Bayern miss chances but tactics on point against Darmstadt

Bayern created a lot of chances in the first half but Thomas Müller’s intelligent utilization of space were enough for them to register a win against Darmstadt.

Formation

Serdar Tasci started his first game in Rot-Weiß colours alongside Joshua Kimmich as the centre-back pairing. David Alaba was shifted to left-back again while Philipp Lahm was rested and Rafinha started as right-back.
Arturo Vidal was the only central midfielder as Pep Guardiola started 3 wide players in Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman. The latter stayed wide on the right flank while Costa stuck to left and Robben would move around to overload either the right flank or the box.

Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski were the front pair, although Müller played a free role behind the Polish striker, often occupying the right wing.
The formation was more of a 4-1-3-2 when attacking but it turned into a 4-2-4 while defending. No
attackers except Costa showed the desire to track back.


From Bayern’s previous meetings with Darmstadt, it was clear that the visitors were going to put at least nine men behind the ball and make it difficult for Bayern to score.

High pressing but poor defensive shape

The German champions were in their attacking zone from the start, pressing very high up the pitch. In the following screenshot, Tasci controls the ball cleared by Darmstadt defence and passes it to Rafinha. They both are at least 10 yards ahead of the half-line and the only player behind is Joshua Kimmich and he is almost at the halfline.


Bayern’s defensive performance was below par, as only Arturo Vidal was protecting the back four. He had almost no help from other players. The picture below shows that Darmstadt have four men surrounding Vidal. If one pass goes wrong, four Darmstadt players can take on as many Bavarians.


Guardiola however changed the shape after the Darmstadt goal. He made Rafinha a false defensive midfielder to try matching the number of Darmstadt players in midfield.

Get to the byline and put the ball inside

This season, the Catalan coach’s strategy has clearly been to attack from the flanks. The basic idea is that central midfielders pass the ball to the flank and the winger, with the help of the full-back and another player overloading the side, get to the byline and put the ball in for the lethal pair of Mullandowski.
This was the main reason why Bayern had 18 corners. Darmstadt players fearlessly put their bodies in for blocks and were lucky with deflections.

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Bayern’s chances coming from the flanks

Captain Philipp Lahm’s absence was the main reason, as there were absolutely no movements from the right flank. With relatively less help from Rafinha, Kingsley Coman had one of the quietest outings of his season.
Costa and Alaba connected well on the left flank from the start. The Brazilian put six crosses in the box from the left hand side. The absolute game-changer move was however when Ribéry was introduced in the second half.

Robben moved his business from East to West to connect with his partner in crime, who was sidelined for a long period. They together put five crosses in during the last half an hour. They also controlled the ball and kept going until Bayern were two goals ahead.

Müllandowski’s brilliance

Die Roten front pair was solid. They again scored Bayern’s all three goals and Lewy had one legitimate goal disallowed due to an offside call.
The current top scorer in the Bundesliga was able to get behind the Darmstadt’s parked defence several times. He either marginally missed or saw his efforts saved by the visitors’ keeper.

The Raumdeuter was the best player of the game, in my opinion. His smart movements off the ball and his determination to score were the highlights of his performance.

Before the third goal, Bayern were passing the ball around among the defenders, Vidal and Xabi Alonso. It almost seemed as if Bayern were going to run down the clock while letting Darmstadt run around them.

Suddenly, Müller pops up in a gap created between the midfield and defensive line (following screenshot). He receives the ball with a lot of space, passes it to the mercurial Frenchman and Franck sets the Pole up for the goal.


Lewandowski also helped to create space for Thomas on his second goal by taking one defender away from him.

Final thoughts

Bayern’s front three need to be more clinical. Robben alone has had more than 10 chances and he has failed to score. Captain Lahm’s return against Juventus will mean Bayern will be more lethal and smarter in terms of gameplay.

The biggest questions for Pep are who should occupy the midfield and should Tasci be given chance against Juve. Arturo Vidal had a safe game but his distribution was not as good as Thiago Alcântara’s or Alonso’s.

His passes were too fast for Costa and Robben, who could not always control them.
The biggest advantage going into the game is the Müller-Lewandowski pair with a 39-goal tally in the Bundesliga.

SOURCE:http://www.bayerncentral.com/2016/02/3-1-darmstadt-tactical-analysis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3-1-darmstadt-tactical-analysis