Line-Ups
Brighton & Hove Albion (BHA): in-possession 3412 & out-of-possession 5212 (low) / 3412 (high)
Newcastle United (NU): in-possession 433 & out-of-possession 451
More details on each team's shape, in and out of possession, and general observations below. Although, the majority of observations were on BHA so limited notes on NU.
Brighton & Hove Albion Observations
In-Possession:
In build-up and in the middle third, BHA's in-possession structure was 3412
The back three would consist of White as the right-sided centre back, Dunk in the middle and slightly deeper than the other two and Veltman as the left-sided centre back
Ahead of them would be a central midfield double pivot of Lallana and Bissouma
Occupying both the wider areas and the half-spaces of the pitch would be Grob (on the right) and Moder (on the left) - both of these players would often invert from an initial wider starting position, in particular Moder from the left (more detail on this provided further below)
Trossard would position himself in central areas between-the-lines of the NU midfield and defence and aim to find pockets of space behind the midfield to receive the ball, plus, make runs behind the NU defence from deeper positions when gaps appeared in the backline
Welbeck and Maupay's positions were of most interest as both players would situate themselves on the outside of NU's fullbacks - so in essence play as 'split strikers'
The visual below provides an example of the positions and movements the BHA players took up and made when the team were in possession in their own and middle third of the pitch
As BHA progressed the ball into the final third, their structure would transition into more of a 325 shape against NU's 451 low block - see visual example below
From this 325 structure, White had license to advance and support attacks on the right-hand side, Lallana could advance higher into more central areas to try and combine with the forward players, and Welbeck and Maupay could come inside more to try and attack the spaces between the NU fullbacks and centre backs
Note - the five BHA players attacking NU's last line were quite fluid so would interchange positions e.g. Maupay and Trossard would rotate regularly between central areas and the right half-space and Welbeck and Moder would rotate from wide left to the left half-space
A key tactic of BHA's throughout the game, but particularly in the 1st half, were the positions and movements of Grob / Moder and Welbeck / Maupay, as they helped disrupt NU's out-of-possession shape and create numerical advantages in each third of the pitch
As NU tried to prioritise blocking the centre of the pitch without the ball, BHA countered by positioning their players on the outside of their shape, in wider areas, and then also making opposite runs / movements to further disrupt the NU shape
In BHA's build up play, as NU's wide midfielders would position themselves narrow to help block the centre of the pitch and be in a closer position to engage BHA's wide centre backs when in possession, BHA's wide midfielders Grob and Moder would position themselves in the pockets of space behind the wide midfielder and the outside central midfielders to offer different passing angles and help BHA play through NU's first line of defence
Whilst a simplistic recreation, see the visual below as an example of BHA's structure in their build up play versus NU's (passive) high block and how they could create a numerical superiority
In the middle third, Moder and Grob could come infield, on the outside of the NU middle three, to help the BHA double pivot and Trossard create numerical advantages in the middle of the pitch - see visual example below
And as previously mentioned, in the final third, BHA got five forward players across NU's backline of four which again helped create a numerical advantage
The positions and movements of Moder / Grob and Welbeck / Maupay were a key factor in the 1st half and helped create multiple shooting opportunities and also BHA's first goal
Below are a few real-life examples of this situations that BHA were able to create using these tactics
In this first example, in the image below, Veltman has started the sequence by passing the ball up the line to Moder, who was positioned on the touchline, and has then dribbled infield to draw the NU players towards him before poking a pass through the lines into Trossard
Circled above for reference are Welbeck and Maupay who are positioned wide and on the outside of the NU back four, and also Trossard in the centre of the pitch, playing between-the-lines, behind the NU midfield and in front of their defence
Above you can also sort of see the NU 451 out-of-possession shape, albeit BHA's play has massively disrupted it, especially the drawing out of Manquillo from this right back position which was a big factor in what led to the goal
Due to Welbeck and Maupay holding wider positions, on the outside of the NU backline, when Moder, in particular in the first half, received the ball in his initial wider starting position he would aim to carry the ball inside - this caused NU problems as a) their fullback would have a decision to make, as whether to go and engage Moder or stay with the striker on their outside, and b) it drew the NU midfielders towards him which created more space for Trossard in-behind them, so if Trossard could be found with a pass then he would have space to attack the NU backline
Anyway, back to the example above - in the next image below, Trossard has received the ball between-the-lines and taken a touch out wide as he's already looking to play in Welbeck making a run down the left flank
As you can see above, Trossard's position and receiving of the ball unmarked between-the-lines has caused Clark to jump out of his centre back position (this was also consequence of Manquillo jumping out of position and therefore forcing Lascelles to cover Welbeck out wide) and created a large gap in the NU backline which you can see Moder, who is now in a central position, wants to attack (note - the NU left back is late to spot this danger and does not cover quickly enough, however, he is likely preoccupied by the positioning of Maupay on the outside of him)
Below is the next stage of the attack where you can see Moder has run into the vacated space that BHA created in the NU backline and Welbeck has a relatively simple pass into his path to create a goal scoring opportunity
To conclude this sequence, below you see Moder receives the pass inside the box where he shoots tamely straight at the goalkeeper who saves
The above example, in essence, was BHA positioning players out wide, where the space was against NU's defensive shape, and then making opposite movements / actions to disrupt their shape e.g. Moder receiving the ball out wide, then carrying the ball infield and passing to Trossard who was central and then Trossard playing the ball out wide to Welbeck who attacked down the side before passing back centrally for Moder to shoot
In the next example, BHA again used their players positioning out wide and opposite movements to disrupt the NU defensive shape and this time the sequence resulted in a goal to put BHA 1-0 ahead
In the first image below, you can see BHA have the ball on the right side of the pitch with White and are in their in-possession structure with three at the back, a double pivot - I've also highlighted Moder's position out wide, Welbeck who is also wide on the outside of the NU right back and Trossard playing between-the-lines
White passes the ball back to Dunk who plays it into Bissouma and this triggers Willock to come out to (passively) engage him, Bissouma then squares the ball out towards Veltman who is now positioned on the left-hand side touchline
The image below is where the action picks up with Veltman in possession of the ball but note the off-ball movements of Moder and Welbeck ahead of play - Moder has come infield and Welbeck has come short up the line to offer a passing option
These opposite movements by Welbeck and Moder can be more clearly seen by the image and angle below - Moder has come infield from the wing which has allowed Welbeck to come short up the line and draw out the NU right back with him, Moder now in an infield position then tries to attack the space the fullback vacates in the left-hand channel to initiate a long pass from Veltman and this in turn draws out Lascelles creating a gap between the NU centre backs
In the next image, you can see that Trossard has seen this gap and makes a run between the two centre backs so instead of Veltman playing a long pass over the top for Moder in the channel, he instead uses Trossard's run from deep for his forward pass (incidentally, also note the positioning of Maupay and Grob on the right-hand side which is nearly identical to the previous example used)
The attack concluded with Trossard controlling the long pass over-the-top from Veltman, turning back inside onto his stronger right foot, before curling the ball brilliantly into the bottom far corner
Whilst the final action of this sequence was undoubtedly a piece of individual quality to score from this distance and angle (FBref had the xG of this shot at 0.03), the lead up to the goal undoubtedly came from BHA continuing to disrupt the NU backline using the positioning of their wide midfielders and use of split strikers, and opposite movements / runs
In this third example, BHA have had a throw in on their right-hand side and Lallana has hit a longer, aerial pass towards the NU backline - this has fortunately landed at Maupay who manages to control on this chest and lay out to Trossard - here is where the image below picks up the action and Trossard is carrying the ball, looking for Welbeck (circled in the bottom left) who again, is positioned on the outside of the NU right back (also, note Moder's position on the halfway line)
Welbeck receives the ball from Trossard and as you can see below, Moder has covered a large distance in order to offer Welbeck a passing option in-behind by making the usual BHA run in-between the NU right back and right-sided centre back
Moder's run in this space has consequently drawn Lascelles over with him and instead of making a pass down the side of the right back to Moder, Welbeck decides to cut inside on his stronger right foot and due to the gap created between the NU backline, he shoots and manages to fire into the bottom corner to put BHA into 2-0 lead (see image below)
Similar to BHA's first goal, whilst the final actions of these respective sequences were more pieces of individual quality (the xG of Welbeck's shot according to FBref was also 0.03), the positions and movements of BHA's players were intentional, pre-planned and contributed to disrupting NU's defensive shape which help contributed to both goals
Other recurring patterns of BHA's attacking play was the areas they tried to work the ball into in the final third (see yellow areas below), to then make low crosses and cutbacks into the box (mainly width of the 6-yard box) - BHA ensured they got players into the box, including the three forwards, at least one of the wide midfielders (if a forward was crossing then both) and Lallana as a late runner towards the edge of the area
The below images show real-life examples of this in practice
In the first image below (with the blue lines depicting BHA's 235 shape and the black lines for NU's 541 low block), you can see Grob receiving the ball on the right flank in space where he could cross into the box - but Trossard has already begun to make the rehearsed run between the NU fullback and centre back to enable Grob to make a pass into the preferred areas where BHA wanted to create crossing situations
In this second image below, you can see that Trossard is now in BHA's preferred crossing area where he has players in the box which give him options for either a low cross or a cutback
Trossard delayed his cross to weigh up his options but following Moder's run across the near post which drew NU defenders too him, Maupay decides to hold his position and find some space, so Trossard opted for a cutback to Maupay who had a shot but only managed to hit a NU defender
In another example (see image below) - which led to BHA's third goal - BHA have their five forward players across the NU backline of four
Here you can see BHA's fluidity with the forward players having interchanged positions - Moder is widest left, Trossard inside left, Welbeck central between-the-lines and wanting to receive a ball through the lines, Maupay inside right and Grob widest right
After receiving the ball, Welbeck turns and instead of looking inside for a central pass into Maupay he immediately looks wide and passes out to Grob on the right flank where BHA can get into their preferring crossing area (after making the pass out wide, you can see Welbeck immediately makes a run into the box)
When Grob receives the ball, instead of taking his first touch into the space behind the fullback, he controls the ball and shapes as if he is going to make an in-swinging cross with his left-foot which helps draw the fullback closer towards and creates more space in BHA's preferred crossing area - here you can also see Lallana making a run between two NU's players into the space to give Grob a passing option
However, instead of choosing the passing option to Lallana - despite him being in a better position, Grob executes a Cruyff turn which helps him beat the NU fullback and then he fires in a low(ish) cross (looks higher on the image below) which Maupay manages to connect with first-time on the volley an direct into the far corner for BHA to score and take a 3-0 lead
In summary, BHA's in-possession tactics were the key factor in helping them win this game, as each of their goals came from their structure, player positions and movements, and patterns of play that BHA attempted multiple times throughout the game
Out-of-Possession:
As BHA had the majority of possession throughout the game, 65% vs 35% - they were in control for large periods of the game and therefore not required to do too many defensive actions
Their out-of-possession shape was 3412 in a high block with Trossard positioning himself near Shelvey, and this dropped into a 5212 in a low block with Moder and Grob as the wide midfielders dropping on the outside of the BHA back three
NU relied on counter attacking moments as their tactics to attack but as BHA had a good rest defence (with at least four players behind the ball - the back three and Bissouma) they were in good positions to counter press and stop any turnover situations at source
NU only managed 3 shots throughout the whole game which generated a total xG of 0.01 - and according to FBref.com, this was their lowest total xG generated in a Premier League game so far that season
Newcastle United Observations
Note - as mentioned above, as BHA dominated the game the majority of observations were on BHA and not NU
In-Possession:
As mentioned in BHA's out-of-possession section, as BHA had the majority of the ball, NU mainly relied on trying to exploit counter attacking situations as their attacking tactics, however, these didn't prove to be too effective
Out-of-Possession:
Without the ball, NU tended to get into a 451 mid / low block and were very passive out-of-possession, choosing to sit off BHA as opposed to actively engage them higher up the pitch
Whilst NU did not engage too actively from this shape, their high block slightly varied with their wide midfielders coming infield more and on the same horizontal line as the centre forward so their shape resembled more of a narrow 433
Visual examples of NU's out-of-possession shape can be seen in BHA's in-possession section above
Result
Half-Time = 1-0
Full-Time = 3-0
Thank you for reading.
Stats used in this piece were obtained from FBref.com and visuals from both the Sky Sports Premier League and Brighton & Hove Albion official YouTube channels
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