Pep Guardiola's Bayern : A tactical perspective

Even though Pep Guardiola’s systems are possession oriented, the lack of a defensive midfielder who stands ground and shields the back four will expose the defense on more than a few times. At Barcelona, it was Sergio Busquets who acted as a foil to the creativity of the players ahead of him. At Bayern, Pep has a couple of options as his Number 6. With Gustavo seemingly on his way out, Javi Martinez and Schweinsteiger are expected to be the two options, the latter being used primarily as a backup.

In the formation above, Javi Martinez plays as the anchor in midfield, with Schweinsteiger playing his preferred box to box role. Thiago plays the role of an attack minded central midfielder, linking up the midfield with the attack. Robben and Ribery on the flanks provide the width, and Mandzukic plays upfront as the lone striker. It is to be noted that the diagram is just an example of the formation; there can obviously be differences in the selection of personnel. For instance, Gotze or Muller could start ahead of Robben. Kroos, who developed an impressive cohesion with Schweinsteiger, could start ahead of Thiago.

In the absence of Martinez, Schweinsteiger could start as the anchor with Kroos and Thiago ahead of him. Though the German International has played as the defensive midfielder in the past most notably under Louis Van Gaal, he has never looked at his best because of his all-round qualities being caged to the confines of protecting the defense. The flipside of using Schweinsteiger as a Defensive midfielder, with the little help from the two midfielders ahead of him, would expose Bayern to high-pressing and counter-attacking systems.

Another possibility would be to start Thiago behind the two central midfielders. As seen last night against Dortmund, Thiago started as the anchor in midfield, operating as the holding midfielder behind Kroos and Muller. Though confident when in possession of the ball, the midfielder left a lot of space in the middle, which was readily exploited by Gundogan & Co.

Will the False 9 come into play?

As mentioned, Pep would have learnt from his past that the lack of a Plan B does indeed turn out to be costly in the long run.

The False 9

At Bayern, the Spanish tactician would do his best to ensure that his team do not become predictable -

Here’s what Guardiola has to say about his systems -

“We can play with real strikers and false nines. It also depends on the physical condition of the players as to which system I will choose.”

The idea of playing Mario Gotze as a False 9 may serve as a healthy change to the more orthodox 4-1-4-1/4-2-3-1 that Pep has resorted to for large portions of the team’s pre-season. Besides, it may also bring out the best in Thomas Muller, who has been proclaimed as the raudmueter(space-exploiter) for his uncanny ability to manufacture space for himself.

A 3-5-2/3-4-3?

Of-course, a little flirt with the 3 man back-line cannot be ruled out of the picture completely given Pep’s experimentation with the same during his last season at Barcelona. A 3 man central-defense requires a high degree of cohesion among the defenders since there is a fine line separating perfection and blunder. But, the success of a system in a league wherein wing-play is a major source of attacking impetus for many teams remains arguable.

Conclusion :

Pep Guardiola has a brimming pool of talent at his disposal, with which he can possibly try out more than a few different permutations and combinations. But along with great power comes great responsibility. With the footballing carnival of Brazil on the horizon, there wouldn’t be many in the Bayern roster who would be wanting to prove their mettle in order to get a seat on the plane to Rio next summer. Could Guardiola satisfy all his players?

An interesting season lies in the waiting for Die Roten.