State Of The Bundesliga – Part Three
March 2, 2016 Question 4 – What tactical specialties has the Bundesliga come up with?
A symptom of a good and interesting league is that produces not only diversity but also tactical innovations. The experts agree here: Bundesliga football is innovative football.
In Germany, you can find a fight between two concepts that you might not find anywhere else – possession versus transition. Even the Spanish La Liga hasn’t produced such a clash of cultures. Tobias Escher describes the situation perfectly:
“Right now we have two schools of thought: on the one hand there’s the transition game, representated by the Red Bull clubs with Rangnick, Schmidt and Zorniger as examples. On the other hand you find the possession game, personified by Guardiola and his ‘student’ Tuchel.” – Tobias Escher
The big underdog of the Bundesliga is Darmstadt. Neither a possession nor a transition team, Dirk Schuster’s team plays an ultra-direct game, similar to the old kick-and-rush. Alex Truica calls them “a poor man’s Atletico Madrid” due to their physicality and focus on set pieces. You won’t see beautiful football in Darmstadt but the determination, belief and ruthless execution of their system must be admired, or at least respected.
Furthermore, some other names such as Favre, Gisdol, Hjulmand, di Matteo and Korkut are named as examples of coaches who have played some sort of non-standard football.
Question 5 – Have coaches failed because they decided against the standard?
It’s not a problem that’s exclusive to the Bundesliga: club officials prefer the proven standard over a risky innovation. That conservative approach is criticized regularly. That being said, can a risky approach be a reason for a coach to be sacked? Rene Maric doesn’t believe in such a conspiracy:
“Coaches usually don’t fail because they’re non-standard but because they do something badly.” – Rene Maric
Everyone would agree to that statement. However, some names come up where the risky approach certainly played a role in the sacking. The most recent example is probably Alexander Zorniger whose extreme pressing system was the cause for strong criticism from day one on. To stay true to Maric’s statement, it has to be said that Zorniger also had some big deficits in terms of communication that surely didn’t help him at all.
Another coach with a certain degree of individuality who was sacked this year is Markus Gisdol. The former Hoffenheim coach too failed because of the execution, not the idea:
“Gisdol’s football was very entertaining and attacking-minded but also very naive in defense, which is a deficit you can’t have in the relegation fight of the conservative Bundesliga.” – Alex Truica
Maric brings up the most fitting example of the aforementioned issue: the former Mainz coach Kasper Hjulmand. He was signed as Tuchel replacement in 2014 – despite being a clear fan of a possession-based approach, kind of the opposite of what Tuchel did in Mainz.
The sacking of Hjulmand obviously didn’t happen until a series of bad results occurred. The lack of belief in the development of the possession style became obvious when they presented his replacement. In Martin Schmidt, Mainz signed a classic Bundesliga coach who believes in the emotional transition game. Club manager Christian Heidel went even further, doubting publicly whether they could’ve avoided relegation with the type of coach Hjulmand is. What he actually meant is that you have neither the time nor the motivation to play an attacking-minded possession style in the bottom half of the table. Just like Gertjan Verbeek in Nürnberg, Hjulmand became a victim of the progressive idea to have his team play instead of just fight against relegation.
Question 6 – Is the Bundesliga more similar than other leagues?
It’s easy to criticize the “pressing league” but one question remains: is it actually any better in other leagues? Tobias Escher says that every league has its trusted strategy, they’re just different everywhere. Every league features its own characteristics and certain trends and those aren’t necessarily prettier elsewhere:
“When you actually follow the leagues beyond the top 5 teams – or the lower half of the Premier League – you have to appreciate the Bundesliga. Here you have certain coaches such as Schmidt, Guardiola, Tuchel, Schuster, and until recently Favre and Zorniger, who represent playing styles that are well-known and very rare to find in Europe.” – Rene Maric
The only league that’s put above the Bundesliga in our expert rankings is La Liga. Maric says it’s better in terms of the playing level and diversitry. Alex Truica mentions a particular example:
“I recommend everyone to pay more attention to Rayo Vallecano. They’re the poorest team of the league but still follow a clear philosophy, embodied by coach Paco Jemez: lots of pressing and playing with the ball instead of against it. They follow that plan regardless of the opponent. Not afraid of a big loss, trusting their own philosophy: there are some Bundesliga clubs that could use the same mindset.” – Alex Truica
Question 7 – Why do those standard tactics exist?
Now that it has been settled that every league has its own tactical identity and that it’s followed religiously by many Bundesliga clubs, it’s time to wonder why that’s the case. Why is the Bundesliga a pressing league, why are clubs so afraid of individualism and an own identity?
Such a question allows for several different trains of thought. Lukas Tank comes up with a simple solution – it’s just too effective and modern:
“Counter-pressing football is still a good and modern concept at this point. In many ways, you can look at the development of the last two or three decades as a gradual development towards the transition game. Counter-pressing football is the final stage of that development: active usage of both the attacking and defensive transition.” – Lukas Tank
Rene Maric has a similar thought, agreeing that pressing systems are still too attractive and maybe a bit underrated in Germany:
“What I notice when working with foreign analysts and tacticians is that the Bundesliga is seen as the prime example in terms of stability and variety thereof.” – Rene Maric
Tobias Escher is a bit more critical, blaming the coaches for the lack of creativity:
“Most teams are coached by two types of coaches: the old veterans who have been around for an eternity – they won’t change their methods anymore and trust the 4-2-3-1 midfield pressing system – or the young guns who want to be like Jürgen Klopp. His charisma and playing style infected an entire generation of coaches. They trust the pressing game and, after their first few failures, end up using the safe 4-2-3-1 midfield pressing variety of the Klopp system.” – Tobias Escher
Truica, a close follower of the Spanish league, chooses a more cultural approach to the issue:
“I think the local culture plays big role. Germans are typically conservatively result-oriented, thus their football is as well. In Germany – the Ruhr area in particular – things are seen in a different light, football is seen in a different way. Here, football is mainly about work, about fighting. When you give it everything on the pitch, a loss is accepted – but it is important that you fought hard. What’s often talked about when the results don’t go your way? Always the same old cliches: time to roll up your sleeves, be physical, have a tighter collective defense, be more aggressive – the typical mentality of mindless hard work.
Attacking-minded football on the other hand tends to be seen critically and needs to be defended in Germany, as journalist Fritsch once described. Guardiola is still criticized for not winning the Champions League, despite Bayern playing the most attacking, attractive and dominating football in club history. As soon as you don’t win a title, the inspiring attacking football is worth nothing anymore. Failing offensively is regarded as failing in a naive way. The end justifies the means in Germany, dying in beauty is not accepted in the Bundesliga. Those who fail like this are quickly torn apart by certain media and so-called experts. On the other hand, nobody is bothered when a team defends instead of playing, when it reacts instead of acting. Playing like a typical away team is always lauded when it works. Then you’re praised for so called maturity and slyness.” – Alex Truica
Continue on page three for statistical proof of the league’s uniqueness and our final verdict!
Thank you for this series. It was a pleasure to read.