FC Arouca in Portugal’s top-flight are a refreshing case of a team being able to punch above its weight class in a sport which is increasingly becoming financially disparate.
According to Capology.com, the Arouquenses currently boast the third-lowest payroll in Liga Portugal, with a stadium capacity of merely 5,000 on a good day. Only Gil Vicente and Vizela have a lower payroll in the Primeira Liga.
Yet, Gil Vicente are battling against relegation down the bottom of the table and Vizela are eighth. Meanwhile, Arouca are sitting pretty in fifth place, six points ahead of Famalicão in sixth. Should they remain in this position, Armando Evangelista tactics will have guided the Portuguese minnows back to European football.
Arouca last achieved this feat at the end of the 2015/16 season under Lito Vidigal, finishing fifth and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. Unfortunately, the Porto-based club fell in the playoff round to Greek giants Olympiacos but even getting thus far was an impressive achievement. But now, Arouca are on course to match that feat.
What’s more intriguing is their record at both ends of the field. Arouca have scored 33 and conceded 33 goals in 29 matches in the Primeira Liga. Let’s look at why.
This tactical analysis piece will be a scout report dissecting the most intriguing elements of Arouca’s tactics this season under Evangelista in and out of possession.
Statistical overview
Evangelista coaching style has preferred to deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation throughout the course of the season. This structure suits the players at his disposal along with the 4-3-3.
Arouca have a strong midfield presence of former Barcelona academy graduate Oriol Busquets, Argentine playmaker Alan Ruiz and the experienced David Simão while Morlaye Sylla and Antony are excellent wide players for the Arouquenses. Hence, using three central midfielders and two wingers makes sense, regardless of whether the shape is a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3.
The 49-year-old wants his team to defend in a 4-4-2 mid-block for the most part too and so the 4-2-3-1 facilitates this when the number ‘10’ steps up to join the first line of pressure alongside the centre-forward.
However, formations are expendable when it comes to Arouca. The Portuguese minnows play like chameleons and can alternate shapes depending on the game state. Principles have been more important to Arouca’s success this season and so it is Evangelista’s principles which shall be focused on the most.
So how do Arouca play?
An analysis of this pizza chart will not tell the whole story of Arouca’s game model but will still give us a decent picture. While the fifth-placed team do have excellent ball-playing midfielders in the team, they don’t dominate possession from game to game. In fact, Arouca have averaged 48.5 percent of the ball in each game which is way below the league median.
What’s even more interesting is that Arouca are one of the lowest-ranked teams in Liga Portugal for xG per 90, shots per 90, opposition penalty area entries per 90 and crosses per 90 yet are above the median for goals scored. They don’t create many chances but are efficient in front of goal when they do.
We can also see that they don’t give away many chances but also take somewhat of a more pragmatic and passive approach out of possession.
Nonetheless, now that we’ve had a brief look at Arouca’s successful tactical style this season using data, let’s dissect the most interesting aspects of their tactics.
Building out to go in behind
As aforementioned, Arouca are not a possession-based team but that doesn’t mean Evangelista has been instructing his players to push up the pitch while the keeper pumps it long to win the second ball in an advanced position.
Arouca play out from the back just like any team, only the end goal is a little different. Most managers want their sides to play short from goal-kicks to play through the opposition’s press. Once the press is bypassed, the backline will be exposed, and the attacking team can take advantage.
Normally, the team in possession will want to create a situation where they either have numerical superiority or have 1v1 situations against the opposition’s backline. Brighton do this better than most under Roberto De Zerbi.
Lower down, the pitch, the Seagulls had a 7v6 advantage against Chelsea’s 4-4-2 press while also boasting 1v1 situations against the Blues’ entire back four. In an isolated 1v1 battle, it is merely down to the quality of the two players in the duel and so anything can happen.
However, Arouca’s approach is more direct. The Portuguese minnows bait the opposition to press higher and then play over the press rather than through it.
They do so by having at least seven players in the first third of the pitch, including the goalkeeper. The other six are comprised of the back four and the double-pivot who remain low down the field.
This is quite like how Brighton set up under De Zerbi when building out in a 4-2-3-1. Having seven players in the defensive third to bait as many opposition players to press as possible, while forming 1v1 situations further up the pitch.
The only difference is that Arouca go long whereas Brighton try to play through the press. This is just as effective, although perhaps there is a higher number of turnovers in the opposition’s favour due to the inconsistency of ball retention when it comes to direct passes.
Here is a wonderful example of Arouca’s build-up play leading to a goal. Vizela pushed six players high up the pitch to deal with the seven Arouca had in the first third. As a result, a 4v4 was created on the last line.
Once Vizela had committed to pressing high, the Arouca defender lofted the ball over the press into the feet of Ruiz. As soon as the playmaker trapped the ball and turned to face the goal, the rest of the players, who were teetering on the last line anyway, darted in behind, ready to latch onto a through ball.
In the end, a foul was drawn inside the penalty area as the attackers and defenders raced to the box. The penalty was converted and Arouca came out on top with a 1-0 victory.
Formations come in different shapes and sizes
As we know by now, Arouca’s formation is a 4-2-3-1 in and out of possession, although this is merely a reference point for players to understand roughly where they are meant to be on the pitch.
When Arouca attacking against a mid-block, attempting to break through the opposition’s structure, the shape of the team changes constantly as players – particularly the midfielders – drop in and out of different areas to receive the ball. Staticity is discouraged.
Here, Arouca have created a three-man first line versus the opposition’s front two in order to hold a 3v2 advantage in this area. The right-back tucked inside, and the left-back advanced forward to hold the width in correlation with the right winger on the far side.
The left winger moved into the halfspace as a result of the left-back pushing higher and the number ‘10’ positioned himself in the right halfspace. This created a ‘box’ midfield of four against Marítimo’s double-pivot.
The centre-forward was situated between the centre-backs, leaving the two width-holders in 1v1 situations on the flanks. This was an optimal strategy for Arouca to be in against a 4-4-2 mid-block. Nonetheless, free movement in the middle of the park is heavily encouraged by the manager.
Just over ten seconds later, the right winger had pushed inside in between the lines while the number ‘10’, Ruiz, drifted out to the right flank to receive possession in space.
The wingers and three central players are always interchanging positions and rotating into space to disorientate the opposition’s defensive block and to get free to receive the ball. It is also quite common for the pivot space to be vacated during a game.
In a positional system, the zone behind the opposition’s first line of pressure, but in front of the midfield, is constantly occupied by at least one player, although a double-pivot can also fulfil this space. This can also be called the pivot zone.
In this example, Arouca have just one pivot player occupying this area behind the opponent’s forward line but quite often, nobody will be in this zone. There is a reason for this.
The very best teams will vacate the pivot zone. Man City did this really well in past seasons when Pep Guardiola preferred to deploy Rodri or Fernandinho as the sole number ‘6’. The single pivot would drop out wide or between the centre-backs to receive possession, leaving his zone free for anyone else to inhabit.
The reason this is useful for a positional team is that it means any player can arrive late at the pivot zone with time and space to receive the ball and to turn, potentially playing a line-breaking ball forward or into space. Arouca do this very effectively to find their midfield players in space.
For instance, here, the double-pivot have separated on either side of the Marítimo defensive block. Nobody is positioned in the space behind the opposition’s first line of pressure, but this was about to change.
Noticing the zone was free, the number ‘10’ dropped from deep to receive from the ball-carrier. Having come from the blindside of the opponent’s midfield, this gave the playmaker the required time and space to receive the ball, get his head up, and pick out a runner in behind.
Arouca are really direct. Just under 13 percent of their total passes are long balls and they average 3.82 passes per possession. Evangelista style of play relies on runs into the depth to create goalscoring opportunities as Arouca don’t really cross the ball that much and are poor at breaking down a low block.
As can be seen from the side’s shot assists map from the 2022/23 Liga Portugal season, quite a lot of Arouca’s shot assists and overall assists have come from balls from deep, some even beginning in the team’s own half of the pitch.
Nonetheless, when the ball does eventually reach the penalty area, the Arouquenses are efficient in front of goal at converting opportunities.
In the Primeira Liga this season, Arouca have scored 29 non-penalty goals from an xG of 28.58 and so they have been very consistent on this front.
Evangelista’s side are tucking away roughly one in ten chances which is perfectly in line with Arouca’s 0.1 average xG per shot. The Porto-based club are also averaging just under 10 shots per game with a goals-per-90 rate of 1.22.
33 goals in 29 games really isn’t anything to get overly excited about. However, it is Arouca’s out-of-possession work which has helped to mask this deficiency and allowed the team to potentially reach the final European spot for the first time in seven years.
Dogged defending
Arouca don’t really dabble in high pressing. Evangelista doesn’t want to take the risk of having his defenders on the halfway line and having the space behind exploited. Instead, he instructs his team to defend in a 4-4-2 mid-to-low block or an outright low block.
From the side’s territory map out of possession, we can see that Arouca’s average defensive line height is somewhere between the halfway point and their own 18-yard box. It is also evident that none of their average territory touches the final third.
There is no requirement for players to commit to pressing when their opponent is building up from the back. In fact, at times when they have pressed high, it’s not gone well.
Arouca were pressing in a 4-4-2 diamond formation, or a lopsided 4-2-3-1, with the right winger pushed up high alongside the centre-forward. Players looked uncertain about where they were supposed to be.
Left-winger Morlaye Sylla was tucking inside to close off the halfspace but began moving out to the Marítimo fullback too early. As a result, the inside passing lane was open and allowed the visitors to progress through the press easily.
Furthermore, the nearest pivot player was far too deep to be able to step up and cover for the winger. Once the press was broken, Arouca scrambled back to their own goal-line anyway.
Arouca are much more difficult to break down when sitting in a deeper, more compact block. But the team’s structure takes two different forms when defending in their own half.
Firstly, in the mid-to-low block phase, Arouca keep really narrow between the lines to be difficult to play through and stay compact horizontally too.
The entire block shifts from left to right depending on where the ball is. If the ball is on the left, the team shift as a unit over to cover the flank, trying not to leave any gaps which can be exploited.
The approach is rather passive. Arouca are not actively seeking to win the ball, merely to guide it into secure areas of the pitch where they cannot be hurt, such as with the opposition’s centre-backs.
Arouca want to remain in this defensive shape for as long as possible. However, against better opposition, an even more cautious and conservative approach is taken, particularly when facing a side like Sporting Clube de Portugal who use wingbacks.
Sporting want to position as many players on the last line as possible, typically deploying a 3-2-5 or a 3-1-6 in possession to do so. Evangelista went with his preferred 4-2-3-1 in the recent 1-1 draw at the José Alvalade Stadium. However, the shape was anything but a 4-2-3-1.
The two wingers dropped into the defensive line to ensure that Arouca always had a plus-one at the back or even a man-for-man situation. The wingers dealt with Sporting’s wingbacks while the flat back four were aggressive, closing down any players between the lines who received possession.
Furthermore, the number ‘10’, Alan Ruiz – as always – dropped into the midfield, creating a 6-3-1 shape.
Arouca frustrated Sporting to no end and managed to score a counterattacking goal to earn a 1-1 draw in one of the toughest away grounds in the Primeira Liga.
Interestingly, Arouca have been expected to concede far more goals than they have this season, boasting the joint-sixth best defence in the league with 1.04 goals conceded per 90 and 33 overall despite having registered the sixth-most expected goals against at 46.14.
This can be credited to some truly wonderful last-ditch defending inside the box throughout the campaign but also to the goalkeeper Ignacio De Arruabarrena who has prevented almost 12 goals this season, excluding countless penalty saves he has made throughout the season too.
Conclusion
Arouca are sitting comfortably in fifth with 48 points in total, as of writing. However, the Arouquenses were expected to pick up 32.8 points this season which would put them sixth from bottom on the expected points table.
The job that Armando Evangelista has done should not be understated, nor should the players’ abilities to adhere to his tactical instructions.
The Porto-based club are not the most fluid, attacking or easy-on-the-eye team in Liga Portugal, but they know how to grind out results and with 33 goals scored and 33 conceded in 29 games, they are somewhat of an anomaly in Europe right now, highly resemblant to Sheffield United in the 2019/20 Premier League campaign where they finished just five points off the European spots and had scored and conceded 39 apiece in the 38 games.
Arouca look set to go one step further than the Blades by actually reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers.
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