Napoli 1-1 Bayern: all the action in the first half
The line-ups until the 81st minute. Lavezzi and Cavani often switched.
These two sides seemed to settle for a draw in the final stages – they remain in the top two positions in Group A, the toughest in the competition.
Walter Mazzarri went with his first choice XI with one caveat – Juan Zuniga played instead of Andrea Doessena as the left wing-back, although he is seeing a lot of playing time this season anyway.
Jupp Heynckes’ selection was also his most-used players this season with a single exception – Jerome Boateng played instead of Rafinha.
This was a peculiar match – a very interesting tactical battle in the first half with the two goals both owing much to the formations and positioning of the sides, and then (in tactical terms) a completely dead battle in the second.
General formations
Both sides played their usual formations and in their usual style. Napoli sat back and looked to play predominantly on the counter-attack, although the early goal meant they had to come out of their shell and press much more, which they did reasonably well. Bayern were all about keeping the ball, something they did much better in the second half – at 1-0 up they weren’t patient enough with the ball, and could have tried to slow the tempo a little more.
3-4-3ish played 4-2-3-1, though Napoli were frequently more like 5-4-1 without the ball. Clearly, the issue in terms of the formation match-up was Napoli having three centre-backs marking one striker. They did that well – Mario Gomez was poor – but the problem game higher up the pitch, as Napoli had one less player in midfield.
Problems tracking Kroos
The man who enjoyed space as a result of Napoli’s midfield disadvantage was Toni Kroos, who drifted into deep positions, and then made dangerous runs to the edge of the box. Bayern went ahead after barely three minutes because literally no-one was watching him – the midfielders watching others, the centre-backs not switched on to the threat from deep.
Napoli then tried to readjust in two ways. They had to be more proactive at winning the ball back (as discussed many times before, a counter-attacking side can’t afford to concede the first goal unless they are prepared to change their style) but they also had to find a way to track Kroos. The man given the task was Hugo Campagnaro, and though he wasn’t completely moving up into the midfield zone when Kroos moved deep, it worked reasonably well. After all, he’s the Napoli centre-back who is used to moving higher up the pitch anyway, so the fact Kroos played left-of-centre in this regard played into Napoli’s hands. Had he moved over to the right, and forced Salvatore Aronica up, there may have been more problems.
Kroos came very deep to get the ball, and won four free-kicks when Campagnaro was uncomfortable tracking him into the opposition half
Problems tracking Maggio
The other issue happened in a related area of the pitch. When Napoli won the ball, they pushed the wing-backs forward, and in particular Christian Maggio down the right. This made sense – he’s more of a natural on that side than Juan Zuniga is on the left, so was more likely to provide good overlapping runs. Furthermore, Thomas Mueller does a decent amount of work defensively, whilst Franck Ribery tends to do little.
Kroos usually moved deep into midfield without the ball, so Campagnaro didn’t need to watch him. Instead, he could move out and pick up Ribery, whilst Maggio motored on. And then, who was watching Maggio? Not Ribery – the responsibility fell to Philipp Lahm, but since his man was Marek Hamsik, he was overburdened down that flank.
Hamsik, in keeping with his performances in big games recently, was quiet on the ball, but did good work with movement to open up space for Maggio. Eventually, Maggio created the equaliser – Lahm defended poorly and was beaten far too easily – although it was an own goal, turned in by Holger Badstuber.
Maggio received the ball in more attacking positions than Zuniga on the other flank
Second half
The game changed little for the second half, with the same formations and the exact same line-ups until the 81st minute, an extremely long period into a match without a substitution. This summed up the mentality of the managers, more than happy with a point – although the value of a draw was perhaps reduced with Manchester City’s late winner – and they also ordered the sides to play more defensively.
Our two key man from the first half both played deeper. Kroos focused on helping Bayern keep the ball, which they did very well, whilst Maggio was more defensive-minded. Both sides had chances, but a draw was coming from a long way off.
Conclusion
A nice, logical game where both the goals came (at least partly) because of tactical reasons.
Unfortunately, the game was a victim of context – a group game where the two sides were happy to preserve the status quo in the second half in order to remain first and second in the group. This was a shame, as the game could have turned into an excellent encounter.
Had the game remained open – let’s say both sides had needed a goal to go through to the next round – where would it have been won? Probably in the Kroos-Campagnaro-Maggio-Ribery-Hamsik-Lahm zone, and – at a guess – maybe when Maggio moved high up and Campagnaro became exposed to the forward runs of both Ribery and Kroos at the same time. Alternatively, the game could have been decided by discipline – we had nine bookings, but surprisingly no red.
Napoli 1-1 Bayern: all the action in the first half
Great analysis as always!
The only thing I would add is that the problems on bayern’s left side compared to the right were also created by the different roles of Tymoshchuk and Schweinsteiger. Tymoshchuk protected the right side extremly well, either when Boateng was out of position or when Zuniga was moving forward. Schweinsteiger didn’t do this because he was more of an attacking player and Lahm was overwhelmed by having two great players against him.
By the way:
I’m glad to see some Bayern coverage because they have played great all season (even though that was one of their weaker games) and I was a little disappointed after you didn’t analyse the Man City – Bayern game. I thought it was one of the most interesting games so far this season, both from a tactical and a “general fan”-standpoint
Keep it up!
That’s a good point actually, I was a little disappointed by Schweinsteiger off the ball today, he was a little lazy I thought.
Yes, I’m sorry I haven’t covered Bayern more. I was going to cover the Bayern v City game – the only reason I didn’t was because I was at the only UK showing of Cuando Fuimos Campeones, a film about Spain’s World Cup win. Football reasons at least
Thanks for your kind words.
Yes, it seemed to me that most Bayern players were tired and couldn’t work as hard as they usually do. Especially Schweinsteiger and Gomez were far from their best and I was suprised that Olic and/or Luiz Gustavo didn’t get some playing time.
Minor correction: This game was in Group A
Disappointed in Bayern this game, but one point in Naples is acceptable. Bayern will probably get 7 pts out of the next three games. Gomez had a terrible game, which is really rare of him this season. Thought Kroos was our only shining spot. Lahm and Ribery didn’t do too good of a job getting space. These are the type of games where we need a player like Robben.
Great analysis! Always look forward to it when you cover Bayern. Understand it’s a busy schedule, but would love to see more Bundesliga if you get the chance! Bayern are playing Hannover at 1730 this Sunday if you a chance to check it out after the City-United game. Keep up the good work!
Tbf, Gomez had 3 CB’s marking him, anyone would find that hard
Superb analysis Michael!
I think the only things that did change in the second half was how much wider Tymoschuk played and more conservative positioning by Müller and Ribery. Bayern didn’t have too much trouble in the center, all of it came out wide, so perhaps Heynckes thought by instructing Tymo to play further to the right he’d cut down on Napoli’s wide threat. He was very good in the second half.
Another curious stat is Müller and Ribery completing more tackles than any other Bayern players, those stats usually go to their CBs and CMs. After the first half both were probably told t stay closer to Zuniga and Maggio.
Napoli – The 3 CB’s seem wasted when up against one striker, and they defended poorly against kroos, even when they decided to play mark him with campagnaro, he was allowed to come deep and help bayern keep possession. The wingbacks, as usual were great, and maggio made some great runs down the left (as the goal showed). But napoli missed hamsik being more central, his best position, and they lacked a playmaker in the centre. He does drift into the centre, but then there is no attacker down the left. Instead of 3 CB’s, a wide player on the left could have played, cutting in with maggio making runs down the left, and hamsik stationed more central and pulling the strings of the attack. Napoli were the weaker side today.
Bayern – Looked really good today. But boateng isnt a RB, he looks much better at CB, and then rafinha can play RB, this would have offered a threat from RB, and allowed muller more space upfield. Plus van buyten looked a bit uncertain against cavani. The rest of the team was great. The midfield two looks balanced and creative. Kroos was a big threat and kept possession well. Ribery and muller were a big threat today and while they didnt get a lot of space themselves, they made space for the midfield through the centre (especially kroos). Gomez was marked out the game by 3 CB’s so wasnt his usual self.
Overall, napoli were too defensive today, and Bayern munich were unlucky trying to break down a defensive team.
Haha replace left with right here *
i thought bayern played more of a 4-3-3, kroos wasnt thaaat far up the pitch as shown in your diagram
This group is getting more fascinating by the gameweek. What with Villareal seemingly out of contention, it looks like we’re set-up for a terrifically exciting three-way tussle. Napoli, obviously, are a counter attacking side and it could be their ability (or inability) to adjust to new situations which decides whether or not they go through. As ZM mentioned, in today’s game they made that adjustment fairly well – pressing to good effect after going behind.
Great stuff ZM!
Yeah, it was really funny. Both managers made 2 substitutions each in extra time- both were trying to wind down the clock.
Am I really the only one who thinks that Kroos wasn’t particularly good? I mean, everyone keeps talking about how well he kept possession, but does a player playing so far up the pitch really need to keep possession, or should he create chances and take risks instead? That “Fouls Suffered” chart seems to back up my point – the threat he created (or didn’t for that matter) was just too deep on the pitch. And all that left Gomez alone to deal with 3 defenders.
Well, I’d say he was helping to keep possession by making a 3 v 2 in midfield, which worked well. Bayern probably created more with their possesssion too
arjen robeen could have been very useful here… his runs to take on defenders and bring them inside would have destroyed napoli’s 5 man backline and they would open up for Kroos more.
Ribery will occupy two, while Robben will occupy another two… Kroos/Mueller are left open and gomez can finally break free of Cannavaro
How many consecutive passes did Bayern have prior to their first goal? It seemed to be around 20.
Great analysis as alwys, also happy to see some Bayern coverage. And they did seem just awfully tired for the greater part of the second half. Perhaps a little frustated, too, with the saved penalty and the missed chances after the break.
Thanks for this very good match report, ZM! I agree with most of what you write, though see a few tiny points differently. First of all I’d say the game was not dead until minute 60-70. Bayern tried a lot at the beginning of the second half, and should logically have gone up 2:1, hadn’t indeed poor Gomez failed on that fortunately awarded penalty. That would of course have changed everything. After minute 60 it seemed to me, both teams were physically and mentally exhausted, and settled on the draw.
)
Looking at the goal of Napoli, after having watched it in replay a couple of times, it seems to me like a big individual mistake of Ribery, who completely abandons his side (and Maggio) trying to do some half-hearted pressing on whoever. He should simply have stayed wide, and let Gomez, Kroos and Schweinsteiger do the ‘pressing’ in the center.
The point I want to make is, Ribery might have made that same mistake against any attacking fullback in 4-man defence, too. Maybe being less tempted to drift to the centre, though.
(Thought Ribery had finally learnt his defensive duties
I just saw the second half and it was an awful game there. Bayern did not do much to win the game and still had the chances to win it easily.
Did we see a single goal scoring chance by Napoli after the goal in 42. minute? No. Very dissapointing.
Napoli played more of a 5-3-2 I think. But the three in midfield were stretched by the winger pairs Ribery/Lahm and Müller/Boateng so in the middle of the pitch there was 2v1 for Bayern.
So as a consequence all chances from Bayern came through the middle or from corner kicks (another element worth noting). You can blame Bayern for not making more out of this (more long range shots for exmple since both Kross and Schweinst. can do that pretty well) but they had enough chances to win this game with a 70% performance.
I think there were not too many goalscoring chances for Napoli before the 42nd minute neither. Which says a lot about how one-sided that match was. Bayern have to be blamed not to manage to score a second goal, otherwise they pretty much had Napoli under control. With the exception of their beautifully created goal.
Was watching the game live with German commentary, they claimed that at some point in the second half Napoli had switched to a 4-man defence. Did anyone notice that? I did not find any replays online which could show that, neither was it well visible using the footage that the channel provided live. (It kind of pisses me off that ‘nowadays’ in a live match on TV every 2 seconds or so they show the coaches or one of the players in close-up, or from weird angles, or some replay. Rather then showing a birds-eye view of the total pitch, so that one would have more of a chance of whats going on tactically…).
So with Maggio’s movement forward and Campagnaro’s picking up Ribery when Napoli had possession (“Kroos usually moved deep into midfield without the ball, so Campagnaro didn’t need to watch him. Instead, he could move out and pick up Ribery, whilst Maggio motored on.”), Napoli kinda moved into a 4-2-4 you think (with Hamsik and Maggio high up the pitch with Cavani and Lavezzi)?
Thanks for being so sensible! What a pleasure to read!Some very helpful notes here!
Hey Michael , Let me give you an advice , Finding a balance between popular games and tactically interesting battles is impossible , so choose the first one because that will bring you more fans , Cheers
Great Analysis as always Btw
fuccck off you bittch ass nigggga twats
breaking news
madrid knocked lyon with 4-0
I hope you will review Shahktar Donetsk V St. Petersburg. It was the most entertaining game I’ve seen in a decade! It was end to end for 90 minutes with no let up. A chance on goal every 2 minutes! Lots of fun.
What Bayern should have done is tried to attack Napolis right hand side more, to put the pressure on Maggio defending, we know how he can attack, Lahm could of got forward more, and helped Ribery, and when Maggio was attacking, Badstuber could of watched him, left Hamsik to Tymoschuk and then the problem is dealt with.
Its disappointing that in these games, there is not more attacking. Some awesome players like Lavezzi-Hamsik-Cavani and Ribery-Muller-Schweinsteiger are left with nothing of note in the match, its disappointing that defences are so critical at the moment.
Thanks for being so sensible! What a pleasure to read!Some very helpful notes here!