Ange impressed with Destiny and Pedro’s willingness to adapt to ‘different type of role’

Ange Postecoglou has given a nod to the way Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie have adapted to the full-back role so far this season.

Whereas last term we played predominantly with wing-backs in a 3-4-3 system - with Destiny on loan at Udinese in Italy and Pedro arriving from Sporting Lisbon at the end of the January transfer window - this term our full-backs have been ‘inverted’, moving into more central areas with us in possession in a 4-3-3 system as we’ve kicked off with five wins and two draws in our opening seven Premier League matches.

Both have excelled, Destiny showing his quality in back-to-back tests against arguably the best out there in the last fortnight - Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Liverpool’s Mo Salah - with Pedro providing the cross for the dramatic late winner against the Reds on Saturday.

“Pedro has been super,” said Ange. “Obviously, with our full-backs, we’re asking for a different type of role than they’re used to, and both him and Destiny have opened up really well to it.

“They’re trying to learn, trying to understand it. I think it suits Pedro in many respects because he’s such a good footballer, technically, he’s a very good footballer, but he’s also a great athlete.

“You could see that against Liverpool. We needed both Destiny and Pedro, along with Micky van de Ven, to be at it, because when you look at the speed they have up front, and in transition, we needed our guys to be on it defensively. That’s an area we’re working really hard at, particularly with Matt Wells (coach), the whole back four, all the defenders, working hard with Matty on their defensive principles.”