UEFA Europa League final performance insights: Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United

"This is a clear game plan that they're absolutely committed to and that they execute to a very high level."

The assessment above came from UEFA Technical Observer Steve Cooper after reviewing the defensive work of Tottenham Hotspur during their UEFA Europa League final triumph against Manchester United.

It was a final decided by a single Brennan Johnson goal and, for UEFA's performance analysis unit, working with Cooper, the aspect of Spurs' performance which warranted closest attention was their defending.

Tottenham play inside United's shape

Spurs' work out of possession can be broken down into three areas: time spent in a low block, a mid-block and a high block. The graphic above shows the exact time spent in each block during Wednesday's final.

The video below is instructive in showing how Spurs' approach shifted according to which block they were in. "In this clip, Spurs press the ball in the mid-block when it goes wide and then, in the high block, they look to get pressure on the goalkeeper and centre-back," Cooper explained.

First, we see Ange Postecoglou's men in a low block, before moving to a mid-block. What is notable here is the work of their wide attackers, Johnson and Richarlison, inside their opponents' shape in order to disrupt United's box midfield.

"It's really clear that Johnson and Richarlison are defending the inside of the pitch," added Cooper. "If Spurs are going to allow any pass, then it's going to be to the outside. This is a very good example of two attacking players understanding their role in the mid-block part of the pitch where they wanted to show the ball wide."

As we see in the video, when the ball does go wide, that is then the trigger to press. "It was really clear that the full-back's responsibility – be it Pedro Porro or Destiny Udogie – was to press balls that went to United's wing-backs."

Another detail noted by Cooper is who covers the space when the full-back jumps and, on 25 seconds, we see Pedro Porro step up on Patrick Dorgu, with Rodrigo Bentancur covering Mason Mount behind.

As the sequences concludes, Spurs force United to play backwards, and their commitment to the high press is illustrated by the sight of Johnson sprinting over to the right to block the attempted ball down the wing.

Cooper added: "This is a good example of a team who are in sync, with players very clear on their individual responsibilities. We saw this through their repeated actions, such as Johnson and Richarlison defending the inside, or the full-backs jumping on the United wing-backs, or Bentancur picking up Mount."

With this second graphic, we see a breakdown of the number of defensive actions in each third of the pitch by Spurs players – with 44% within their defensive third. It is worth adding that 53 of their 118 defensive actions in this third were inside their penalty box – and the exact locations of those actions are mapped out in the graphic below.

Tottenham excel in penalty-box defending

On a night when Spurs faced 15 crosses into their box – three times as many as United had to defend – they made a good number of clearances. For Cooper, the second clip in the second video is particularly pertinent as an example of their excellent deep defending in Bilbao.

As we see below, first Kevin Danso and then Micky van de Ven make headed clearances. The first header by Danso clears the box and then the Spurs defensive line push out well. Just as important is how they then reposition themselves, with Van de Ven reading and reacting to Bruno Fernandes' lofted ball back in and heading the ball clear.

Cooper was full of praise for Van de Ven. "It's really good footwork from him. We see him in a good body position, side on, ready to run forward but also ready to run back. Then he gets his feet right to position himself to compete for the header so he can jump, and the technique of the header makes it a textbook clearance. He's heading it away from a danger area with good contact and with good distance."

The clip then concludes with an example of excellent 1v1 defending from Yves Bissouma to block the attempted cross by Diogo Dalot.

Tips for the training ground – by Steve Cooper, UEFA Technical Observer

Preparing a defensive plan

"Off the pitch, you can show how we're going to defend in certain areas – showing clips with good telestration and using the tactics board. On the training pitch, you might walk through scenarios, but you can also try to create game-like situations, such as putting the opposition shape against your shape and recreating possible passing tactical moves from the opposition.

"When you coach these 'real-life' scenarios, there are always what-ifs that arise. So, for example, what if the full-back doesn't get pressure on the ball? What if the wingers aren't in a position to defend the inside? And that's when you're able to talk about the trade-off between what you're willing to give up and what you're hoping to do.

"When it comes to practice design, you might zone off the pitch, and certain players might only go in certain areas to mimic the opposition's shape and passing sequences. If you're working on the high press, you might use half the pitch, with the opposition trying to get over the halfway line. Or you might have a coned line in the middle of your defensive half and set the opposition the challenge of getting over this line.

"There's no exact age to start working on his level of detail, but by the time a young player reaches 15 or 16 and begins to really understand the game and being part of a tactical plan, that's when you might start drip-feeding information of this kind."

Crosses and duels

"When defending crosses there are two coaching topics to follow – first, you have the players who are looking to stop the cross and their mindset must be 'do whatever it takes to stop it', be it by winning the ball back or forcing the opponent back. For the players in the box, meanwhile, their mindset has to be 'This ball is coming in,' so am I ready and how am I going to deal with it?

"To begin with the players trying to stop the cross, they want to be guiding the winger into a less dangerous situation and that might be done by showing him onto a certain foot or into a certain area; or it might mean slowing him down to allow for more cover to arrive.

"There is also the question of whether it's a tackling situation or a blocking situation. So, what's the best technical action to make? Sometimes, blocking can be less risky. When you commit to a tackle, you are committing your whole body, so if you don't win the ball, you might find it hard to recover.

"There's a technique to blocking, so look what a good body shape looks like when blocking. If you're tackling, meanwhile, which foot should it be, and do you tackle with the inside of your foot, the outside of your foot, or the toe?

"There are so many nuances and little technical details, such as how close your defender's feet should be when they're jockeying with the winger. Therefore, the key thing is practise with different scenarios in different-sized spaces. And the more decisions players have to make, the better they become and the more instinctively they react.

"For practice design, I'd suggest exposing players to 1v1s and 2v2s. Can they defend 1v1s in small areas? Can they defend 1v1s in larger areas? And it's important to set objectives. For a defender in a 1v1 or 2v2 situation, the objective could be to not let the player get into the box or to win the ball before they get there, because it's a different situation once the ball is inside the box.

"You might also tell the players they've got to win the ball within five seconds. Another approach would be bigger opposed practices, which could mean small-sided games with certain 1v1 or 2v2 zones inside the pitch on it and the attacking players need to work the ball out of those zones before they can cross or score a goal."

Clearances

"There's a craft and a technique to clearances, and as with the Van de Ven example above, this involves body position and footwork. It's not just heading either – can a defender clear the ball with both feet? And when clearing the ball, which areas do they want to clear it to and which areas do they not want to clear it to?

"To work on this in training, you might have a 5v5 in the box with each player assigned a defender to mark and balls coming in. You could have three or four players dotted around the edge of the box and every time a practice begins, they start with a cross and then, when the ball comes out to them, they've got to put it back in.

"For the defenders, you could give them target areas for their clearances, so it's not just about getting the first contact and winning duels but clearing the ball into the least dangerous position possible."