THE Premier League campaign is over – and it is time for Tactics Exposed’s awards.
Our tactical expert Dean Scoggins has unpacked the systems, shapes and styles that managers have deployed to varying levels of success this season.
Manchester United and Tottenham only narrowly avoid relegation.
Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Spurs ended their long wait for trophies, Nottingham Forest will play in Europe for the first time in 30 years and Manchester City endured a nightmare year.
And SunSport’s record-breaking show has delivered top-quality analysis for its first full season.
As the curtain falls on 2024-25, in our final episode, we pick out our top five genius tactics from the Premier League…
5. Arsenal’s sensational set pieces
Assuming the timing and the trajectory of the delivery are sorted, then it is all about the runners, who form a love train at the back post.
All but one run in and slot in between each gap between the defenders, creating a jigsaw.
Assuming the corner avoids the front man, the next person in the train is an attacking Arsenal player.
They jump in sequence which sounds simple but it’s not, especially because you can’t see the ball so they have to trust their team-mates – as soon as the man in front jumps, the next one jumps.
Sometimes they identify a weak link and will put two men into the gap in front of him.
4. The double Enzo at Chelsea
Enzo Maresca was forced into a switch against Tottenham in December where he dropped Enzo Fernandez into a deeper midfield role and abandoned the box shape.
Fernandez partnered Moises Caicedo in a two and bossed the game in the second half. He was fantastic.
His movement off the ball and understanding of what is happening in the game is brilliant.
A manager might see it – but you still need a player to carry it out on the pitch.
He may have been more than £100million but his performances for Chelsea went under the radar.
3. Omar Marmoush’s arrival
In January, City came from behind to beat Chelsea – thanks to new arrival Omar Marmoush.
City paid £64million to land the Egyptian from Eintracht Frankfurt and what a signing he is, making an immediate impact.
He said upon his arrival that he is “dangerous” and that is no exaggeration.
Marmoush started three or four yards in front of Reece James to make sure he was well onside, pointed where he wanted it – and backed himself in a race.
By scaring James, the Chelsea man knew he couldn’t let Marmoush get away and therefore stuck with him… and kept Marmoush onside.
Marmoush offers something different from Savinho, Jeremy Doku and to an extent Jack Grealish who are fast but crucially want the ball to feet – Marmoush is happy to run behind on to it.
To start with, City were not releasing the ball quickly enough to set him away – but they soon learnt.
And it was good news for Erling Haaland to have a runner in the half-space – not out on the wing but also not as a second striker but in between.
This was long passes, not long ball – there is a difference.
2. Liverpool’s offside-busting move
We talk a lot about how teams change formations between defence and attack.
Like many teams, Liverpool move into a 3-2-5 in attack.
But the genius is that they use runners off the ball to bust the offside trap.
These runners don’t want the ball and the runs are wild – it could be Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai or more often than not Andy Robertson.
It is a lung-busting sprint of about 40 yards from their own half in behind the opposition defence to force them back.
It makes a usually straight flat back four all jagged and ensures the attacking players who want the ball are not offside.
As well as the confusion, it also creates a gap between defence and midfield – which creates more space for the creative playmakers to operate.
Against United, Robertson ended up in the left striker position, Harry Maguire dropped two steps and that was enough to keep Cody Gakpo onside.
A VAR world is changing the game for Liverpool as these marginal ones get properly checked.
1. Tottenham’s Wheel of Chaos
Everyone thinks it’s a wild way of playing because they concede silly goals from silly mistakes but Ange Postecoglou has a very rigid structure the players have to play within.
I see the Spurs team as two ‘wheels of chaos’ with three players on each side – a high No8 like James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski on either side, then a full-back on either side and a winger on either side.
They don’t cross over across the field much but will rotate within the threes.
It is based on a ball out wide which then enables quick, first-time passes to progress up the wings.
It leaves the goalkeeper, centre-backs, holding midfielder and striker as a central spine.
The rigidity does, though, make Tottenham susceptible to teams setting up against them by dropping midfielders in to stop the underlap.
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