Leverkusen-Bayern tactical analysis: Xabi Alonso cracks Bayern code again in 0-0 draw | OneFootball

Bundesliga fans and German “tactic heads” looked forward to this match with great anticipation, and it turned out to be an intense tactical affair indeed. Defending Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen and current league leaders Bayern Munich split the difference in a 0-0 draw at the BayArena on Saturday evening. Leverkusen remained in complete control throughout the match and won the xG battle 2.23 to 0.14, yet could not find last season’s “Later-kusen” magic to grab the win.

Xabi Alonso’s success with Germany’s red company team owes much to the fact that the former Bayern professional always had a means of cracking the code of his old club tactically. Xabi never went with the same approach against the German giants twice in five previous meetings. One certainly can’t argue with the results either. Xabi entered Saturday night’s contest having never lost against the mighty Bavarians.

In the 1-1 league draw earlier this season, Leverkusen lined up in a 3-4-2-1 that focused on long balls and counters driven towards lone-striker Victor Boniface. In the famous 1-0 win over Bayern in the Pokal in December, Florian Wirtz served as a pseudo false nine in a 4-1-4-1/3-4-3 hybrid. The brilliant ploy led to FCB keeper Manuel Neuer getting sent off on a straight red early thanks to total confusion in the Bayern defensive ranks.

As shall be explored in further depth below, Xabi reached back to an old tactical strategy in this latest encounter. By all accounts, one can consider both the Spaniard’s pre-match plan and the decision to avoid any major in-game adjustment a success. The Werkself coach effectively gave his squad every opportunity to achieve victory.

Tactical Analysis: Bayer 04 Leverkusen

With the benefit of an additional week’s rest, Xabi’s XI looked very different from the heavily rotated side that could only manage a disappointing 0-0 draw against Wolfsburg last week. Five changes saw Edmond Tapsoba, Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios, Alejandro Grimaldo, and Florian Wirtz return to the starting lineup. Arthur, Robert Andrich, Aleix Garciam, and Victor Boniface moved to the bench.

The opening flop proved exceptionally hard to read. Interpretations will surely vary. This analysis (subjectively) makes the assumption that Xabi attempted to replicate his masterclass from last spring. A 3-0 win over Thomas Tuchel’s came via an oddly segmented 4-2-2-2 with no attackers deliberately working wide. Something similar appeared to be at work here.

Line up—B04—(4-2-2-2)

All pairings on the top three axes operated with barely any separation. The tight manner in which the Xhaka-Palacios, Wirtz-Grimaldo, and Tella-Frimpong pairings worked reminded one of that crucial victory last spring. Xabi clearly respected the FCB attacking matrices and aimed to keep his crew as compact as possible, yet did build plenty of room for improvisation into his tactical plans.

Palacios and Grimaldo had clear license to ply away from their chains. Wirtz, on the other hand, seemed more restricted to vertical long dribbles. The approach left Leverkusen’s attack charges feeling a little delicate in the opening quarter of an hour. From about the 20th minute onward, however, die Werkself began to look a lot more comfortable, even dominant.

Strikes of the crossbar (Frimpong, 21st and Tella, 25th) count as extremely unlucky. No one watching this match will feel as if Wirtz’s industrious sprints, and some cheeky moves in both open play and on dead balls deserved anything less than a goal. Leverkusen repeatedly put Bayern on the back foot once the axial pairings got used to shifting in tandem.

Close scrutiny of the shape in the second half made it appear as if there were no major changes after the restart. This would make sense as the system worked perfectly and Xabi probably spent countless hours working with each player about both their specific roles and opposition marks. Leverkusen continued to dominate throughout the second half.

Top-notch attacking play from the hosts in the second 45 led to another slew of razor-edge misses in the 59th, 66th, and 83rd. The very first personnel change didn’t come until Amine Adli replaced Nathan Tella on a like-for-like in the 85th! One could potentially fault Xabi for not trying a change earlier as it did appear as if the ideas and general tempo were drying out at a steady clip.

Moving into the Bayern section, however, the case shall be made that Xabi did well to stick to his original match-plan. Bayern were totally outclassed and allowing them any way back into the match posed too much of a risk. Had Manuel Neuer not made his finest (non-overly theatrical) save at 90+1, one might even be discussing a different result.

Tactical Analysis: Bayern Munich

On a tight turnaround from their trip to Scotland, Kompany went with four changes to the team that won at Parkhead on Wednesday. Aleksandar Pavlovic, Kingsley Coman, and Min-Jae Kim started in place of Leon Goretzka, Leroy Sané, and Eric Dier. At long last, summer signing Hiroki Ito made his Bayern starting XI debut. As was often the case in Stuttgart, Ito stared at left back. The 19-times-capped Japanese international took the place of Raphaël Guerreiro.

Kompany’s tactics appeared fairly straightforward; arguably too much so. A basic Bayern 4-2-3-1 opening flop doesn’t usually translate to a static formation throughout. Usually, the attacking wingers at least make regular rotations. Both the nine and the ten routinely work deep drops in order to freshen up the attacks. For a myriad of reasons, the basics of Bayern counter-pressing simply weren’t there on this day.

Line up—FCB—(4-2-3-1)

Probably the most striking aspect of the Bayern performance concerned the fact that Michael Olise and Kingsley Coman often looked as if they were playing like a second layer of fullbacks. The two flankers – woefully ineffective on the day – almost never seemed able to get forward. As a result, Harry Kane rarely had the opportunity to work deep drops.

Jamal Musiala frequently found himself pinned back center left trying to help out in the midfield trenches. The whole FCB constellation simply never get into any sort of working gear, not even recording a shot on goal until the 73rd minute! To watch the league leaders look so sloppy and choppy throughout in attack constituted something truly bizarre. They were simply up against too much.

Naturally, the amount of defensive pressure the hosts placed them under must be taken into account. Incredible stops from Ito, Kim, and Upamecano ensured that the defending champs didn’t capture all three points. Kompany also generally had the right idea with his quadruple substitution in the 68th. Switching to a back three, a midfield three, and a front-four attempted to address the issues.

Lineup—FCB—68th minute

On a different day, four sets of fresh legs and moving literally every ineffective actor to a different position might have sparked something. Had this been capable of pressing forward in unison, the Leverkusen lock might have been picked. The problem with getting past a 4-2-2-2 such as the one Xabi designed, however, is that the axes are deliberately designed to slide in order to absorb pressure before it builds.

This is the most important reason one can say that the Leverkusen head-coach did well to react to the Bayern shifts by changing nothing. The manner in which Upamecano worked inverted pivots meant plenty of bow-arc passing on builds. It also makes counters difficult to engineer due to the gaps. The lack of “Later-kusen” magic notwithstanding, Xabi got his in-game strategy right here.

GGFN | Peter Weis