PEEKABOO! Surprise, $^#*&!
Eye full of sun, hand full of mud, oh universe; you stink of love!
It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?
As of writing, it has been 359 days since the last BFW Film Room piece — a year which has seen immense change for Bayern systemically and philosophically. Let’s skip the dramatics; it’s been over half a year since Vincent Kompany took charge of Bayern Munich, his general philosophy is pretty crystal clear to everyone by now. Today, we dive specifically into the details that made the difference in the second leg played between Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen, one which is unique to any game the two sides have played since Leverkusen’s surge to the top of German football as they were down multiple goals and actually had to play for something in front of their fans rather than being comfortable sitting back and taking the odd chance. Kompany needed to get the out-of-possession setup just right to make sure Leverkusen are halted in their attempt at making a comeback.
La mise-en–scène: Analysing the line-ups
When man becomes possessor of the knowledge of himself, he becomes the master of his environment.
Got to get ready, got to ready, oh baby, you sure love to ball.
Both teams started in a formation that resembled a 4-2-3-1. Bayern Munich gave Jonas Ürbig his first UEFA Champions League start due to Manuel Neuer’s unavailability following his calf strain, but other than that the only absence that likely affected plans in any way was Aleksandar Pavlović who is still recovering from a glandular condition and is expected to remain out for a while. Bayer Leverkusen on the other hand had a couple of problems to address, as Nordi Mukiele — who had played a key part of Xabi Alonso’s systems against Bayern — found himself suspended after being sent off in the first leg, and the team was of course also without Florian Wirtz who is in inarguably the best player at Leverkusen and their most important.
This resulted in Vincent Kompany opting for Leon Goretzka in midfield alongside Joshua Kimmich, and a number of systemic changes for Xabi Alonso to try and compensate for the absence of Wirtz. For Bayern, the notable detail in this line-up from the off was that Goretzka was on the right and Kimmich was on the left, the opposite sides of what they’re used to. For Leverkusen, Arthur was introduced at right-back to bring some form of offensive intent to the team instead of employing the usual four centre-back defensive line that Xabi utilised in previous games against Bayern. Florian Wirtz was replaced by Aleix García with Exequiel Palacios taking a more advanced role in midfield, and Amine Adli was replaced by Patrik Schick to create a focal point for the attack. All of these changes played right into Bayern’s hands as traditional strikers have struggled against Bayern — you’ll see why — and Leverkusen’s increased intent from the backline players would inevitably create space for Bayern’s attackers sometime or the other.
Theen Deewarein: The structure up the field
“Do not attempt to cross this bridge, Baroness, or I will have to kill you!” he cried.
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Aaj labour-union mein shaadmaani aai hai. Aaj mazduron ko yaad apni javaani aai hai.
The general idea from Vincent Kompany out of possession was to go man-for-man high up the pitch, then switch directions if the ball came closer to goal. This combined with Leverkusen’s rotational tendencies created some interesting dynamics, particularly in the centre.
In this situation early on, we can already see Bayern’s basic principles. Kompany had Bayern’s three central midfielders get tight on Leverkusen’s three central midfielders, with the three marking lines being shown in red here (Musiala on Xhaka, Goretzka on García and Kimmich on Palacios) being the pairings throughout the game. Kompany was clearly strict in this principle, as Kimmich pushed up to reach Palacios instead of letting Musiala drop and cut off the passing lane, as he is ready to mark Xhaka as soon as the ball is in play. Tah is left open — highlighted in blue — to be the obvious short option and trap Leverkusen in the centre where they cannot progress the ball.
The only real leeway here is Goretzka dropping off of García, as he is dropping very deep to collect the ball but right into the zone Kane is patrolling, making a pass to him unrealistic. This is a pattern we will see a few times throughout the game, Goretzka opting to stay in spaces between the lines to try and pick off any loose balls or knock-downs when the opportunity presents itself.
Olise is meant to be the marker on Hincapié but he hangs off him ever so slightly to try and tempt a ball across, which Bayern would win with Goretzka, Laimer and Olise all able to immediately respond to that ball. What should also be noted is Bayern’s defensive line, as they have four players back with an extra man, despite Coman cutting off the passing lane to Arthur.
This is to ensure numerical superiority in the event of a long-ball, with Bayern’s four in Laimer, Upamecano, Kim and Davies in response to Leverkusen’s three in Grimaldo, Schick and Frimpong. In this instance, Kimmich doesn’t manage to close the distance between him and Palacios in time and he manages to get a first-touch pass to Arthur, which Davies immediately closes down, ending the move.
In this situation, Hrádecky drops the ball and Musiala immediately begins his press, with Xhaka in his shadow. Kane and Coman approach the centre-backs to close them down in the event they get the ball, and Goretzka gets tight on García (just off-screen to the right). Hrádecky tries to play a long-ball to the left towards Hincapié which results in a series of knock-downs and second-balls, although in this instance Hincapié manages to win the duel between him and Laimer which results in a cross that Kim clears with ease.
This was Leverkusen’s most common tendency in build-up, a detail Kompany and his team had clearly noticed. This is why they placed Goretzka on Leverkusen’s left side to sweep up anything loose or in the air against the aerially gifted Hincapié while moving Kimmich to the other side where he can better track Palacios.
Here, Leverkusen have dropped both their pivots into the defensive line and pushed the full-backs up. Off-screen, Davies is marking Arthur, Kim is marking Frimpong, Upa is playing Schick offside, and Laimer is marking Grimaldo, although he is once again wider than Grimaldo, anticipating a cross-field pass to Hincapié which Olise is too, cutting the lane off and waiting for the pass to close down Hincapié.
Kimmich stays tight on Palacios, Musiala presses Xhaka, Coman stays close to Tah, anticipating a turn from Xhaka before he closes the distance. With García dropped into the defensive line, Goretzka steps up to get close, and Kane cuts off the passing lane to Hermoso while staying in proximity to García in case Goretzka presses. In this situation, Xhaka opted to try and switch the ball to Hermoso — who knows why — and Kane intercepted it, eventually taking a shot from the resulting attack.
Here we see Kompany’s man-oriented system rearing its head, with Davies following Arthur up the pitch and pressing him. Kimmich stays on Palacios, Musiala stays on Xhaka, Kim steps up to mark Frimpong, and Kane, Olise and Laimer (off-screen) anticipate the switch. The change here is Goretzka, who is marking Grimaldo — who has moved in-field — rather than García — who is occupying the left touchline. Once again, this structure combined with the physical deficit Leverkusen are at in comparison to Bayern result in a series of knock-downs and loose balls that end in Bayern recovering the ball via Goretzka who tracks Grimaldo all the way towards Kim and eventually beats him in the air to a lofted through pass.
This man-oriented system high up the pitch with a drawbridge open to a risky switch-pass constantly caused Leverkusen problems, not least because the Bayern players — particularly Kane, Musiala and Goretzka — seemed to always be two steps ahead positionally of the Leverkusen players. But what if Leverkusen manage to get past that first structure and advance the ball?
Al-Jabr: A game of numbers in the box
Oh, it’s not just me, it’s not just me, it’s not just me, it’s everybody.
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Bunny is a rider, satellite can’t find her. No sympathy, ain’t nothin’ for free.
Things changed dramatically when Leverkusen managed to beat the press, with Goretzka in particular abandoning his man-marking duties to instead be a sweeper for loose balls in the centre. The full-backs and centre-backs became the primary markers with Kimmich tracking Palacios between the lines, and the attackers hovered between the first two lines of Leverkusen players — or, if their side’s full-back is pushed up — got tight on a wide player.
In this situation, Bayern are in their deeper structure. Kane and Musiala patrol the first line of build-up while Goretzka hangs in the middle for loose balls, and Kimmich continues to track Palacios. Coman is tasked with cutting off Arthur and Olise with cutting off Grimaldo while the full-backs take care of Hincapié and Frimpong. In this case, Tah manages to bypass Musiala’s press with a fantastic reach around his shadow to find Xhaka, and Coman’s positional indiscipline allows Arthur to run in behind and deliver a cross. However, this is where Bayern’s final gambit is revealed: the extra man. Whenever they are able to settle into their deep out of possession shape, you will notice that Bayern always outnumber Leverkusen’s attackers in the box, sacrificing a man in the press to do so. In this case, Kim — highlighted in blue — is the extra man, and this allowed Bayern to block and halt the numerous crosses Leverkusen tried to send in, cutting off Leverkusen’s only hope for creation since the centre was so tightly contested and congested.
Here we can see Bayern implementing that principle once again: Kimmich is tracking back with Palacios over his shoulder, Olise and Laimer are tight on Grimaldo and Hincapié, Kim and Davies are marking Schick and Frimpong respectively, and Upamecano is the extra man awaiting a cross to block. Laimer manages to get to the cross first as Grimaldo tries to play it soft to Hincapié, and no prizes for guessing who the first man to the loose ball is… Bingo! Goretzka. You just won no prize.
Leverkusen simply had no reply to this, and that’s when the changes started being made on both sides.
From classical to relative: Changing the equations
Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerer of death’s construction.
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Nina cried power, Lennon cried power, James Brown cried power, and I could cry power.
Two of the changes made posed no tactical change but were caused by injury, so I will not be discussing them in detail, those being Robert Andrich replacing Hermoso who suffered what looked like a dislocated shoulder during a challenge with Kane, and Serge Gnabry replacing Coman who messed up his ankle due to a fantastic sliding Tah tackle on the byline.
At half-time, Kompany killed two birds with one stone by replacing Konrad Laimer with Josip Stanišić. This not only got rid of a player who was on a yellow card already, but also gave Bayern’s right side an added aerial presence to combat Hincapié who was fairing decently in the air against Laimer. This also allowed Olise to take on Grimaldo, which fit the structure better as Hincapié would often push ahead of Grimaldo into the spaces Laimer was occupying. Xabi Alonso responded in the 66th minute by bringing on Amine Adli for Arthur, instructing Frimpong to play a deeper wide role more akin to Hincapié than his previous role in the game as a forward. Adli explored several spaces during the game including next to Hincapié which allowed Grimaldo to move centrally and lose his marker.
This change from Xabi almost paid immediate dividends, as Hincapié managed to deliver a ball from the byline — highlighted in teal — towards an arriving Grimaldo (who is off-screen but his path is highlighted in blue), who was able to get a shot off with minimal immediate pressure due to Gnabry losing him as he moved centrally. It required a block from Davies who was only able to focus on the shot due to Frimpong not being behind his back. However, this mistake was not made again.
Alongside Adli, Xabi also brought on Victor Boniface, a second conventional striker, adding a body to Leverkusen’s box attack. Kompany responded by pulling Goretzka into the box-defense unit to maintain numerical superiority with Musiala dropping into the space Goretzka vacated. In this situation, we can see Bayern defending with four people on the cross compared to Leverkusen’s three, with Kim as the free man and the other three defenders holding off Schick, Boniface and Hincapié. However, Kompany knew this was not sustainable as a defensive transition, so in a situation where most coaches might try to adapt with a lower block or change the structure altogether, he did a very simple thing.
He brought Hiroki Itō on.
Davies was now tasked with playing as a winger in possession but as a left-back out of it, and Itō became a third centre-back (you can even see him mouthing and gesturing ‘Five!’ in reference to the new formation when he came on), maintaining Bayern’s numerical superiority with three centre-backs versus two strikers. That ultimately allowed Bayern to completely lock down the game for the remaining time and walk out of the BayArena not having conceded a goal against Leverkusen for three games in a row.
Special mention must also go to Jonas Ürbig who, in his first start in the competition, was fantastic under immense pressure, pulling out a couple of crucial saves in the rare event Leverkusen managed to break through Bayern’s structure.
That’s how you lock down a goal, that’s how you defend a lead away from home. Kompany’s usage of his players and reinvention of players that were previously underperforming into structural lynchpins rather than outward game-changers shows a willingness to adapt and iterate upon systems that work on the surface, proving he is a coach that is always learning and changing with his players and football as a whole. This was an earned, deserved, wanted, NEEDED win for Bayern, and a commanding one at that.
What did you think of this breakdown? Is there anything I missed? Let us know in the discussion below.
