Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany has admitted to the media in recent weeks that despite his side’s unbeaten start to the season, fans of the Munich club should not be getting ahead of themselves yet
Kompany’s side faces their toughest opposition of the season so far, as reigning champions and title rivals Bayer Leverkusen travel to the Allianz Arena this Saturday.
Bayern Munich Tactical Preview vs Bayer Leverkusen
The Tactical Battle
The Bavarians are currently four wins from four, scoring 16 goals and sitting comfortably on top of the table above Bayer Leverkusen ahead of the match this Saturday, but how exactly has Kompany adapted to a top side like Bayern Munich after his recent struggles in the Premier League with Burnley.
According to Markstats, they rank as the fourth-best team in the league when it comes to Opposition Possession Lost, but what exactly does this mean? This means that the league leaders rank highly when it comes to turning over possession and winning the ball back,due to the fact that Kompany deploys a high defensive line, with a 3-2-4-1 system when his side don’t have the ball, Bayern like to press high up the pitch, closing down the opponent in their own half.
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Taking a look at their first goal against Werder Bremen, Alphonso Davies, who is operating as the left center back in a back 3, pushes high up the pitch in order to trigger the press, closing down the Bremen fullback and turning the ball over in the opposition half as his team go on to score, this kind of pressure is the reason that Kompany’s side are the ultimate danger to manager’s that build up from the back.
However, while Bayer Leverkusen do build up from the back, their low build up system is the perfect counter for Bayern Munich’s high-pressing system, as Xabi Alonso’s side like to build up in a 1-4-2-3-1 setup, they utilize two number tens in central areas in order to overload the midfield and play out of the press in order to exploit defensive vulnerabilities like Bayern’s high line once they manage to play through the press.
They’ll have their work cut out for them though, as Bayern Munich rank lowest on the PPDA metric, according to Understat. If you don’t understand what PPDA is, to put it simply, it’s a metric used to calculate the intensity of a teams press, the lower it is, the more intense the press is.
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Kompany likes to utilize this high pressure system as a way of keeping possession and dominating the match, forcing his opponent to turnover the ball quickly, as Bayern rank number one in the league when it comes to % of possession. This will lead to an interesting dynamic between the two units on Saturday, as Bayer Leverkusen rank second in the Bundesliga when it comes to % of possession, meaning that both sides like to dominate possession, but both sides approach to possession also differ significantly.
As mentioned previously, Alonso prefers to build up through the midfield, utilizing two central attacking players, while Kompany prefers to use the entire width of the pitch, building up from the back with a back three with two wide centre backs in order to spread the play, one fullback inverts into midfield in order to offer defensive solidity, As Bayern like to utilize the full width of the pitch in attack, they like to attack with overwhelming numbers, shifting into a 2-3-5 system where Manuel Neur joins at the base of the defense.
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This leads to an overwhelmingly high volume of goals for the league leaders, who have scored 16 in four this season due to the nature of the attack, as it it simply impossible to defend against 5 attacking players as talented as the likes of Michael Olise, Harry Kane, Kingsley Coman, Mathys Tel and Jamal Musiala, meaning you can always expect Kompany’s side to score goals, but another important part of their game is the midfield, namely Aleksander Pavlovic who has been praised by Kane this season who said: “He’s been great so far. He was good last season, but this season, in this system, you see an even better version of him. The more he plays, the more experienced he becomes. He’s getting better and better.”
Standout Players
The 20-year old German midfielder is currently having his breakout season as the heart of Bayern Munich’s attack, he is creatively one of the best players in the world, ranking first when it comes to Accurate Passes, Accurate Forward Passes, Accurate Passes To Penalty Area and Accurate Crosses, according to DataMB.
Bayer Levurkusen will find it difficult to deal with the danger of Bayern’a attack, but there is one crack in the armor they could potentially exploit, as the Bavarians like to move their fullbacks high up the pitch, this will leave potential gaps in the wide areas of the league leaders defense, a gap that could potentially be exploited by marauding wingback Alejandro Grimaldo.
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Taking a look at his heatmap, the Spanish wingback tends to get into advanced positions under Alonso, operating as a part of Leverkusen’s front three to provide a consistent threat out wide, as they primarily operate in central areas, Grimaldo is their main attacking outlet when they want to spread the play, the Spaniard was one of Levurkusen’s best attackers last term, finishing as their second top scorer, which Kompany will surely be aware of, you can expect the Belgian manager to deploy a more defensive option by deploying Joao Palhinha in midfield in order to deal with the threat of the wingback
With both sides going into the match with the expectation of making a statement in the title race, we can expect both teams to be on the front foot in what is sure to be an exciting encounter, but with the form Kompany’s men are in currently, it’s hard to look past the league leaders in this Saturday thriller, but once again, as we mentioned, it’s near impossible to call, and you’re going to want to tune in.
