against River Plate in a 5-1 Copa Libertadores win at the start of May. Ganso plays the furthest forward pass to Lele, who sets it for John Kennedy. He then flicks the ball into the path of the on-running Jhon Arias.

Arias dribbles into the box and picks out the bottom corner.

Similarly, here’s their final goal in the Serie A away win over America in April.

Ganso again takes the free kick, with only three white Fluminense shirts in the final third. Lele is wearing one of them and makes a lateral run inside, receiving from Ganso, faking to shoot and dribbling past a defender…

…before firing into the net.

Middlesbrough, England

Middlesbrough sacked Chris Wilder early last October after just two wins in 11 games, their worst start to a season since 1986. They were 22nd in the 24-team Championship, English football’s second tier. In came Michael Carrick, the former Manchester United (and England) midfielder and their one-time caretaker manager, in his first proper crack at senior management at age 41.

In the remaining 35 league games, Middlesbrough earned the third-most points (65) in the division, had the third-highest possession (59 per cent) and scored the most goals (71). Ending up as losing play-offs semi-finalists is a partial failure, but to finish fourth from where Wilder left them was an incredible turnaround.

22 – Michael Carrick has won 22 points in his first 10 games in charge of Middlesbrough, the most by a Middlesbrough manager since Bryan Robson in 1994 (23). Maestro. pic.twitter.com/wvWzccWAGQ

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 2, 2023

“I want to see free-flowing attacking football and we’ve played some really good, easy-on-the-eye stuff,” said Carrick.

On paper, it is a 4-2-3-1 but they rotate down the left, pushing full-back Ryan Giles (who was on loan from Wolves and has just joined Luton, the club who won those play-offs) forward while left “winger” Riley McGree moves inside to create a variation of a 3-4-3. McGree is a No 10 in a box midfield, with Middlesbrough attacking through two-touch passing and third-man runs.

They had the most sequences of 10-plus passes ending in a goal (nine) of any Championship team following Carrick’s arrival.

They can camp in the opposition half and recycle possession, like here against Huddersfield, where left centre-back Darragh Lenihan is in the final third to support the attack. No 10 McGree is the link player.

Middlesbrough pin Huddersfield back into their box, with their red shirts well distributed in the final third. McGree eventually crosses for Chuba Akpom to score, but he has four other passing options.

Akpom exploded under Carrick.

He scored the first goal of his reign in the away loss to Preston in late October, eventually netting 25 times in 32 appearances under Carrick, consistently finding high-quality shooting opportunities and scoring as many goals with his non-dominant left-foot and head (14 combined) as with his stronger right foot (14).

Giles assisted Akpom five times, the joint-best assister-goalscorer combination in the division.

Here, against Luton in December, Middlesbrough play across the field through their No 10s (they rarely hit big diagonals) to go from right-back Isaiah Jones to Giles.

Giles digs out a cross to the far post for Akpom, who heads in.

Middlesbrough will be one of the favourites for Premier League promotion this season.

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Fiorentina, Italy

Napoli’s romp to the title dominated the analysis of Italy’s Serie A last season — and they were tactically interesting in their own right — but double cup finalists Fiorentina are a side to watch too.

They lost to counter-attacking Inter Milan and West Ham sides in the Italian Cup and Europa Conference League finals respectively, but play expansively and fluidly under head coach Vincenzo Italiano. He is going into his third season in charge and can improve on their seventh- and eighth-place finishes in the previous two.

The high-possession 4-3-3 sees defensive midfielder — a 2022 World Cup sweetheart with surprise semi-finalists Morocco — Sofyan Amrabat playing a ‘quarterback’ role, where he drops deeper to a position between his centre-backs.

There are rotations and combinations on both flanks, with right-back Dodo playing inside. Left-back Cristiano Biraghi was the team’s biggest creative threat and is a more conventional crossing full-back.

Their 87 successful crosses into the box in the Conference League last season were more than twice as many as any other team. The No 9s Luka Jovic and Arthur offered box threats, but right-winger Nicolas Gonzalez is excellent at headed back-post finishes too.

Fiorentina ranked second for possession (56.1 per cent) in Serie A last season, behind only champions Napoli, but also ranked fourth for final-third tackles (89) and third for shot-ending high turnovers (51).

They bravely pressed Inter man-for-man in the Coppa Italia final, and they scored the opener in that game as a result of a high press — this is a team to watch without the ball as well as when they have it.

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