Pep Guardiola's new 4-1-4-1 at Bayern Munich

Eden hazard‘s statement: “I’ll be joining the Champions of Europe” in the wake of Chelsea‘s CL glory is still fresh in my mind. His arrival at the Bridge was followed by others such as Oscar and Moses, for whom the CL glory was a major attraction at the club.

Reverting back to this 2013 summer, the entire footballing world was upbeat about possible implications of an all-German final and Bayern Munich’s eventual victory. With Pep Guardiola’s signature already in the bag and a last minute announcement of the Mario Goetze deal, Bayern Munich were already done with much of the business they required to launch another successful campaign.

In the aftermath of the somewhat typically Pep purchase, the Catalan has announced his dealings complete in this window, and apart from the Mkhitarayan deal in Dortmund, the German league does not look any different this time around.

This article will see much more of the limelight shifting towards Guardiola’s buys and tactics that are starting to appear in the Munich set-up.

Right from his youthful days where Cruyff shifted him from a winger to a centrally deep playmaker, to his surprising announcement at 33 that talents such as his had no place in the modern game full of physicality, and to his arrival at the Barcelona management scene which saw the dismissal of Ronaldinho, Deco and eventually Eto; Guardiola has also been at the center of attraction, albeit being successful all the way through.

But his tenure at the German capital might see him ease into a team that has been practising his ideals of passing and heavy pressing from an earlier stage.

At this point of time it is Pep’s transfer policies that need a look into, and a haphazard glance in that direction highlights the likes of Ibra, Villa, Sanchez, Fabregas, Dani Alves and Keita. Apart from the latter successful duo, none of the transfers made by Guardiola come into the category of ‘results of a new strategy planned’ or a Plan-B.

While Ibra’s purchase was just due to Pep feeling the need of a man in the box, Fabregas’s just seemed to add an extra runner from midfield. Only Pique’s purchase now in hindsight seems as a planned event of bringing in a ball playing defender. Though yours truly might turn out to be severely wrong and could be hurdled off track, the transfer of Thiago Alacantra from Barca to Pep’s new club seems to be yet another of the offbeat ones by Guardiola.

Though the young Spaniard was sparkling in La Masia grounds, it was his 40 yard long free-kick for Spain in 2010 that made other clubs take notice. In order to fend off strong interest from Arsenal and Manchester United, Guardiola himself made Thiago sign a new contract that listed a buy-out clause of 80 million.

Though the loophole in the clause of having to play a minimum of 9 games a season was overlooked by the Catalans in 2012-13, Pep’s brother Pere who is in fact Thiago’s agent, was able to help activate that clause and hence carry forward the deal for a mere 18 million.

Thiago’s purchase along with Goetze’s arrival sets the tone to the Guardiola era, as the manager didn’t even care care to make any other major scalp in other departments. Here again,I refer to his now famous line: “midfielders are a superior breed of footballers and I prefer playing them at any position on the field”.

Apart from these transfer activities, Pep had already got one player that he begged the Barca management to buy in previous seasons. Javi Martinez, previously from Bilbao in Spain, had been the shining light for the Bavarians last season. And the central duo of Bastian and Martinez is now considered as the best dynamic duo out there in terms of pressing, tackling and attack initiation.

Guardiola was quick to realize Martinez’s worth, but his thinking seems to be matching his idol Bielsa’s. Bielsa had played Martinez as a CB for large parts of his last season at Bilbao, and Pep expressed a similar desire in a recent press meet. Playing Martinez at CB will be similar to the transition that Mascherano made under Pep at Barca, but that in affect would be creating a huge problem for Bayern at the centre of the pitch.

Considering the purely hypothetical and highly disappointing case of Martinez being shifted to the back; this leaves the centre of the pitch to be occupied by the likes of Bastian, Thiago and Gustavo. Looking at previous Pep setups, Luis Gustavo doesn’t fit the label set by pupils like Busquets.

Gustavo’s game is much more about the work ethic rather than passing to the playmaker in the centre, and this call might make some realize the importance of the Thiago transfer. But recent pre-season training sessions and friendlies have made us believe that Pep has something else planned out for the centre of his park.

In the wake of a 4-0 victory over Hansa Rostock, Franck Ribery revealed Pep’s formation as 4-1-4-1, with a clear indication on a false No.9 possible. And a further look into the players Guardiola used in the respective positions makes stuff even more interesting, though he did not have the likes of Martinez, Schweinsteiger and Goetze at his disposal. Ribery’s revelation, though informational, seemed a tad bit in disappointment, as the Frenchman stressed the lack of familiarity that the team had with Guardiola’s decision.

Pep’s system at Barca was always seen to have one of the wingers make a run towards goal after beating the offside trap, while all the time the real Centre Forward kept falling back deeper to connect with the playmakers behind. So Guardiola’s search for such a winger in Bayern will need him to find a suitable outlet for the likes of Bastian and eventually Thaigo operating in midfield.

The No.9 role has been majorly agreed upon as Mario Goetze’s to grab. The 20-year-old has been played there for Germany and his eye for goal was evident on those occasions. Another candidate for that role could have been Thomas Muller, but Muller’s fantastic work ethic is the more demanding positions of midfield will keep him firmly fixed in the role of either a No.10 or right winger.

Muller was used as the No.10 in the recent friendly, and as usual he easily drifted in and out of that role. This always gives the likes of Robben, and in this case Lahm, to attack more centrally.

While Muller and Goetze’s roles seem pretty suited to the Guardiola system, there is a player whose roles might need bit of a revision. Ironically enough, he is in fact the best midfielder amongst this group of gems, but Tony Kroos will most certainly be needed to be pushed back a bit into central midfield.

Kroos, over the last couple of seasons, was seen operating at the tip of the midfield triangle, and was also often drifting into the wings, replacing Muller. As has now often been talked about Kroos, he is by far the most intelligent player while considering space utilization and runs made into the final third.

Apart from these attacking tendencies, Kroos tends to push back deeper at times, hereby allowing Schweinie to run into the space ahead. So in terms of this chemistry, Kroos will surely be given a spot above Thiago. On paper both Thiago and Kroos fill up the spot taken by Cesc Fabregas at Barca, the False No.10 per se. But Kroos’s maturity over Thiago’s youthfulness sees the German preferred in a deeper role and the Spaniard played in a more ‘Iniesta-esque’ position.

So that fills up most of the spots in attack, leaving only the wings for contention.

Frank Ribery’s pace and guile on the left makes him an obvious inclusion. In fact from recent games, Ribery seems to have been told to drift more central and thus find a more direct route to goal. Robben is the other alternative on the flank with Muller, but the Dutchman’s lower stamina and work ethic means that he might not be a regular despite all the skills he brings onboard.

One key feature of Pep’s frontlines have been that there has always been a striker in the front three, even though he might be played wider. Bayern’s top man in the forward’s department is Mario Mandzukic, who had a brilliant first season at the club. Unlike Ibra, Mandzukic is all about energy and putting in a mercurial effort in latching on to the long balls.

In games like the Barca one last season, this tactic in particular allowed the likes of Robben to get a clear cut run at goal. So playing Mandzukic in the centre does allow Pep to shift Goetze to the right. And though this might not be ‘this Mario’s’ best position, even Messi started as a winger in Barca.

Bayern’s defence needs not much of a look in due to the amazing stats that it stacked up last season. In Philip Lahm, Pep has as much of an attacking option as Alves had provided, and indeed an even better defensive one. Lahm has been seen providing ideal support for Muller and crosses for Mandzukic, and unlike Alves, Lahm also often ventures centrally in order to get a better angle to cross. This is mainly due to Muller’s tactic of sticking to the touchline and thus pulling away the opposition fullback on such occasions.

The tale on the other flank is pretty much the same, but on younger and quicker feet. Alaba has already become a solid part of the Bayern system and the young fullback who again is conveniently a ‘midfielder’ is as much adventurous as Lahm.

Manuel Neuer’s presence between the posts means that the only position that was a liability for Pep at Barca has now been filled by the very best in the business.

Guardiola’s days in this transfer window are not going to be devoid of rumours, and recent ones suggest a controversial move for Mesut Ozil on the cards. Ozil’s arrival would surely mean that Pep indeed means to collect the very best in midfield at the Allianz Arena.

In spite of Pep’s image in the footballing world, a mishap at Bayern may not be tolerated by fans at the club. Though instilling tici-taca might not be that much of an issue, there will definitely be immense pressure from the world’s oldest club when success and fanfare are concerned.