The Rückrunden-Manifesto
January 14, 2016 20 Sebastian Rode
Most important task: annoy opponents.
Starting in two games. Playing only 248 minutes. He missed nearly two months with tendonitis. And even if he was fit, he stayed mostly second or third choice. Sebastian Rode is in a tricky situation at Bayern. Everyone in the team knows that he deserved more playing time. In 16 of 18 Bundesliga teams Rode would almost always be in the starting XI. At Bayern there are better players in front of him. Thiago, Alonso Vidal, Martinez are better. That’s the situation.
In principle Rode would be ideal as a second or third substitute from the bench. He can give the team new energy from the 60th or 65th minute. Whether to hold a lead or to turn a game. Last year he filled this role excellently with a total of 19 substitutions. The question is whether this is enough for him in the long run.
Rode plays against the ball like a young Arturo Vidal, with a more normal hairstyle. He annoys opponents with his tenacity and always one of the players with the biggest mileage on the pitch. Rode will play more than in the first half of the season. Should Bayern advance to the next rounds in the Cup and the Champions League, he could take over important minutes in the Bundesliga and thus provide much needed rests for the established players.
At his fundamental situation in Munich, however, nothing will change. It is quite possible, therefore, that it is the last six months of the 25 year old in a Bayern shirt.
23 Arturo Vidal
Most important task: goal threat from midfield.
It is rather strange. Arturo Vidal has collected the fourth most minutes in the Bundesliga of all Bayern players in the first half of the season and yet sometimes we forget a little that he is still there. He is far more of a follower or a role player than a leader. This does not mean that he plays badly. His statistics count 3.5 ball recoveries in direct duels for him per 90 minutes. That’s the 6th best value in the Bundesliga and that against opponents that rarely even have the ball, quite remarkable. According to Whoscored.com Bayern is last in the league in tackles per game (14.5).
Maybe Bayern has been defensively demanded too little to find out Vidal’s true value. With the duels against his former club Juventus in the Champions League that will change. Only then a better judgment of the transfer will be possible – if he plays. In the Champions League Vidal was in the starting XI only in three of the six games.
Vidal indicated how important his “Torgefahr” (threat to score a goal) can be for Munich. Behind Pascal Groß and Zlatko Junuzovic the central midfielder with the most involvements in shots (4.7 / 90 minutes). With 2.4 assisted shots and 2.3 own shots he is ranked among the top 5 in the league in his position. He was directly involved in 8 goals, twice the 1:0 (Darmstadt, Piraeus).
It is a quality that is not provided by the other central players. Thiago and Xabi Alonso combine for one goal in almost 3,000 minutes. Even tough Thiago created many chances, the additional danger from the deep, which was provided by Bastian Schweinsteiger in previous years (especially in tight games), is an important additional factor. Vidal has to prove his quality here in the second half of the season.
14 Xabi Alonso
Most important task: Don’t lose the timing.
https://vine.co/v/imnhtlEvqhz
The Spaniard has proven his critics (including myself) wrong by playing an impeccable and at times outstanding first half of the season. It is remarkable how much Alonso has developed his game compared to last year, despite his relatively high football age. After his arrival, the experienced strategist was celebrated for possession and passing accuracy. That his own game was at times complicated and slowed down the Bayern game in the first half of a good season 2014/2015, wasn’t noticed by many. In the second half of last season when Alonso was noticeably running out of gas it was more and more visible.
Alonso’s game is straight forward and faster this season. He still plays the most passes, but on average over 10 passes per game less than last season. Additionally he is also significantly more involved in shots created in the Bundesliga and especially in Champions League involved (more than five per 90 minutes) than last year. His precise diagonal balls on Douglas Costa were a major stylistic element in the first third of the season. Alonso plays higher up the pitch than last season. According to Opta, this season he plays his passes on average a few meters in the opponents half, compared to within the own half last season. Back then his dropping back in between the central defenders was a permanent part of his game, this season it’s used more sporadic, for example, to give him more time with the ball against aggressively pressing opponents. Overall, this has helped his game.
Even more important, however, was that his timing has again slightly improved in his counter pressing. In phases of the second half of last season, this was the biggest problem in his game. The stats confirm that. On average Alonso tackles less, but has increased his success rate significantly. Alonso must win the first ball in the first attempt. If the opponent is past him, space is openend in his back that he cannot close in a sprinting duel. Overall, his defensive stats have dropped to the lowest level since 2009 and have already been shrinking in Madrid every year. 2009/2010 he recovered more than 3 balls per game for Real, in 2013/2014 there were only 1.8. At Bayern, these numbers were even below that level in the two seasons. However, the quantity of his defensive actions are not critical, but the accuracy.
Alonso is not to lose his timing in the second half of the season. As already mentioned the presence of Arturo Vidal could help him, especially in the decisive matches of the Champions League. Guardiola is trusting Alonso in the important matches until further notice. The 35-year-old has earned this trust with his performances in the first half of the season. The vulnerability on counterattacks, which was blamed on Alonso last season is virtually nonexistent this season and that is also due to him. It must remain thisd way, if Bayern want to achieve their goals.
32 Joshua Kimmich
Most important task: just keep working.
So far the 20-year-old has fully fulfilled the expectations that have been placed in him. Guardiola has given Kimmich much trust with him starting in seven games and has not been disappointed. Kimmich makes only few mistakes (more than 92% passing accuracy in all competitions), plays a fine ball and dared to become more offensively active as the season progressed. In the last games he was more often involved in the creation of shots and surprised with the one or two wise ideas in the penalty box.
Against the ball he is already better than Alonso, and hinted that one day he will even be able to dominate a game in center midfield. His playing time will not increase dramatically in the second half of the season, as long as there won’t be major injuries in central midfield. But that is not a bad thing at all. His time will come. Kimmich must simply continue to work, learn, and be there when it is needed. Everything else will come to him.
6 Thiago
Most important task: turn on the Champions League mode regularly
Thiago has a relatively healthy first half of the season behind him. Until his ligament injury in mid-November, the Spaniard collected more than 1,000 minutes, more than in the entire last season and almost as much as in the entire 2013/2014 season. With Thiago excellence alternated with average. Especially in the Champions League the 24-year-old got his game on. In the Bundesliga he was often focused on providing structure and preparing attacks, whereas the took on a lot more responsibility in the offensive game in his four appearances in the Champions League.
The differences are remarkable. In the Champions League, he played 109 instead of 90 passes per game, shot twice as often from inside the penalty box and assisted almost twice as many shots (4 / 2.2). At the 5:1 against Arsenal he played unbelievable, not only offensively. Notably Thiago recorded 13 ball recoveries in probably the best game of the Reds in the first half of the season.
Thiago terrorized London’s midfield with unexpected aggressiveness and frustrated the opponent with his pressing resistance. In any case his skills against the ball are underestimated. Per 90 minutes Thiago conquered the ball just as often as Arturo Vidal. When Munich’s counter pressing works well, it is closely related to Thiago. Among the central midfielders in the Bundesliga only Lars Bender recorded more successful tackles per 90 minutes than Thiago. In the Champions League he is among the top ten as well.
Overall, Thiago was involved in four goals scored in four Champions League games, but only three in 13 Bundesliga games. That two of them were scored in the top game against Dortmund shows that Guardiola’s favorite is able to go at different speeds.
Thiago missed much of the second half of the season in the past two years due to injuries. Last year, he of all people was supposed to shoulder the injury shook team shortly after his own return in the decisive knockout duels against Dortmund and Barcelona. He played ok, but was clearly not ready physically. Bayern has four or five players, whose absence would mean a real loss of quality in the decisive matches of the second half of the season, despite the big squad. Thiago is one of them.
11 Douglas Costa
Most important task: become a greater threat to the goal.
The Brazilian newcomer has an excellent first half of the season behind him. Costa impressed so spectacularly, only matched by Franck Ribéry’s and Arjen Robben’s performances just after their transfers to Munich. Despite the challenging playing style in Munich, the 25-year-old had no problems adapting. Here and there he didn’t have the right solution at hand in the passing game, but he made that up with his explosiveness, which is not to be defended in a one on one.
https://vine.co/v/iZzuFHFLawE
Costa shaped the game of the team from the first minute of the season. With over 3.5 shots on goal, more than 4 successful dribbles and almost three shot assists per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga and Champions League, he is exactly at the level of Ribery and Robben in the previous years. Especially his nine assists in 19 matches are impressing. Costa was effective on both wings and also impressed in a hybrid role as a kind of offensive number eight.
Bayern’s game lacking a bit of ideas going forward towards the end of the season, was mainly caused because he was missing through injury. Costa has to work in the second half of the season at his own ability to score goals. Five goals are a rather small result, when you consider how many scenes Costa has in the box and how many times he also shoots himself. He needed 19 shots per goal in the Bundesliga. Out of 14 shots in the penalty area only one found its way into the goal. DC relies here often too much on his powerful shot, rather than just putting the ball in the corner of the goal. This is a relatively small correction that should be possible to implement in the remainder of this season.
Costa is an absolute key player in the upcoming second half of the season.
19 Mario Götze
Most important task: becoming relevant.
The season so far meant a step forward and two back for Mario Götze. If one is trying to focus on the positive with the highly talented offensive player, then his 10 performances were an improvement when compared to a very weak second half of last season. Nevertheless, he didn’t overly impress either. And as he seemed to get into his rhythm after good performances against BVB and Zagreb, a lengthy injury stopped him. Until well into February Götze will be missed. In the winter training camp in Qatar he (again) said the wrong things and again opened speculations about his future. A day after Matthias Sammer had asked the team to completely turn down the noise and to subordinate everything to success. His future in Munich seems more open than ever.
Statistically, he is the weakest of the offensive player. He is involved in the least amount of shots on goal (3.3 per 90 minutes). That he was involved in 6 goals in the Bundesliga and Champions League, shows one of his greatest strengths. Götze has an enviable tranquility in the penalty area and in front of the goal. Costa and Robert Lewandowski could learn a lot of him. Götze’s shoots are always thought through and even under pressure he always keeps his head up to look for a better positioned teammate. In these moments he is really good. Whether that’s enough to start in big games against strong offensive competition remains to be seen.
It is also striking that Guardiola still has not found a proper place for him. In his five games he started at five different positions. There remains the feeling that Götze’s skills would be best fit on the position of Thiago. Once Guardiola let him play there, at the 5:0 against Zagreb. He scored a goal and played well. Götze has to be relevant to this team, if he wants to play permanently. Quite possible the coaching change will do him good, with the “Players Coach” Ancelotti coming in the summer. Before that, however, there is a second half of the season, which could be decisive for his further career progression.
Two old men, a young buck and the two “Torgaranten” (goal providers) on the third page.
