I've got time to kill, how about more tactics? Bayern vs BVB

So what went wrong? Trough my self loathing I noticed a few things that I think went wrong. If you watched the match, feel free to chime in. If this thread is falling off the front page, will accept pity bumps.


Game highlights


OK, number 1:

Tom Starke is awful. The first goal was pretty much all of his fault.

Lewandowski gets the ball on the right flank and sends a cross in to Schmelzer who puts a weak attempt back across the net. Starke comes out and misses the ball. Reus taps it in. This is the 6th minute, already down 1-0.

Aside from that goal, he was indecisive and shaky. He did make a nice save on Lewandowski at one point though.

Two:

Thiago Alcantara played the deepest of the center mids. There was no defensive mid in the lineup. The fact that Pep didn't play Gustavo makes me think he might be on his way out. Gustavo would have been perfect to play with Kroos and Thiago, instead Thomas Muller played deeper.

Thiago is a good deep lying play maker, and he has a lot of Xavi in him, but Xavi has Busquets playing with him. Thiago didn't have that luxury, plus you can tell he's still young, made a couple of bad decisions.

It wasn't all bad though. People turned on Thiago yesterday, but Bayern's first goal was set up by him. He gets the ball facing the left and turns smoothly to open up the right side of the field, where Philipp Lahm is streaking down the right side alone. The ball is played to Lahm, who of course puts in a perfect cross to Arjen Robben. Beautiful buildup.

The problem came when BVB was able to get the ball and break the press, Thiago is a good tackler for his size but he was caught up too far a lot of the time. Which brings me to my next point.

Three:

Daniel van Buyten cannot play a high line. That was the worst game I've seen DVB play since 2011. If you're going to partner DVB and Boateng, you can't play a high line. For one, Boa likes to step high regardless of the line, so you leave Daniel van Buyten who's slower than Beckerman on an island against Lewandowski.

Also, the high line against Dortmund is a recipe for disaster. Dortmund has a ton of speed in attack. If Alaba wasn't fast, we'd have given up 8 goals.


Goal number 2 for BVB came because DVB was out of position and dove to try to head the ball. Ended up with a diving header own goal.

Goal number 3 came because BVB beat the press, Gundogan got the ball with 20 yards of open space, you can see Thiago sprinting into your frame, but Gundogan is way too good to give that much space. That was a great finish but there needs to be a midfielder there to close him down.


Bayern's second goal was bad defending by BVB but another good ball by Lahm and a solid finish by Robben.

Dortmund's 4th goal may have been offsides but it was another example of Bayern getting burned by the high line. Lewandowski wins the ball ten yards past midfield, turns and runs at Bayern's defense that is VERY high up the field, he slips a ball through to Aubameyang who's fast as frick and lays it off for Reus.







So how does Bayern fix it?

Javi Martinez. There's a lot of rumors that Javi may play defense, but he needs to be Bayern's Busquets. It's pretty much known that Pep likes to play with 3 center mids.

-------------------- Javi ------------------------

---------- Schweiny ------ Thiago(Kroos)----------


I don't see Kroos and Thiago being able to play together right now unless there's a dedicated defensive mid.


For the SuperCup, Muller played almost as a center mid. He doesn't have the passing range or positioning for that role. He's best when he can float in and out and show up in dangerous spots. His work rate is the best in the league, but he needs to play as a striker, withdrawn striker or winger. Mandzukic didn't look very good, maybe Muller will be given a chance as a striker in an upcoming match.







With all of that said, Bayern is going to be a very, very good team this season. They just won't reach their potential without some flexibility from Pep.