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Pape Matar Sarr, 20, officially joined the Lilywhites from French side FC Metz in August 2021 in a £14.6m deal (transfermarkt).

However, before joining the Spurs squad in the summer of 2022, the Senegalese midfielder spent the season on loan with his former club to assist with his development.

The 20-year-old arrived in N17 with most fans excited to see what he can bring to the side; however, last season was far from rosy for the young midfielder as he struggled to get minutes all season.

Sarr was only given three starts last term (Whoscored.com), with his most impressive cameo coming in Spurs’ 1-0 loss to AC Milan in the Champions League.

Despite not having an ideal first season in North London, the Senegal international could be given the chance to shine next season with Ange Postecoglou now in charge.

Sarr gained an excellent reputation before his switch to N17, as he was viewed as a top midfield prospect.

The 20-year-old regular stood out from his FC Metz teammates with his frequent impressive performances for the French side.

Pape Matar Sarr could stand out under Postecoglou

One massive advantage that you can see in the midfielder’s game is how he utilises his long legs.

The Senegalese midfielder typically likes to stick his legs into tackles, which usually gives him an advantage in duels as he often wins the ball in challenges on the ground.

His long legs also allow him to draw in a lot of fouls from the opponents as they usually clip them whilst trying to make a challenge or after being dispossessed by the 20-year-old.

The more fouls he can draw in will help the team create more opportunities from free-kicks or can help his side retain possession.

Sarr also has bags of energy during matches and makes it very clear in matches that he can be the engine of the team, allowing him to dictate the pace of the game.

He is also not afraid to use that energy to charge upfield with the ball, take on other midfielders and create attacking opportunities when the game goes flat.

Against AC Milan, the Senegal international used his football intelligence and his bundles of energy to dispossess his opponents, take on players and make charging runs upfield in the hope that he could spur on his teammates to create threatening opportunities.

After watching the games he has featured in, it has become evident that Sarr possesses amazing vision when he has to pick out an attacking pass to one of his teammates.

Under Conte, Stellini and even Mason, Sarr tended to spread his passes out wide onto the flanks, typically to a wing-back or a winger who can go on to make a darting run forward.

The 20-year-old performed many of these passes against AC Milan, which created space on the wings for Spurs to attack, but the wing-backs in that match failed to exploit that space and create any key attacking opportunities.

In a more successful example, Sarr’s long-range header into space on the right flank allowed Pedro Porro to run onto the ball with plenty of pace and freedom before he assisted Harry Kane for Spurs’ third goal against Leeds United.

These attributes can work very well for Postecoglou’s system.

As previously explored, the Australian loves to use two progressive midfielders, who are tasked with responsibilities like exploiting the space on the flanks, playing between the lines, or helping the holding midfielder by becoming a forward passing option, which can lead to attacking opportunities for the side.

The 56-year-old’s tactics also demand a lot of pressing, intense running when helping to draw in a midfielder or defender and incredible football IQ to figure out where on the pitch to operate to help their teammates in attacking phases.

Whilst Sarr boasts a lot of positive attributes, he also has his negatives, which are currently keeping him out of the starting eleven.

It’s fair to argue that the Senegalese starlet is still very rash on the ball and is not comfortable yet in the Premier League.

When the 21-year-old receives the ball from a teammate, he tends to move the ball onto a colleague straight away, typically in the form of a short pass.

This indicates that Sarr was not very confident during the torrid campaign last season.

Perhaps a loan move to another Premier League side or a Championship side can help breed confidence and self-esteem into the Senegalese midfielder, as he possesses a lot of ability.

Although the new culture around the club since Postecoglou’s arrival could help the midfielder achieve a break-out season.

It appears that the Australian is very close with all his players, who seem to speak highly of him, which could help with the confidence issues that Sarr and the squad have been facing for a while.

Postecoglou also loves to use young players and to get them involved with the first team, which could help Sarr develop in North London and may even help him cement a place into the first team if he impresses in pre-season and in the chances that he will be given throughout the season.

However, the recent arrival of ex-Leicester City midfielder James Maddison may hinder the 21-year-old’s chances of making it into the starting XI regularly.

Spurs’ midfield three is predicted to consist of Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Maddison.

This indicates that Sarr will have to settle for being a great-depth option in the middle of the park unless he impresses Postecoglou a lot.

However, Bentancur suffered an ACL injury in February against the Foxes, which resulted in surgery. The Uruguayan is expected to be back for first-team action around November time.

This means that Sarr could be presented with a huge opportunity to cover the absent star for the first few months of the Premier League, which could potentially spark a huge for the Senegal international.

The post Opinion: 20-year-old Spurs starlet could enjoy a breakout season under Postecoglou appeared first on Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News.

After examining Postecoglou’s tactics by watching different videos and reading very informative articles, let’s take a look at three players that can thrive under the former Celtic manager and his system.

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Destiny Udogie

Most Spurs fans have been awaiting the arrival of Italian left wing-back Destiny Udogie since Tottenham announced his switch from Udinese in August last year.

Destiny Udogie, 20, spent the season on loan at Udinese after the Lilywhites bought him for around £15m (potential to rise to £20m).

The 20-year-old has developed a reputation for being a fast wing-back who loves to exploit his blistering speed to make overlapping runs on the flank in order to provide some attacking threat for his side.

The Italy under-21 international also seems to love using his physicality to bully his opponents off the ball, which allows his team to spark some very dangerous counter-attacks.

Full backs/wing backs are imperative in Postecoglou’s tactics as they are pivotal in providing defensive stability or attacking threats for his side.

Throughout his career, the Australian has mainly set his team up using his favoured 4-3-3 formation, which relies heavily on inverted full-backs.

Inverted full-backs are still a relatively unknown role to many people, but Pep Guardiola and his treble-winning Manchester City side have made the term more familiar in recent years as the Spaniard also uses the inverted full-backs in his system.

The premise of the inverted full-back role is that the wide defenders join the central areas of midfield in attacking phases rather than constantly hugging the bye line or making overlapping runs on the flank. For example, your right-footed full-back would play on the left side in the inverted full-back system.

In the 57-year-old’s typical system, one of the full-backs would join the central midfielder (typically the defensive midfielder) in attacking phases, which allows him to have more bodies in the middle of the park, meaning that his side shouldn’t be getting overloaded in that area and that the defender can easily trackback and help out the centre-backs.

This allows the other full-back to make those explosive runs down the flank, providing options for the midfielders or assisting the wingers trying to break down the opposition.

Udogie could easily thrive under the Australian as he can provide versatility by either being that tricky full-back bombing down the wing or being the inverted full-back who’s using his immense strength and tricky footwork to dispossess the opposition in the middle of the park.

The 20-year-old provided three goals and four assists for Udinese this season (Transfermarkt).

The future could be bright for the young Italian under Ange Postecoglou.

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Tanguy Ndombele

Tanguy Ndombele is a very controversial option for a player that can thrive under Postecoglou, with many Spurs fans believing that the Frenchmen doesn’t have a future at the club and that he must move on.

However, the midfielder has reportedly got the chance to show Postecoglou what he can bring to the table.

Tanguy Ndombele, 26, became Tottenham’s record signing in 2019 after joining from Lyon for around £63m (SkySports) after spells of excellence during his time in France.

However, the 26-year-old’s tenure at the Lilywhites has been far from rosy.

After failing to impress in North London, mainly due to a lack of fitness, Ndombele went back on loan to Lyon for half a season in January 2022, who refused to purchase him outright.

The midfielder has spent this season at Napoli, where he helped them win the league title, but the Italian giants will reportedly refuse to sign him on a permanent basis.

However, the fitness issues are still haunting Ndombele as he only managed to complete 90 minutes in a match just twice throughout the whole season (WhoScored.com), which is a shame as the Frenchman possesses a lot of technical ability.

Postecoglou’s midfielders also play vital roles in attacking movements and creating space for their teammates.

In the 56-year-old’s system, he typically instructs his advanced midfielder (his number eight in the system) to exploit the space on the flanks between the inverted full-back, who has joined the midfield, and the winger, which creates a brilliant passing option for a teammate or it can either draw in a defender and create some space for the striker or person on the flank.

Or the midfielder can either play between the lines or occupy the ball in an attacking area, helping the striker in the attacking phase.

Tanguy Ndombele has brilliant footwork and has the intelligence to operate between the lines, drawing in defenders and leaving space for teammates to make runs in behind. The Frenchman can exploit the space on the flank, leaving some lovely space for either Pedro Porro or Son Heung-min to run in behind the defensive line.

If he decides to become a passing option instead, we have all seen that Ndombele can make charging runs in the middle of the park, creating fabulous opportunities.

Although, the main issue is that the role includes a lot of high pressing and running, which means that Ndombele will need to try and combat his fitness issues, as the Lilywhites will need a creative engine in that position.

However, he can thrive in that role under Postecoglou if he puts in the work.

Pape Matar Sarr is another one to watch for in this position, as the Australian likes to use two midfielders in this role.

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Richarlison

Richarlison had made a far-from-ideal start to his life in North London under Conte as he failed to make the impact he would have liked to make in his first season.

Richarlison, 26, is a versatile forward who can play as a striker or on either side of the wings, who joined from Everton last summer in a £50m switch (Transfermarkt).

The forward was the standout player in a struggling Everton side prior to swapping Merseyside for North London.

However, with a lack of playing time under Antonio Conte, the Brazilian only scored one goal and provided four assists in the Premier League last season.

On the other hand, the Australian manager’s tactics could help the attacker gain momentum and play as he did during his time at the Toffees.

Postecoglou tends to use his wingers to make bending runs into the central areas of the pitch rather than always out wide to encourage balls into these areas of the pitch.

The inward runs also allow the wingers to help the striker press the backline or even allow the striker to apply pressure on the goalkeeper.

This system could benefit Richarlison a lot more than the previous systems as the Brazilian would have the freedom to play in his preferred central areas of the opponent’s half, and he could even have the chance to make explosive runs in behind the back line if Kane was double marked, for example.

Postecoglou’s system would benefit from the 26-year-old’s passion and energy when it comes down to the pressure aspect of the tactics. It could be a perfect match for the Australian and the Brazilian and would help Richarlison prove himself at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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Special mentions:

Obviously, there are more players that can thrive under Ange Postecoglou.

Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma are two great options to play that number eight role in the Australian’s system.

Their high-intensity pressing, intelligent passing and progressive style of play would provide great options for the 56-year-old when he has to select his midfield that must press intensely, play intuitively and provide a threat in attacking phases.

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is a suggestion for a player that must perform arguably the most pivotal role in Postecoglou’s system, the number six (holding midfielder).

The holding midfielder in the Australian’s system must be comfortable playing in a single-pivot, double-pivot and as a centre-back when needed.

The midfielder will be one of the players that need the vision to pick out passes behind the opposition’s defensive line whilst having the defensive capabilities to make a back three-three with the other two defenders when the full-backs attack or join the midfield.

Højbjerg seems to have the fanbase currently split over whether he is what Tottenham need in midfield. We will soon find out whether Postecoglou is confident that the Dane can play this role or perhaps Oliver Skipp will be selected ahead of him.

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