As the EFL League One season grows older week by week, we start to see more and more tactical patterns unfold, with the many teams among the top nailing the critical aspects of their manager’s tactics. Peterborough United, currently managed by Darren Ferguson in his third spell as boss, have started the season well and currently sit fifth. The Posh have been knocking on the door year on year in terms of winning promotion to the Championship. Since (and including) the 2019/20 season, Peterborough have finished in the top six in England’s third tier, apart from the 2021/22 season when they were playing in the second tier.
So far this season, the Posh have put in some impressive attacking performances, and their full-backs have played an essential part in ball progression in initial phases up the pitch and have been more than helpful in the final third as well. This scout report will provide a tactical analysis of the role of the left & right back in possession, with the analysis looking at how they look to support their team’s phase in various areas of the pitch. To provide deeper context past just what the naked eye sees during games, relevant data will be drip-fed throughout this scout report in key areas.
Team Overview
A popular formation in the modern game, Ferguson has placed his trust in the 4-2-3-1 formation this season with the aim of the front four playing with a high attacking presence and fluidity. It is becoming increasingly present in leagues outside of the Premier League and Championship. Teams are adopting a possession-based approach with their own minor tweaks and influences here and there, and the Posh have followed that trend.
In fact, at the time of writing, they have the fourth-highest average possession register in League One (56%), which has served them well in attack. With 15 goals scored already this season (fifth-highest in the division), they are clearly a threat in front of goal, but their xG of 20.87 suggests they should be doing even better – that is the highest xG register in the division, by the way.
Usually, with teams who focus on a possession-based approach with a high defensive line, the general team shape is often wide a lot of the time. Peterborough, however, can often be seen going against this trend – in terms of the full-backs’ starting positions at least, with the two often taking a narrow starting position and only drifting wider as Posh strengthen their grip on possession and/or progress up the pitch. This may be a tactical instruction from Ferguson to protect against oppositional transition attacks.
In terms of placing a focus on two Peterborough full-backs, we will be using left-back Harrison Burrows and right-back Peter Kioso when it comes to data discussions. The match still images may include other full-backs, but the majority are the aforementioned players, as they have been the most present full-backs for Peterborough to date in the 23/24 campaign.
Above is a visual of the positioning of both players. Regarding positioning, the heat maps show us pretty much what you’d expect from a modern full-back in a possession-dominant side – wide presence up and down the flank blended with some slightly in-field play. Interestingly, though, and something which we will cover in more detail later, both players’ involvement drops off in the latter areas of the final third, i.e. after the 18-yard mark.
Deep possession & midfield support
A key aspect of Peterborough’s success in dominating possession is their ability to support the man on the ball, and the full-backs are no different. In fact, they play a vital role in the Posh moving the ball through the thirds, with their positioning in both deep areas and the middle third being of great importance.
One thing we often see from Peterborough when they have possession in their own defensive third is close support from the full-backs, particularly on the right-hand side. Typically, when you think of attacking full-backs, you may feel about them taking up a consistent high and wide position to try and stretch the opposition, but the Posh approach things differently in this regard.
Instead, their full-backs drop in to offer a close passing option for the CB, with the aim of building possession through the flanks. You may think that the full-back, in the image above for example, would be more supportive in a wider starting position, but in actuality, taking this narrower starting point is more beneficial as the player has a wide angle to make their move – they can even let the ball come across their body onto their right foot before playing the pass down the line, something that would be much more difficult if they’re hugging the touchline.
Moving up the pitch, more close support is offered by the full-backs, this time taking a wider position as they look to stretch the opposition and create spaces to exploit in the final third. But again, in their supportive positioning in the midfield third, we see a difference in how you may expect the full-back to act in an attacking sense in that you may usually see the full-back getting as far forward as possible, so they can receive the ball and deliver a cross quickly. While this particular move does have that quick touch & cross aspect from the full-back, he is in a slightly deeper position than you would typically find an attacking FB.
This seems to be a pattern in Peterborough’s play down both flanks – they show a level of caution in when and how they deploy their full-backs, and more often than not, they remain in this slightly deeper supportive position, particularly when possession hasn’t reached the final third yet. The opposition hasn’t been forced into a low-block.
While dribbling isn’t Burrows’ speciality by any means, it is an important part of their role. Sometimes, in transition moments, space opens up ahead of either full-back, giving them a good opportunity to surge forward and take their team’s possession out of defence and into the next third. We see two differing examples of this above – Burrows (top example) received the pass as his team were leaving the defensive third and looking to build into the midfield third. The speed of this process was significantly boosted by the left-back’s quick drive into the opposition half, which was followed by a simple pass out to the supporting winger.
This season, Burrows has so far averaged a healthy 2.57 progressive runs per 90 minutes – we mentioned that dribbling isn’t his speciality, and in 1v1/technical situations that is true, but he clearly has a talent for knowing how and when to carry the ball over significant distances.
Meanwhile, Kioso, in the bottom image, provided an outlet for Posh’s CBs as they looked to play their way out of danger – the opposition pressure meant that Kioso was free and he showed good awareness to realise this. His starting support position was and usually is, excellent. He showed good pace to take the ball into the midfield third, giving his team a chance to take advantage of the fact that several opposition players were out of position.
Following that last slice of analysis in regard to ball progression, we can now look at that element of play in more detail. As you can see from the visual above, both players consistently carry the ball into the opposition half, with Kioso showing more of a tendency to start from a narrow position and drive outwards. When we look at Burrows’ 1v1 dribbles in the final third, we start to see a chink in the armour as he seems to be unsuccessful in several dribble attempts in these areas.
Moving on from progressive runs into progressive passes now, a highly important role for both Burrows and Kioso. Here is where we also start to get a stronger sense of their attacking involvement in the way of chance creation, with Burrows, in particular, offering a high amount of progressive passes into the box from the final third. He averages 11.89 progressive passes per 90, one of the higher tallies in the whole division, and as you will discover later in this scout report, deliveries into the box are a real skill of his.
Attacking contributions
As is the case with more and more teams these days, Peterborough’s full-backs can be key figures in the attacking third, offering a different dynamic to the move than most other players do. From supporting the wingers in various spaces out wide, to direct G/A involvements, Ferguson’s full-backs have started the season very strongly in an attacking sense. And while there is a consistency in their importance & involvement in attack, their individual skillset and playstyle are reflected in how they perform. For instance, Burrows’ set piece speciality sees him deliver dangerous crosses regularly, whereas Kioso specialises in moving the ball from midfield into the final third. This segment explores the similarities and differences between the two full-backs in a little more depth.
One thing we don’t see consistently from Ferguson’s full-backs is the use of a bursting overlapping run in the midfield third. Still, there have been several occasions where either full-back has made an underlapping movement in a bid to exploit space in these inside areas. While Burrows does include this in his game, we see it more from Kioso, as you can see above. He starts by moving the ball out to his teammate as he enters the final third – Kioso deserves credit in this department: he has an accuracy rating of 79.69% when it comes to passes into the final third, which is the 4th highest in the division and the highest of any full-back in the Championship.
After making his pass, where we may sometimes see him hang back to offer a deeper support option to the man on the ball, he instead continues his run inside, effectively becoming an extra midfield player as his side look to build possession into the final third. An underlapping/inverted movement from a full-back can be very difficult to defend against, as the opponent can get confused in terms of who should be marking him.
We said that bursting overlapping runs aren’t common for the Posh, but they do use them on occasion, and only on certain occasions. Notice the depth of the opposition defence – Burrows pushing on into a highly attacking position comes with very little risk due to how deep the opposition is, so he offers a clever run around the outside of his attacking teammate. On this occasion, he was ignored, but Peterborough have used the overlapping run to decent impact before.
One of Peterborough’s strongest weapons in attack, if not the strongest, is Burrows’ exceptional quality when it comes to whipping crosses into the box. From both open play and corner kicks, he is consistently finding teammates in the penalty area – more statistical info on his chance creation is to follow! The key point to be made in this example though is something we see from both full-backs: their positioning and how they support their attacking teammate on the ball.
Notice the distance Burrows leaves between him and the passer near the corner flag – if an opponent were to rush out and press Burrows, they have a longer distance to cover, which means dangerous space would be left in the box for Peterborough to play into.
As we can see, the chance creation ownness falls to Burrows. Kioso does have one assist to his name but has a significantly lower xA and general involvement when it comes to deliveries into the box. On the other hand, Burrows is extremely capable of creating chances from wide areas. He has two assists so far, and his xA of 3.39 is the highest individual register in the entirety of League One, which indicates that he brings a serious threat into the attacking fold.
Conclusion
In a team sense, Posh rank highest in the league for several vital metrics such as shots per 90, total number of headed shots, crosses per 90, and touches in the box per 90. Both full-backs play a massive role in this attacking dominance thanks to their strong understanding of Ferguson’s tactics, and their application is consistent & to a high level. If Peterborough can really lean into their attacking strengths and have their full-backs continue to assist possession and attacks the way they have been, they will once again be a serious contender for promotion to the Championship
Comments