Ryan Lowe’s attacking philosophy paying dividends at Bury

In May 2018 Ryan Lowe was installed as the permanent manager of Bury, with the North-West club having just endured relegation to League 2, the fourth tier of English football. Since then however, the club have been rejuvenated by an attacking style of play the former Liverpool youth team player has installed at Gigg Lane.

The club currently sit second in the league and are well placed to finish the season in one of the automatic promotion slots to earn a swift return to League 1. Under Lowe, the Shakers are currently the division’s highest scorers with 71 goals in 38 games. Fans of the club have been enthused by an attack-first philosophy that gained the praise of Jurgen Klopp after a pre-season friendly with Liverpool.

This tactical analysis therefore will look at how Ryan Lowe has set out to implement a style of play that is inspired by the likes of Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Brendan Rodgers.

Bury in possession

In possession Bury set out in what can be described as something resembling a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3. With a fluidity in their movement and positioning, however, their offensive shape takes many forms as they play.

The key players in this system are Danny Mayor and Jay O’Shea who act as two number 10s, and operate in inside positions close to the centre forward. Burys best play usually comes through them where they are a constant threat to League 2 defences. Both wing-backs will take up aggressively high positions early in the build up to pin back opponents and create space inside for Mayor and O’Shea.

They will look to play out from the back, but they are not a team that will circulate the ball endlessly probing for gaps . The primary aim is to progress the ball into the final third of the pitch. In this they can be described as direct, but they are far from a long-ball team. They demonstrate exciting and inventive movement and combination play in the final third.

Here there is no great pressure on Bury’s back three so they will look to play out from the back through midfield. The back three split, although both outside centre backs do not display the most open of body shapes to receive the ball. Nor does Dagnall the central holding midfielder, who looks to collect the ball behind the first line of pressure.

If they are put under pressure, they will not look to manipulate the press and play through it, but will look to play longer passes into the final third. Here they know that they have their front players close together so that if they do not receive the ball themselves, they are positioned in a way that they can recover the ball through rapid counter-pressing. This is a tactic that may be inspired by Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund side, who would intentionally create turnovers high up the pitch to create counter-pressing situations.