Match date: 4 October 2015

A highly anticipated match between what have been competitive rivals over the last half decade or so as well as a show down between two of the best tacticians in Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel. With that, both managers named somewhat surprising starting XIs.

Guardiola named Lahm, Boateng, Martinez, and Alaba in his starting XI, which came across as the Bayern Munich playing four at the back in a 4-1-4-¼-3-3, but as it turned out, Bayern Munich looked much more like a 3-1-4-2ish with Boateng, Martinez, and Alaba at the back. Alonso, Thiago, and Lahm played in a midfield three, while Costa, Götze, and Müller supported Lewandowski.

Thomas Tuchel had some surprises of this own as he named Sven Bender at centre back alongside Mats Hummels, with Sokratis at right back and Piszczek at left back. Further forward, the midfield looked very much like a diamond at times with Weigl at the base, Gündoğan and Castro, a rather surprisingly selection, on either side, and Kagawa in support of Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan, who played from the left, but high up the pitch.

Dortmund’s Pressing

Under Tuchel, Dortmund’s pressing has been much more calculated than it had been under Klopp. The former Dortmund manager had his side press with tenacity, while Tuchel’s pressing has seen a more structured approach to this side of Dortmund’s game. When out of possession, Dortmund looked very much like a 4-3-3 with Mkhitaryan, Kagawa, and Aubameyang leading the press and early on it looked like Kagawa’s main responsibility was to ensure that the Bayern Munich centre backs were unable to get the ball into Alonso. Below is an excellent example of this. You can see Kagawa, who was on Alonso, moving toward Martinez (who was playing centrally at this point) while also taking away the pass lane to Alonso. Dortmund’s pressing here takes away the forward options for Martinez, forcing him to play a square ball out to Boateng.

For the opening stages of the match, Dortmund did well to disrupt Bayern Munich’s passing. The Bavarian side had some possession, particularly on the right side of their shape through Götze and Lahm, who positioned himself in the half space which allowed for an overload on that side of the pitch, but at this stage Lewandowski and Müller struggled to really get involved as Bayern were forced into the wide areas in order to avoid Dortmund’s central-heavy shape. As mentioned, much of Bayern Munich’s possession came on the right, which somewhat played into the hands of Dormtund as Mkhitaryan’s positioning saw him drop off a lot. The Armenian has typically been playing as the left sided attacking midfielder in Tuchel’s 4-2-3-1 this season with his runs both with and without the ball moving ahead of Aubameyang so he was in some ways, playing very similar to how he would usually, but had a bit more responsibility in his support of Aubameyang. Either way, with Mkhitaryan dropping, it allowed him and Dortmund to match Bayern Munich’s numbers on the right, but also allowed Aubameyang to find himself in a 1v1 with Alaba.

About 12 minutes into the match, Pep made an interesting change after a rather innocuous Dortmund attack; there was a long ball aimed at Mkhitaryan’s run between Boateng and Martinez that the Spaniard headed into touch at which point Guardiola directed the two to switch. With Boateng through the middle, Bayern Munich had more pace in through the middle to deal with Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan’s central runs, but it also allowed the German centre back to get on the ball, which became very important.

Bayern’s Defensive Shape

Guardiola has said before that he likes to play three at the back to force the opposition to play with two strikers if they are going to try to press, meaning that the midfield areas will open up. Perhaps thinking that Tuchel would go with a 4-2-3-1, Pep could have been thinking that Kagawa would support Aubameyang’s pressing, allowing Xabi Alonso to get on the ball to play balls into Douglas Costa and Götze. Tuchel went with a 4-4-2ish shape, however, so the midfield was overloaded, but the wide areas were relatively open. This also meant, however, that Bayern Munich were able to control the forward passing of Gündoğan and Weigl as they were able to get five men into a central area to close the passing lanes. Bayern forced Dortmund out wide where they really only had width from the full backs, but neither got up the field. Below is a good example from early on in the match where Gündoğan has the ball and Bayern Munich flood the midfield area with six players. Notice they still have a numerical advantage at the back.

Further up the field, Bayern Munich were equally effective in their pressing. There were a number of times when Dortmund would win the ball back and Bayern would already have numbers up, particularly on the right side of the pitch with Lahm, Götze, and Müller in that area of pitch.

Bayern Munich Overload, Switch

In Marti Perarnau’s excellent Pep Confidential, Guardiola says,

“In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak.“And when we’ve done all that, we attack and score from the other side. That’s why you have to pass the ball, but only if you’re doing it with a clear intention. It’s only to overload the opponent, to draw them in and then to hit them with the sucker punch. That’s what our game needs to be.”

This is exactly what Bayern Munich did against Dortmund, that an exploit Dortmund’s high line with an inexperienced centre back. Integral to Bayern’s success here was Jerome Boateng. After moving into the centre of the back three rather than the right, he saw the ball much more often and had more time to pick his head up and see the field.

The first Bayern Munich goal is an excellent example of overloading the play, highlighting Bayern’s overloading of the right side of the pitch from the start of the match. The ball is not Just before Boateng players the ball over the top, Bayern Munich have a 4v2 against Piszczek and Hummels with Müller making a run straight through the two. You’ll notice the screen capture below, as well, that Dortmund are playing a high line, but do not really have pressure on the ball.

Bayern Munich’s third goal was very similar in that it came from a long ball by Boateng, this time into Lewandowski’s path. Again there was no real pressure on Boateng despite a high line from Dortmund, so he had time to pick out his pass and the weight of it was rather perfect. When Boateng moved into the centre of the back three, there seemed to be more of an emphasis on getting him on the ball than there was with Martinez, which is a bit odd considering Martinez has played as a centre midfielder for the majority of his career, typically meaning his passing range would be better than a centre back’s. However, Boateng’s diagonal balls were excellent. As mentioned, Bayern would overload one side of the pitch, usually the right side through Lahm, Götze, and Müller and then Boateng would be the one to play a big diagonal out to Douglas Costa, who was then in a 1v1 with Sokratis. Though the Brazilian did not have the most influential of matches (compared to his form this season), he was a constant outlet and was reliable in stretching the pitch regardless on the side of the field he was on.

The patterns repeated for the fourth and fifth goals as well. Bayern played through Dortmund’s press with a few quick vertical passes. These passes were the result of Bayern Munich stretching the field as much as possible. Regardless of the side they were on, Douglas Costa and Götze were almost always on the touchline. If Götze did drift inside, Lahm would shuffle through the half space into the wide areas, again giving Bayern their width and this is why Boateng’s diagonals were so important. Dortmund were caught out because of their high line, yes, but their defensive compactness was undone by how big Bayern Munich made the field.

Guardiola’s 2-1 Changes, Tuchel’s Changes

At half time, Guardiola switched from the three at the back to a back four with Lahm at right back, Martinez and Boateng at centre back, and Alaba at left back. This gave Bayern Munich more defensive cover in the wide areas, which was where Dortmund wanted to get the ball in order to pick out Aubameyang’s central runs. However, it was hard to say how this would have worked at 2-1 because Bayern Munich scored on their first possession off of the kick off in the second half. At 3-1, Guardiola’s 4-1-4-1 made even more sense in terms of ‘protecting’ their two goal advantage. Götze and Müller rotated between the central and wide right positions in the midfield four and both were quick to support Lewandowski, but one still maintained width.

Tuchel also made changes at half time, switching from a roughly 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield to a 4-2-3-1, which is how Dortmund have typically lined up under their new boss this season. This saw Castro move to the right of three behind Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan was now deeper. Tuchel made changes in the 53rd minute which better suited the system with Reus coming in for Kagawa and playing on the left with Mkhitaryan moving into a central role while Januzaj replaced Castro on the right. Again, viewers were not really able to get a sense of how the match would have gone with the tactical changes because of Bayern’s early third goal. Dortmund created a few good chances, but their faults came at the back.

Conclusion

A hugely anticipated match sees Guardiola beat Tuchel rather convincingly and much of it was because of Tuchel’s tactical approach. Dortmund’s high line was exploited easily by Bayern Munich, but credit should not be taken away from the positional play of Bayern Munich. They were constantly overloading Dortmund, particularly high and wide on the right, opening up space for runners as well as space on the opposite side for Douglas Costa (and Götze on the fifth goal) to exploit.

Guardiola and Bayern Munich will now feel much more comfortable having beaten their closest rival to the league title convincingly, while Dortmund’s good start to the season comes to a halt. With an international break, Tuchel will have time to regroup and make sure that his side come out strong against his old team, Mainz.