Over the last couple of years, one of the most interesting leagues in world football in terms of the improvement on a tactical and competitive level has been the Australian A-League.
The quality of domestic players has grown and when combined with some interesting recruitment from other markets we are starting to see some really interesting matchups from a tactical and technical perspective.
One of the most fascinating teams in the league this season are Newcastle Jets who have been impressing with a relatively small budget under the coaching of the 41-year-old Australian coach Arthur Papas.
At the time of writing, Newcastle are sitting 9th in the table but with a disrupted schedule so far they have games in hand on some of the teams around them having only managed to play 5 matches.
They are a side who have an interesting and clearly defined game model and tactical structure and as such they deserve further study.
In this article we will break down their season so far using a combination of data and tactical analysis to try to explain exactly what Newcastle are trying to do in and out of possession this season.
Newcastle Jets build-up phase
Domestically this season Newcastle are one of the most possession dominant sides in the league.
Indeed, in a recent league match against Macarthur we saw Newcastle with 71.68% of the ball.
Their style in terms of their build-up is very much based on playing out from the back and on creating superiorities in terms of progressing the ball safely and securely through the thirds.
The fullbacks tend to stay wide and on the same line as the deepest midfielder and in doing so they create a structure that allows them to outplay the first line of pressure from the opposition forwards.
As you can see from this data visualisation Newcastle are comfortably the team who average the most passes per 90 in the Australian A-League.
They are averaging 551.2 passes per 90 compared with second place Sydney who have an average of 465.1 passes per 90.
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