Eight rounds have passed in Bundesliga and newly promoted RB Leipzig are sitting in the second place, far above of what was expected. Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl takes a lot of credit for what he’s doing with the side, but aside from all the hate RB Lepizig get for their economic model in Germany, let’s take a look on how they actually play.

Behind the scenes

RB (RasenBallsport) Leipzig are the biggest Bundesliga story this season – for different reasons. Out of the field they are hated with passion by other German fans for their club model as the club itself was founded in 2009 by initiative of energy drink-maker Red Bull who purchased the playing right of the fifth division side SSV Markranstadt with the intention of advancing the new club to the top-flight. As Bundesliga rules state that the each club must be owned and controlled by fans, such a move was unheard of in German professional football.

Voting membership is severely restricted in Leipzig – in contrast to all other association football clubs in Germany, there is no official way to become a voting member of the club. Such a ‘corporate’ way of running the club is constantly criticized in Germany; however, that doesn’t seem to put the club or the fans off as Leipzig currently have average attendance of around 40,000.

And they have plenty to see. Leipzig are sitting second in the league and are offering an entertaining brand of football, led by players they brought in from the another club in Red Bull’s franchise – Red Bull Salzburg. Ralph Hasenhuttl, former Ingolstadt manager who secured their survival last season, was chosen to replace Ralf Rangnick at the beginning of the term and it looks like Leipzig made a fine choice.

Current Bundesliga table

Tactical setting and formation

Hasenhuttl introduced his 4-2-2-2 pressing system into RB Leipzig game and selected his starting XI pretty quick, as they look ready to fight against anyone. With Peter Gulacsi between the sticks and defence consisting of Bernardo – Orban – Compper – Halstenberg, Leipzig alternated in midfield but mostly they line-up just like they did against Werder in the last match, using Naby Keita, Demme, Forsberg and Sabitzer or Kaiser in midfield.

Lineups of RB Leipzig – Werder Bremen match

That system allows Leipzig to play their favourite kind of game, focusing on pressing and intensity in defence and patience and physicality in attack. Middle four combined with two attackers in shape of Poulsen and Werner to allow Leipzig to dominate game even when they are not in possession.

RB Leipzig defence – pressing and intensity

Defence for Leipzig begins far away from their own zone and as soon as they are not in possession. Six forward players tend to allow opponent’s center-backs to lead the game, forming some kind of protective wall in front of all other players, especially midfielders.

That forces Leipzig’s opponents to give up the hopes of building attacks through midfield as the intensive narrow game by RB forces them to give the ball to the full-backs.

Once ball is delivered to the full-back, pressing starts immediately – what’s more, RB’s own full-back moves forward in order to cover the opponent’s winger as a pass option. That either forces the ball back to center-backs or opponents must resort to playing risky long balls.

Examples of RB’s pressing against Borussia Dortmund

1 – Notice how RB press as soon as the ball gets to full-back Piszczek:

2 – Another example, with RB players covering options in midfield (Weigl) and forcing Schmelzer into a mistake. Also, near the end of the video, notice the immediate pressing from midfielders after Leipzig lose the ball, to quickly win it back:

3 – Average positions of Leipzig’s players on the pitch further emphasize how narrow their midfield players sit – against Werder (3-1), Augsburg (2-1) and Koln (1-1) respectively (click to enlarge):

Covering the midfield this way gives Leipzig two important things they aim to do:

a) they control the center of the pitch despite their opponents sometimes having more possession,

b) they force the opponents to build their attacks in the wide areas where it’s easier to press.

Everything is directed towards the ball as RB strive with the ball and look forward to develop their own attack in order to hurt opponent.

RB Leipzig attack – patience and physicality

The build-up of their attack is a good mixture between patience and quick transition, depending on how opponents are shaped in the very moment. Two holding midfielders are not afraid to drop between the center-backs to get the ball and progress it further forward.

Leipzig are using the classic ‘German’ approach to attack – instead of circulating the ball with full-backs overloading the wide areas, they look to get it forward with vertical overloads created by their front four man. Opponent’s defence usually can’t handle many different forward runs made by Leipzig’s attackers and breaks at some point, and that is when vertical balls are attempted.

RB’s effective counter-pressing enables them not to worry about those vertical balls being intercepted as they are quick to win the ball back or make a tactical foul if the ball is lost.

Examples of RB’s build-up

1 – Typical Leipzig’s build-up with quick vertical balls towards Forsberg resulted in a winning goal against Augsburg:

In addition to their verticality and patience with build-up, RB also possess a ‘plan B’ – with Werner and Poulsen leading the line, they certainly can play to physical strengths of their attackers.

Equally adept to play with his feet and in the air, Poulsen is quite good at playing the target man, while Werner (weak in aerial duels himself) can be used for off-the-ball movements. Such movements can open up space for midfielders to run into.

2 – Example of Poulsen’s physical presence and nice delivery into the box that allowed Werner’s goal against Borussia M:

3 – Another outmuscle and quick usage of brilliantly created space by the intelligent play of RB forwards as Keita was left completely alone against Werder:

Trouble with Leipzig’s attack is that their midfielders sometimes can’t cope with such a high pace themselves. It’s not easy to play calmly with precise passing in quick transitions. Emil Forsberg is the central piece here with ex-Malmo midfielder creating more goalscoring chances than any other RB player this season (3).

Naby Keita is also in the mix as the Guinean midfielder enjoys the fantastic season so far.

Quick glance forward

RB Leipzig are playing entertaining brand of football that looks to be successful at the moment – it will be definitely interesting to see how long can they endure and continue to have such marvelous results.

Main troubles of this system are player dependence, potential attacking impotence and fitness throughout the season. At the moment RB look amazing in their defensive game, building upon the fact that many Bundesliga sides are keen to have the ball and try to play it but sometimes lack the shape to execute it properly, making Leipzig’s counter-pressing very effective.

Trouble is what happens when side tries to park the bus against them – how will RB score against the more defensive oriented sides if their vertical approach doesn’t work? Physical presence of Poulsen can open enough space but it still remain to be seen what happens if he’s not available or out of form.

Also, let’s not forget any counter-pressing side’s nightmare – season tends to get long with injuries, suspensions and different troubles, and players must constantly be on top of their lungs and form in order to execute such a tactics perfectly. Will Leipzig be able to do it, remains to be seen.