Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern: similar formations, different styles, and an even game
The starting line-ups
A decent game where neither side truly hit top form.
Leverkusen kept the broad 4-2-3-1 system they’ve favoured this season, making two changes – Sami Hyypia came in at the back for Stefan Reinartz, whilst Erin Derdiyok was back in place of Patrick Helmes.
Bayern also made two changes within a 4-2-3-1. Thomas Mueller came in for Hamit Altintop in a narrow right-sided role, whilst Brazilian centre-back Breno started in place of Martin Demichelis.
The most notable aspect of the game was the difference in the two sides’ pressing. Leverkusen were much better at closing down all over the pitch, causing Bayern’s centre-backs to misplace passes. Frequently, Bayern would try and play out from the back to their centre-backs, only to have to lay the ball back to Hans-Jorg Butt again, who would eventually launch it down field. On the other hand, Bayern’s forwards generally dropped off towards the halfway line, giving Hyypia and Manuel Friedrich time on the ball.
Leverkusen breaks
This was probably a response from Louis van Gaal to Leverkusen’s apparent desire to play on the break – if Bayern denied Leverkusen space in behind and instead got men behind the ball, there was less chance in Leverkusen being able to play in this fashion.
However, they did occasionally break forward dangerously when Bayern had got men forward into the box. They probably should have scored on one of these counters but for some poor decision-making and a lack of ruthlessness in the final third – Vidal was breaking from midfield well, to make the front four a front five.
Sam the star man
When counter-attacking was not an option, Leverkusen tried to play down the right, by knocking direct balls out towards Sidney Sam, who was probably the game’s best player. His ability to either cut inside or go down the line meant Danijel Pranjic had a torrid time at left-back, and the breakthrough looked like coming from that side.
With Tranquilo Barnetta cutting in on the opposite flank, Sam provided the only natural width in the game. Bayern used Mueller and Toni Kroos on the flanks but both came inside and looked to receive short passes, leaving the full-backs to provide width on the overlap – both Lahm and Pranjic got forward well in the first half, and Lahm played a part in Bayern’s excellent opener, a 14-pass move eventually finished by Mario Gomez.
Lapse in pressing
That goal was notable for the fact that Leverkusen weren’t pressing well in midfield at that particular time, and for the first time in the match Bayern had the opportunity to get the ball down and play. The eventual goal was a justification of Jupp Heynckes’ insistence that Leverkusen try to break up Bayern’s passing in midfield – they just didn’t do it very well for the goal.
Still, the full-backs didn’t receive enough protection throughout the game – particularly Pranjic, and he tripped Sam to give away a cheap penalty, which was converted by Vidal.
Second half
Into the second half both sides kept the 4-2-3-1 shapes they’d started the game with, and neither manager looked to change much tactically, aside from the introduction of Franck Ribery midway through the second period, which meant Bastian Schweinsteiger moving back into a holding position, and Toni Kroos coming inside. Ribery caused substitute right-back Castro a couple of problems but the game remained evenly-balanced – Derdiyok had the best chance at 1-1, but shot straight at Hans-Jorg Butt.
Conclusion
Not an overwhelmingly exciting game in tactical terms – the formation clash was 4-2-3-1 v 4-2-3-1, although there were differences in terms of pressing, and in terms of width.
Neither manager took the initiative and tried to win the game, with the result that both lost ground on league leaders Dortmund.
Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern: similar formations, different styles, and an even game
Thanks for analysing a Bundesliga match again! Very interesting read.
You should mention the wrong offside decision, which denied Bayern an early lead by Schweinsteiger in minute 2.
Finally a Bundesliga match again. Thanks. Although there were far more interesting matches in the last couple of weeks.
@ZM: Have a look at the official Bundesliga website. They introduced a new analysis program, which gives you a lot of options.
http://www.bundesliga.de/de/liga/matches/2010/index.php
It’s not the “Analyse”-tool, but the “Matrix”. I’m looking forward to some more detailed articles about the Bundesliga.
I have to say that I don’t expect much from the Bundesliga for the next weeks. The BVB is far away, Mainz is back in normal life and the rest of the league is not that exciting. Some clubs are underperforming, some are doing very well (Freiburg, H96, …) but nothing very interesting happens ON the pitch (and I don’t think that will change until next year).
Off the pitch some storys are in the media: van Gaal against his club (vice versa), Köln against Köln (or Michael Maier), Werder Bremen destroying their image, Schalke, Stuttgart, etc.
Aside from Dortmund (and Mainz in the first weeks) no one plays really great football.
I hope the winter break will change the picture and some teams will do something interesting and not something awkward like now.
Yeah, agreed in general, there is like one exciting game per round right now. Did you see Frankfurt-Hoffenheim last weekend? That was a very interesting game in terms of tactics. Both teams are anyway often looking to build from their own right side, Frankfurt through Jung and particularly Schwegler, who plays on the right side of their defensive-midfield two; Hoffenheim through Beck and Vukcevic/Rudy or whoever plays right midfield/right winger. So, in this encounter, in order to one build from the better side and two get the ball away from the dangerous guys of the opposition, both teams indeed were heavily focused on their respective right side of the pitch. Hoffenheim more so than Frankfurt, using a very fluid shape, heavy pressing on the right side, while committing lots of (tactical) fouls on the left side.
But yeah, that game was an exception. Generally, more and more have gone back to very standard-type shapes lately, 4-4-2ish stuff. No one really seems to feel strong/confident enough to actually try something a little more interesting tactically.
I would not fully agree with that. It is true, the “usual top-teams” are tactically not that interesting. Bremen, Stuttgart, Schalke, Bayern, Wolfsburg and Hamburg all did tacticle mistakes in the past games so that their matches are not that interesting. But I think there are some teams in the Bundesliga that are worth watching at the moment. As BenHasna pointed out, the match between Hoffenheim and Frankfurt was very interesting as well as Freiburg vs. BVB. The tactics of these four teams are worth taking a closer look, as well as Mainz and Hanover (although their counter-attack style is not as fascinating as the style of the other teams mentioned). I think that is the advantage of the Bundesliga: Even non-prominent teams can cause a sensation by choosing modern tactics.
The only thing that changed this season is that the top-teams become less and less attractive, while some minor teams become more and more exciting.
Well, not sure what to think of the fact that teams like Hannover or Freiburg have been pretty successful. It’s exciting on the one hand, as you point out, and Freiburg for example is indeed absolutely brilliant tactically, but then again, their individual quality is so limited and it’s a shame all these so-called top-teams have struggled that much. Just awful what Bremen, Schalke, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Hamburg have done in terms of putting the team together and/or game tactics.
By the way, I wouldn’t call Hannover interesting at all. Quite remarkable on the one hand what results they’ve achieved with a severly depleted team, but they’ve been lucky more than anything in my opinion. Not even mainly within certain games, but how their schedule was put together. They played Frankfurt, Schalke, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg in the first four weeks – that’s four teams who started slowly. Then Bremen, Kaiserslautern and Cologne among others a little later – that’s three teams who suffered a crisis in September/October. Then against Mainz and HSV in the last couple of weeks – that’s two teams who’ve not exactly been at their best lately.
Hannover’s people of course will tell their own excellent play was part of the struggles of all these teams when they played them, but well, I much rather think it’s pretty easy to look good (also tactically) when you play against opposition not being at its best that often.
I agree with Freiburg, and maybe tactical interesting Frankfurt vs. Hoffenheim. But I don’t think the next weeks will bring really great football (a combination of tactics and individual class). Freiburg vs. Dortmund was maybe the most interesting game last weekend. In Germany there is the term “graue Maus” (grey mouse) for teams that play usually in the nowhere between relegation and qualification for Europe. And Hannover is (for me) not one inch more interesting just because they are 4th right now (the same I could say about some other teams).
The problem is, and I think Leverkusen – Munich is one example, most of the teams play disappointing and not beautiful.
“Neither manager took the initiative and tried to win the game, with the result that both lost ground on league leaders Dortmund.”
And I think that has to change, but we have to wait for the winter break.
You are right in your points about Hanover, but I also said above that they are not as interesting as the other teams I mentioned, so I do not understand why you focus so much on them. Hanover simply did good with their training techniques. I read an interview with Slomka in which he pointed out that they knew the teams they would face in the beginning would struggle so they planned the form-maximum of their players for the beginning of the season.
I think overperforming underdogs can be quite interesting for a time. Of course, nobody wants this situation to stay for three seasons, but for the moment it is fascinating to see how teams like Mainz and Freiburg can beat top-teams by chosing the right tactics. It will be interesting to see if the winter break changes anything about it.
I do not think that there are no interesting games in the Bundesliga. One simply has to get used to the idea that the top-match of a Bundesliga round is not Bayer-Bayern, but Freiburg-BVB.
ZM, will you do a Previews of the Barcelona-R.Madrid ??
It’s pretty clear the starting eleven of both teams, so it isn’t difficult.
Real’s 4-2-3-1 and Barca’s 4-3-3 with Messi as false nine with Villa and Pedro in the wings cutting inside.
Great analysis as usual.
ZM, what do you think would’ve been the better solution for Bayern to stop Sam: An offensive-minded LB like Pranjic who gives him some defensive responsibilities or a rather defensive-minded LB like Braafheid who should be able to win more tackles?
The problem with Pranjic is that he is horrid defensively, and not just offensive kind of left back. He never was a left back, in his younger days he played as offensive left wingback in 3-5-2 system, and later in career he was pure offensive winger. He was shifted to the left back position in the national team as Croatia is really thin there, and that experiment turned out awfully, I don’t think that it will be repeated again against any decent opposition, nowadays when he plays for Croatia it is either as defensive midfielder or as the right winger in 4-2-3-1-ish formation.
Love your great analyses!
But are you sure Bayern’s wingers played that narrowly? That’s normally not at all what van Gaal would want them to do and I personally felt they did indeed try to provide width also in this game. Kroos might look to cut in with the ball in his feet in order to maybe get a shot off and Müller does like to play/receive short passes particularly to/from Schweinsteiger, but they usually played out wide most of the time in my opinion. Honestly, in some situations I felt they hugged the line a little too much even and prevented Pranjic/Lahm from getting forward in some few occasions.
Anyway, Leverkusen’s pressing was certainly an important aspect. Plus, I thought Ottl/Tymoshchuk were pretty bad. They struggled to receive passes from the central defenders and however were unable to make any kind of impact on the ball.
before schweinstiger’s recent development as a deep-lying midfielder I had always viewed him as an attacking midfielder moreso than a winger so it’s interesting to get to see him play in that position.
finally another piece of the bundesliga! the analysis is excellent as usual.
@ZM would you please be so kind and write a piece on Dortmund???
they are a very intersting team on tactical terms and the played a magnificent season so far. 7 points up and a very young team…
I mean put it however you like but the fact is that Bayerns leftback troubles is what hurt them. Again. I’m sure they’ll shore it up in the winter break, but they’ve been having enormous troubles there the entire season.