Ryan Tunnicliffe’s role under John Mousinho — A Tactical Analysis
Introduction
Prior to the appointment of John Mousinho as Portsmouth Head Coach, Ryan Tunnicliffe was viewed by many as a player who’s future was away from Fratton Park, this view however has changed since the appointment of the former Oxford defender. In this article I will be detailing the role and responsibilities of Ryan Tunnicliffe, as well as discussing his Portsmouth future.
As an 8 in a 4–3–3
Mousinho tends to switch between a 4–3–3 (2–3–5 in-possession) and a 4–2–3–1 (2–4–4 in-possession), and when he lines up as an 8 he’s given a high level of attacking license and responsibility.
His ability to utilise progressive carries, accurate passes into the feet of wingers and fullbacks both with the inside and outside of his foot, as well as a high level of game intelligence makes him a superb fit for the formation and allows for successful wide triangles and overloads with Owen Dale and Joe Rafferty/Zak Swanson.
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Another area of his game that suits this system is his intelligent late-runs into the box/edge of the box, this adds another level of goal-threat that was previously lacking under Danny Cowley due to his reluctance to play a midfield three and meant we were far more one-dimensional in-possession, and made us easier to defend against.
As part of a double pivot in a 4–2–3–1
Despite having a more reserved role in-possession when playing as part of the double-pivot, Tunnicliffe is given more license to attack the right half-space when playing against low-blocks and when playing on the counter-attack — an example of this was for the Ronan Curtis goal against Cheltenham in which Tunnicliffe bursts from deep to influence the right half-space and run beyond the Cheltenham backline before passing an intelligent ball across the box for Curtis to score.
When building from deep however, Tunnicliffe is given a high level of responsibility and is used as a conduit to circulate and progress the ball, this also gives Sean Raggett more protection in-possession as Tunnicliffe is extremely comfortable with the ball, and also isn’t afraid to stick a tackle in if there is a turnover for example.
Other comments
One other quality of Tunnicliffe I haven’t touched on yet is his ability to consistently deliver high quality crosses from corners, as well as knowing when to take a corner or freekick short and quickly — the two games that most stick-out in my mind are Doncaster at home in the 21/22 season, in which he had two assists from corners, and Bolton at home in the 22/23 season, when he had one assist from a corner and one pre-assist from a corner as a result of taking it short and early.
One disadvantage of sorts however is that due to both Marlon Pack and Tunnicliffe’s general lack of mobility, they aren’t a good pairing in midfield together, especially in a 4–2–3–1, in a 4–3–3 you can get away with it providing you have someone incredibly mobile together with them (Joe Morrell for example), but its an important factor to remember when putting together midfield combinations.
Tunnicliffe’s Portsmouth future
Ryan’s contract expires in the summer, which has caused much debate both online and inside Fratton Park, and personally, I feel that offering Ryan a new short-term deal is an absolute no-brainer.
Ideally you can negotiate a one-year deal with an option to extend a following year, but a straight-up two-year deal would also be in no way disastrous. He fits Mousinho’s system perfectly, and is a high-quality operator both in the 2–4–4 and the 2–3–5, and offers a lot both with and without the ball.
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