Jagoba Arrasate’s Osasuna: Marrying Tactics with Cultural Identity

Neel Shelat investigates how Jagoba Arrasate achieved results above expectations with Osasuna

As far as consistently punching above their weight is concerned, there have been few better sides in recent years than Jagoba Arrasate’s Osasuna. Despite always operating with one of the lowest budgets in La Liga, they have not just stayed in the division but established themselves as a comfortable mid-table side in the last five seasons and even qualified for Europe on one occasion.

(Image credit: FotMob)

Such an impressive record certainly warrants closer attention. Upon further inspection, we find that the key to Osasuna’s success has been maintaining a very close tie with the cultural identity of the people and place they represent in all aspects of their operation, both off and even on the pitch.

Osasuna’s Cultural Context

Full disclosure: the idea for this piece was inspired by this fantastic Once In A Lifetime feature by the brilliant Eli Mengem and COPA90. If you have not watched it yet, we highly recommend that you drop whatever you are doing and rectify that.

For those who cannot immediately spare 50 minutes, though, we will quickly go through the key points relevant to this piece.

Founded in 1920, Osasuna are a historic club not because of their achievements (in fact, they have no major honours to their name) but because of where they are from. They are the only professional club from the autonomous community of Navarre, which is effectively the modern-day successor of the historic Kingdom of Navarre that dates back to the 9th century. The region is neighboured by the Basque country and in fact, is believed to be the birthplace of Basque culture, which Spanish football fans will be familiar with thanks to the likes of Athletic Club who, like Osasuna, are one of the few fan-owned clubs in Spain’s top tiers.

As far as memorable moments in Osasuna’s history are concerned, there are not too many to speak of. As their league performance chart depicts, they have spent most of their 100 years knocking about the first two tiers of Spanish football.

(Image credit: Wikimedia, By Ghost456 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Since the 1980s, Osasuna have managed to get into Europe once or twice in almost every decade, and they built on that success after the turn of the century. In 2005, they reached their first-ever major final in the Copa del Rey, narrowly losing out to Real Betis in extra time in what remains one of the most legendary fixtures in the club’s history despite the result.

A couple of seasons later, Osasuna got as far as the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup before being knocked out by none other than Sevilla. This was the club’s heyday, but it was quite brief and followed by two very close shaves with relegation. They seemed to get a bit too carried away with the good times, though, as the club quickly began to face financial problems concerning debts. With a bit of corruption at the board level to boot, Los Rojillos went on what seemed to be a disastrous downward trajectory.

After losing a relegation battle in La Liga in the 2013/14 season, Osasuna found themselves in a very similar position in their subsequent Segunda División campaign. Things came down to the wire on the final day as they needed a result against already-relegated Sabadell, but went two goals down in just 17 minutes. Mind you, this was not a question of staying in the second tier, this was an existential battle as Osasuna’s debts meant that they would almost certainly go out of business if they dropped down to the third tier.

A dramatic comeback in the last 15 minutes including an 89th-minute equaliser kept the club alive for the time being, but the job was far from done. Having escaped death by the narrowest of margins, Osasuna and their fans realised that they desperately needed an overhaul to get back to where they wanted to be.

The changes began at the very top, with Braulio Vázquez becoming their new Sporting Director in 2017. Former fan liaison Luis Sabalze had been elected as the vice president in the 2012 election, took over as president in 2014 after his predecessor was arrested in the aforementioned corruption scandal, and assumed the post for good in 2017 as the only candidate for a difficult and unglamorous job, in which he had to pay the bills out of his own pocket at times.

This duo led the reformation of Osasuna by aligning the club’s operations incredibly closely to Navarran culture. Among other things, Navarrans value their ties to their land incredibly heavily and place a great emphasis on hard work as agriculture is one of the key elements of their economy. The phrase ‘de la tierra’, meaning ‘of the earth/land’ is a very important one, and it sums up the new direction Osasuna took.

For one, they began to place a much larger emphasis on promoting academy graduates. As many as 36 academy graduates born in or after 1994 have been named in their La Liga matchday squads as of today, including club captain David García who has spent his entire career so far on Osasuna’s books. Los Rojillos’ current squad has as many as 11 academy graduates. As a result, Osasuna had the third-lowest player payroll in La Liga last season.

Most importantly, Braulio hired a head coach in Jagoba Arrasate who became the physical embodiment of the values of the club. An unremarkable player in his day who spent most of his career in the regional Basque leagues, he had little experience as a head coach prior to his appointment and had to take an indefinite leave from his part-time job as a high school teacher to take charge of the club. He immediately won the fans over, not just by winning promotion to the top flight in his first season or through his style of play, but more so because of his humble and hard-working character.

Aligning Tactics with Cultural Identity

The most interesting part of Osasuna’s shift towards Navarran culture is how it materialised on the pitch. Their fans have a word for the style of play which best reflects their cultural identity: rasmia. One of the fans interviewed in the aforementioned COPA90 feature described the supporters’ straightforward demands, saying, “We want our players just to fight. That’s our values. It doesn’t matter about winning or losing… that’s what we want to show our kids.”

The greater presence of academy graduates in the squad certainly helped in this respect. The Tajonar Academy is not necessarily renowned for producing the best players in the world (though a few such as César Azpilicueta and Nacho Monreal have made a name for themselves on the international stage), but it does develop the best sort of players for Osasuna – ones that fight tooth and nail for every ball.

Add to that the El Sadar effect – the incredible atmosphere created by Osasuna’s diehard fans in their compact stadium with steep stands that rise barely a couple of metres from the pitch – and you get almost all the ingredients to become a side of consistently overachieving minnows. It should be noted that Osasuna did not enjoy their home advantage to the fullest in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was certainly felt in the 2022/23 when the qualified for Europe having picked up 64% of their 53 points at El Sadar.

The only thing left is the catalyst – the right head coach who not only gets the best out of the players but also employs the right tactics. In Arrasate, Osasuna certainly had that. One of the keys to his success from a tactical standpoint was the fact that he was not wedded to a single formation or system, but only had a fixed style of play he sank and swam by. Having led Osasuna to the top-flight, this faith was repaid to him by both the fans and the sporting director, who said this amid a 13-match winless run: “The captain steers the ship, and that’s Jagoba… The boat will make it to port or it won’t, but with the same captain. If we sink, we all sink. We’re with him to the end.”

We will now dive into the exact tactics that defined Arrasate’s Osasuna, but it is worth acknowledging his approach to player management. With a background in teaching, he recognised the importance of pedagogy in conveying tactical instructions to his players. In an interview with ESPN’s Sid Lowe, he discussed how some players actively seek out details about opponents while others can be overloaded with just a few pieces of information. Adjusting the depth and presentation of instructions to suit each individual becomes important then, and Arrasate’s tactical approach helpfully made it possible for him to do so without losing cohesiveness in the team.

Coach ID radars are always a great starting point to understand a coach’s tactics in a nutshell, and they sum up Arrasate’s Osasuna very well. They adopted a pretty direct approach that stayed fairly consistent regardless of the quality of their opposition.

Defending Collectively Across All Phases

In each of their five La Liga seasons under Arrasate, Osasuna averaged well below 50% possession. Naturally, then, the out-of-possession phase was critical to their approach.

In this aspect, Arrasate’s flexibility in terms of formations proved very handy. Osasuna did have a default blueprint they used against a major of the teams in the league, but they were also open to tweaking their defensive structures and approaches against opponents who were particularly excellent in possession or in the build-up, or had exceptional quality as was the case for the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Against most sides, Osasuna lined up with a back four and almost always adopted the 4-4-2 structure or one of its variation to start with. They would set up in a high block at first, with the intention to block off the centre and then trigger a press. For step one, they had a good few options to pick from. The front two could keep the opposition defensive midfielder(s) in their covershadows by angling their runs appropriately, one of them could drop back to mark a lone number six in a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 shape or one of the midfielders could step for a 4-1-3-2. Depending on the opposition’s build-up tactics, players and quality, Arrasate generally took a pick from one of these options.

After the opposition would be forced wide, Osasuna would spring an intense and collective press via the ball-side winger and forward, while their nearby teammates looked to block off passing lanes and options to either force the opposition long or generate a turnover in a dangerous area. The back four and one midfielder would always stay back in and around the centre circle, dealing with any aerial balls that came their way.

Thanks to this well-executed pressing, Osasuna generated the third-most high turnovers in La Liga last season.

Against the stronger and more intricate possession-based sides, Osasuna sensibly toned down their pressing. However, they did not immediately drop into a low block. Instead, they always sought to maintain a high defensive line and at least make life difficult for the opposition’s build-up by changing their shape to stifle it. Depending on the opposition’s in-possession structure, their blocks could take any shape from a 4-1-4-1 to a 5-2-1-2. Once again, blocking the centre was the priority, so they often took a closely player-oriented approach through midfield when possible.

Generally speaking, Arrasate’s tweaks helped improve his side’s chances of keeping the big-hitters quiet. Of course, their quality often shone through leading to Osasuna’ block being carved open or spun in behind, but their brave approach also got some great results such as a couple of big wins over Atlético Madrid, three draws with Real Madrid and a memorable win at Camp Nou.

Between their high press and block, Osasuna were able to maintain the fifth-highest defensive line height in La Liga last season by Markstats’ calculations. So, while they were happy to cede possession, they did not give up territory so easily. Field tilt is a very helpful statistic to illustrate this, as the difference between Los Rojillos’ 47.53% possession and 52.42% field tilt average was the second greatest in the 2023/24 La Liga season, only behind an Athletic Club side who adopted a somewhat similar defensive approach under Ernesto Valverde.

That is not to say that they did not defend deeper, though. When their press was beaten or when they were in a favourable game state, Osasuna were happy to drop into a compact mid block or even deeper and keep things tight at the back. In such cases, congesting the centre was one of their chief objectives, with their cohesion ensuring the block stayed compact.

In each of their La Liga seasons, Osasuna’s defensive numbers were much more impressive than their attacking production, so this was the best aspect of their play. Ultimately, its success was built on simple foundations that were ingrained in most of the players since their childhood: working together, working hard, staying disciplined and winning duels. 

Direct Attacking

With well-designed tactics and great execution, it is possible to take one of the worst squads in the league in terms of players quality and make an above-average defence out of it. Doing the same for the attack, though, is near impossible.

No matter what sort of intricate tactics you try and design, it is almost always down to the players to create and convert chances in the final third themselves. In most cases, a team’s tactics can only provide a platform for doing that, but the final step ultimately relies on the players’ quality. As a result, Osasuna’s attacking numbers were consistently among the worse teams in La Liga and quite often matched those of some relegated sides.

Los Rojillos averaged less than a goal per game in three of their five La Liga seasons under Arrasate, but when you look at the attacking options in their squad, it is tough to fault him for such a return. For his part, the head coach did his best to come up with an approach that suited the players and aligned with their cultural identity. In the aforementioned ESPN interview, he described his side’s in-possession approach by saying, “We’re a team of waves and charges. That has always been Osasuna’s identity: few touches, get the ball forward fast, lots of crosses, intense [football]”.

Regardless of the formation they are using, that style of play is maintained. Out of a back four, Osasuna adopt a 2-3-2-3/2-1-4-4 shape in possession with the full backs pushing up not too dissimilarly to how the wing-backs advance to create a 3-1-4-2/3-1-2-4 shape from a back three. The idea in both cases is to overload the wings in advanced areas, so after the defenders and midfielders circulate the ball a bit and try and draw the opposition forward, they can launch long balls to the flanks in the opposition half. This approach has been so pronounced under Arrasate that even after six years, Osasuna’s ball progression map shows is pretty empty down the middle and incredibly congested on both wings.

One interesting detail to note from the above visualisation is that Osasuna’s long balls almost exclusively went down the wing. This is unlike many direct sides, who often mix it up with crossfield balls that can find a free player on the far-side in an isolated situation. Los Rojillos, however, were not interested in that because their wingers and full backs have never been particularly exceptional dribblers. Instead, they prefered to contest duels and chase loose balls, for which an overload on the ball-side is favourable. To further facilitate this, they would often spread out their centre backs (particularly in a back three), to draw the opposition out before launching the long ball.

As a result of this approach as well as their defensive tactics, Osasuna have been among the top five teams in La Liga in terms of aerial duels won in each of their five season under Arrasate, even ending up in the top three more often than not. Their attacking complemented their defensive approach in other ways as well, particularly through the counterpress which was facilitated by their ball-side overloads. If we look back at their high regains visualisation, we will see that counterpressing was their most fruitful avenue. This matches a trend that many direct teams follow, including sides like Andoni Iraola’s Rayo Vallecano and Vissel Kobe in 2023.

Again owing to the lack of individual quality in their side, Osasuna only had one thing on their mind after getting the ball into an advanced area out wide: crossing. It did not matter how good the angle was, as long as the ball could go into the box from a remotely threatening position with bodies in there, it was good enough for Arrasate’s side.

To their credit, another thing Osasuna did very well was get bodies in the box. The striker(s) obviously would always be there, but they had a good deal of support from the far-side winger as well as advancing number eights who either got in there early or made late runs to get on the end of cut-backs or loose balls. And, of course, they threw everything at the balls that came into the box.

Here are a couple of typical Osasuna goals from the Arrasate era:

This one against Almería pretty much is the blueprint: long ball, win the aerial duel and finish first time from inside the box.

The next one against Atlético Madrid highlights Osasuna’s ability to get good numbers in the box and the players’ willingness to scrap over the ball until the very end.

When possible, Osasuna would be happy to hit long balls into space in behind in transition, both after turnovers and after baiting the opposition block out. The latter option would require a little bit of deep circulation which would often be facilitated by a number eight dropping back, as is the case in the next goal. Once again, note the number of bodies attacking the box before the ball comes in.

Given their strength in aerial duels, set-pieces were an avenue that went underutilised for most of Arrasate’s tenure. It was only last season that Osasuna scored as many as 14 goals from dead ball situations (almost a third of their total tally of 45), having never managed more than half that in a previous La Liga season.

To round everything up, here is a zones of control visualisation (attacking left to right) that beautifully encapsulates Osasuna’s tactical approach as a whole. This sums everything up between their extreme emphasis on attacking wide and total avoidance of the centre as well as supreme central compactness in the defensive half.

(Image credit: Opta Analyst)

What Next?

Arrasate announced his decision to leave after six-year spell in charge of Osasuna as his contract wound down this summer, marking the end of an incredible journey both for him and the club. The next step will be a leap of faith into new territory for both parties, and almost certainly will not be as successful as the last few years were.

Osasuna have announced that his successor will be Vicente Moreno. Like Arrasate, he was not a particularly outstanding player who spent most of his career in his regional league before taking up coaching. His most successful job to date was a three-year spell at Mallorca whom he led to back-to-back promotion from the third tier to La Liga before leaving after a lost relegation battle. His last stint, a short seven-match spell at a doomed Almería that ended winless, obviously is not a good look. Given Osasuna’s low budget, they may well end up regressing much closer to the bottom of the table themselves if Moreno cannot keep the good times rolling.

Arrasate has moved to Mallorca, who have been somewhat similar to Osasuna in the sense that they have used a very direct and duel-heavy style of play to punch above their weight. With the right support, their new head coach could well take them to the next level and make them a more established mid-table La Liga club.

In any case, Arrasate’s time at Osasuna should go down as a legendary coaching job. His legacy will undoubtedly live on at the club, but other teams in similar positions around the world should also draw inspiration from his work and look to replicate it in whatever form suits their identity.

Stats courtesy Transfermarkt, Capology, Opta via Fbref and FotMob, Opta Analyst, and MarkStats.

Header image copyright IMAGO / Felipe Mondino

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