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[The Athletic] Tottenham and City Football Group: Are Spurs trying to learn from Manchester City?

https://theathletic.com/5098615/2023/11/30/tottenham-and-city-football-group-how-and-what-spurs-are-aiming-to-learn/

Alt: https://archive.today/3ySpd

Combine with this excellent interview with Noel Gallagher on TalkSPORT recently where he talks in depth about City (the bit starting at 1:35 in particular).

https://youtu.be/DTkHctVtvsg?t=88

There are other videos in this interview. I'll drop those links below 👇

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[The Athletic] Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie: ‘Knowing I have Postecoglou’s trust is a big motivation’

https://theathletic.com/5082683/2023/11/23/tottenhams-destiny-udogie-knowing-i-have-postecoglous-trust-is-a-big-motivation/

\> Tottenham's Italian youngster discusses his red card vs Chelsea, facing Saka and Salah, and the intricacies of his inverted full-back roles

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[The Athletic] Tottenham’s season so far: The signs are overwhelmingly good, despite this setback – Charlie Eccleshare

"The start Tottenham have made is an average of 2.2 points per game. Extrapolate that over the full 38 matches and it’s 83 points, which across the past six seasons would get you either a second or third-place finish. Given very few experts were tipping Spurs to do better than sixth, it’s been a very promising start."

https://theathletic.com/5062289/2023/11/15/tottenham-2023-24-postecoglou/

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[The Athletic] Spurs’ Ange Postecoglou project is very much a work in progress – as this week has demonstrated — Charlie Eccleshare

https://theathletic.com/5054120/2023/11/12/spurs-still-a-work-in-progress-under-postecoglou/

"Of the 13 outfield players used by Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday against Wolverhampton Wanderers, only one was signed for the club by Ange Postecoglou"

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Summary

• Vicario was signed by Tottenham this summer from Empoli in Italy for £16.3 million. Head coach Ange Postecoglou made bringing in a new goalkeeper a top priority.

• Vicario has impressed with his shot-stopping ability, saving over 3 more goals than expected based on shot quality faced. He has a high goals prevented rate of 1.4, meaning he concedes fewer goals than expected.

• A big part of Vicario's appeal was his personality - he is humble, hard-working, and eager to learn and improve. He adapted quickly to the Premier League and gelled well with the squad.

• Vicario is comfortable playing as a sweeper-keeper, coming off his line to clear balls and support Spurs' high defensive line. This allows Spurs to play higher up the pitch and press opponents.

• His distribution by passing short to midfielders rather than long kicks represents a change from former keeper Hugo Lloris. This helps Spurs build up play from the back.

• Vicario has been a transformative signing for Spurs, allowing manager Postecoglou to implement his tactical approach. His shot-stopping and sweeper style have made Spurs' defense much stronger this season.

[The Athletic] Tottenham’s Richarlison says he’ll have surgery on injury, Brazil right not to call him up

Tottenham's Richarlison agrees with Brazil's decision to not call him up recently, as he has been struggling physically and mentally. He will soon have surgery on a pelvic injury that's bothered him for months, then rest and recover before aiming to regain form for Spurs after the international break.

https://theathletic.com/5039172/2023/11/07/tottenham-richarlison-injury-brazil-squad/

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[The Athletic] Why Tottenham emerged stronger from a 4-1 defeat: ‘It’s just who we are, mate’ – Charlie Eccleshare

"The result is deflating and could have serious longer-term consequences depending on the severity of Maddison and Van de Ven’s injuries, but Spurs’ performance also served to strengthen the clarity of Postecoglou’s message. Nothing will divert him from playing the way he believes will achieve sustainable success for this team."

https://theathletic.com/5038030/2023/11/07/tottenham-chelsea-ange-postecoglou-analysis/

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tl;dr summary:

• Leonardo Gabbanini was Tottenham's chief scout who became interim sporting director after Fabio Paratici's departure due to a 30-month ban for illegal transfer practices at Juventus

• Gabbanini faced many challenges during his 14 months at Spurs, including Paratici's ban, Pochettino's departure, and uncertainty over Harry Kane's future

• With Paratici gone, Gabbanini worked directly with Levy and Postecoglou over the summer transfer window to sign players like Maddison, Porro, Van de Ven, Vicario, and Udogie

• Levy wanted "fresh air" after the toxicity of Conte's tenure and controversy around Paratici, so he hired Postecoglou based on Gabbanini's recommendation

• Gabbanini and Postecoglou bonded over their focus on understanding players as people, not just athletes

• After the summer transfers, Tottenham decided to hire more directors above Gabbanini, so he left feeling he took Spurs as far as he could in the interim sporting director role

• Gabbanini is proud of the club's current pathway and success after the challenging times during his tenure

[The Athletic] Alejo Veliz: Tottenham’s new striker has dancing feet but is ‘fearsome’ in the air

https://theathletic.com/4957173/2023/10/16/alejo-veliz-tottenham-argentina/

Alt: https://archive.ph/tjjeo

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[The Athletic] Johan Lange: Who is Tottenham’s new technical director and what will his role entail?

Lange has a reputation for modernizing recruitment through increased use of data analysis. At Villa he set up a data team and used models to ID targets. His data-driven approach aligns with Spurs' direction. Lange will likely aim for a data-led culture while balancing with subjective scouting.

https://theathletic.com/4952373/2023/10/12/johan-lange-tottenham-technical-director/

Alt: https://archive.today/Jom1q

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[The Athletic] Premier League verdicts: Top five predictions, first sacking, unpopular opinions, composite XIs of season so far

Oliver Kay, Carl Anka, Caoimhe O’Neill, Stuart James, and Nick Miller give their top-five predictions, most and least impressive managers, and composite XIs of the season so far.

Impressive showings for Maddison, Udogie, and Van de Ven in the combined XIs.

https://theathletic.com/4945036/2023/10/10/premier-league-predictions-sacking-transfer/

Alt: https://archive.ph/U8hyq

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[The Athletic] Socceroos manager Graham Arnold interview: Messi ‘mind games’ and kicking the s\\\* out of Postecoglou

Interesting to read some stories about Ange from an old friend and competitor.

Ange's hard-won skills in coaching players could be the (in part, at least) secret to his success.

https://theathletic.com/4945124/2023/10/10/graham-arnold-australia-postecoglou-messi/

Alt: https://archive.ph/D7ynJ

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[The Athletic] Tottenham appoint Aston Villa’s Johan Lange as technical director

“Lange will have responsibility for recruitment, analytics and talent identification across our senior and academy teams.”

https://theathletic.com/4945939/2023/10/09/johan-lange-who-tottenham-aston-villa/

Alt: https://archive.ph/20231009175337/https://theathletic.com/4945939/2023/10/09/johan-lange-who-tottenham-aston-villa/

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[The Athletic] VAR process changed following Liverpool’s disallowed goal vs Tottenham

https://theathletic.com/4925862/2023/10/08/var-pgmol-tottenham-liverpool/

Alt: https://archive.ph/RM0ax

\> PGMOL, the body responsible for referees in English football, has changed the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) process following last Saturday’s controversial incident which saw Liverpool incorrectly denied a goal against Tottenham Hotspur.

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[The Athletic] We thought Postecoglou’s Spurs might start slowly… but now they’re top of the league - Charlie Eccleshare

https://theathletic.com/4939175/2023/10/07/postecoglou-spurs-top-of-league/

Alt: https://archive.ph/HegtO

\> Eight league games, six wins, two draws, and as Postecoglou said on Saturday: “We're still at the beginning and we need to push on”

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[The Athletic] Is it time to re-evaluate Fabio Paratici’s time at Tottenham?

https://theathletic.com/4928528/2023/10/05/fabio-paratici-tottenham-legacy/

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[The Athletic] How Spurs can address their weakness when it comes to facing a low block

https://theathletic.com/4921272/2023/10/04/spurs-low-defensive-block/

Archived: https://archive.today/Q7uk8

Summary: https://rentry.org/ytr2w

Spurs struggle against low blocks, lacking tempo and imagination. Need better movement, crossing, combination play to unsettle defences. Set pieces another goal avenue. Postecoglou working to address weaknesses in training.

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[The Athletic] How Football Works: Cutting the pitch in half

https://theathletic.com/4910737/2023/09/30/how-football-works-part-three-cutting-pitch/

\> A football pitch is a very big area to defend, so the most effective teams do something to make it a lot smaller.

Some excellent animated infographics in this article.

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Alternative link: http://archive.today/X9UYl

Here is a summary of the key points from the article:

• The article analyzes how Premier League teams are pressing opponents in the early part of the 2022-23 season, looking at the percentage of pressures in the defensive, middle, and attacking thirds.
• Man City, Arsenal, Man United, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Brighton have been most aggressive pressing high up the pitch.
• Chelsea's pressing under new manager Pochettino has been intense but largely out of necessity as they've been chasing games.
• Spurs' pressing approach under Postecoglou has dramatically shifted from passive under Conte to highly aggressive now.
• Everton press high under Dyche but are direct in playing long balls up to strikers to regain possession.
• Bournemouth have become much more aggressive pressing under new manager Iraola, shifting their pressing higher up the pitch.
• Pressing data shows stylistic intent but doesn't necessarily equal success, as seen with West Ham's counter-attacking approach.
• How teams maintain their pressing approaches over the full season remains to be seen.

!

[The Athletic] Revisiting Yves Bissouma's superb performance for Spurs at Arsenal

https://theathletic.com/4897990/2023/09/27/bissouma-spurs-arsenal-yves/

\> "Bissouma's ability to resist the press and use the ball so intelligently were key to Spurs' draw at Arsenal"

I am absolutely loving how much depth of analysis is shaking out of the #NLD.

Many #Arsenal fans seem to think they just played poorly and we were ok. Sorry, no, the football community sees much more in it than that.

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