Last weekend's 2-4 league defeat to promoted Ma Bochum, and even four goals conceded in the first half of the Bundesliga for the first time since 1975, such a humiliating defeat inevitably cast a shadow over Bayern Munich as they opened the Champions League knockout stage this week. Whether tactical or employing, Bayern today seems to have too many problems to clarify – in addition to the single-back system that has been targeted by everyone, there is also the brand-new defense that has lost its commander, Alaba, even if Bayern has spent 157.5 million euros for it.
【Upamecano, the time bomb of the Bayern defense】
When Bayern lost the game 2-4, such a result seemed very rare and special. Of course, this is especially true when the Bundesliga plays against an upgraded polo team. You know, the result of the game that lost 4 goals not only made it difficult for this team to escape the unanimous criticism of the outside world, but also made the transfer operation of Bayern management once again questioned.
At present, Bayern's advantage in the Bundesliga table has been reduced from 9 points to 6 points, but the 25 goals conceded have been equal to Freiburg, even one more than Mainz. It is conceivable that the defensive problems surrounding Bayern have been constantly exposed, which has become the team's unconcealed weakness. As far as the players are concerned, Uppa Mecano has once again made consecutive mistakes in the game, and the new signing, who joined for 42.5 million euros, has clearly not been able to meet the team's requirements since coming to Bayern.
Looking back at the match against Hertha Berlin, Upamecano, who had just come off the bench, "assisted" the opponent's goal, and this game against Bochum was more of a handball delivery, blindly grabbing the target, watching the opponent score, so that Nagelsmann had arranged for the back player Toliso to warm up on the sideline in the middle of the first half.
In fact, Nagelsmann still did not have the courage to replace the obviously dysfunctional centre-back earlier – if he had done so earlier, Bayern might not have conceded three goals in the six minutes before half-time! Of course, Upame cannot, who was replaced at half-time, knew it was a punishment for him and took responsibility after the game: "I should react faster and adjust faster. ”
In a training session after the defeat, Nagelsman had a separate conversation with Upamecano. Some German media predict that It may be difficult for Upamecano to return to Bayern's starting lineup in the near future, and his technical characteristics (he likes to be "upper body" and prone to loss when defending) and personality problems are being infinitely magnified after the recent bad performance, and Nagelsman may find it difficult to accept that there is such a time bomb in the team lineup.
[After Alaba left, the Bayern defense completely lost leadership and command]
In addition to Upa Mecano's personal mistakes, the personal qualities of Bayern's other defenders were also questioned after the game.
Lucas, the "standard king" of Bayern history, is a hard-working player and dedicated tackler, but the brave defensive player on the field will need a commander on his side; another French international Pavard, who can also play full-back and center-back, has grown negligibly since joining Bayern.
Jules speaks German and is one of the longest-running defensive players at Bayern, and he can command the defence on the pitch, but the truth is that the players themselves lack charisma and leadership. Not to mention, due to the many unsatisfactory places in the contract renewal process, Jules has "officially announced" last week that it will join Bayern's strongest domestic rival Dortmund next season. This is really sad, the most reliable player in the Bayern defense today is already in Cao Yingxin.
By the way, Upa Mecano, Lucas and Pavard together cost Bayern €157.5 million in transfer fees, but the three French defenders did not really build Bayern's solid defence. At this time, the outside world is nostalgic for Alaba, who has left Bayern and joined Real Madrid. The reason for this is that Alaba was the real core of the Bayern defence, and his departure seems to have deprived the Bayern defence of its key commander.
Whether it's the rumored Christensen, Ginter, DeFerrey, or the existing defenders in the squad, the lack of leadership and command in the Bayern defence is now an indisputable fact. Next, whether this defensive line, which lacks the needle of the sea god and the lack of veteran pressure, can be carried at a critical moment of the season is undoubtedly a huge question mark.
【Single back system? It was a disaster! 】
If the poor play of the Bayern defense stems from personnel problems, then Bayern was once unable to collapse in this 2-4 defeat to Bochum, and it is not a player such as Upamecano who can "carry the pot", because Nagelsmann's ineffective starting change is the culprit.
You know, Nagelsman blindly and confidently adopted a 4141 starting formation in this game, with only Kimmich as a single back, while the front waist Muller had one more Sane on his side. After the game, the authoritative media "Kicker" wrote an article analyzing Bayern's tactical problems and questioning Nagelsman: After the three-centre-back system was changed to a four-back system, why was there no second back player?
According to the explanation, Nagelsman said that he did not want to sacrifice any good players on the offensive end, so he arranged for Sane and Muller to start at the same time to play double forwards. This has led some to believe that it is the lack of a partner at the back of the single back, which makes it very difficult for Bayern to move from attack to defense.
However, the "kicker" follow-up analysis, the second back player does not mean that there is always one more six-player in the backcourt - whether it is the previous Goretzka, or the recent Toliso, Nagelsman's system requires them to move forward when the team has the ball, and extends the chain of four-man at the offensive end led by Levan to the chain of five, so when the opponent counterattacks, bayern, even if the double back plays, there is actually only one six-man player left in the backcourt.
However, the more important value of the second back player is that he will avoid the team's simple goal of counterattack in front of the team! That's the most important thing, whether it's Goretzka or Tolisso, when playing the B2B role to press the attack into the third zone, not only will not lose the ball as often as the front-line players, but even the first interception after the teammates lose the ball - all this is obviously not what Sane and Müller's "double forwards" can do.
Not only that, but Mueller, who has been squeezed out of space, has nearly completed the worst game of the season. In the whole game, Müller completed 32 passes, of which as many as 20 appeared in his own half and all of them were biased to the right side of the team, but the success rate was only 48%! In addition, Müller has conceded the ball as many as four times without pressure, and 2 times in his own half. That is, Müller ceded the ball to the opponent as many as 20 times in the 64 minutes he played...
[Kimmich struggles, the lack of ability to shoot the ball in the midfield causes a burden on the organization]
If Mueller was almost completely lost after being grabbed space and position, then Kimmich, who played a single back in this game, struggled even more.
As we all know, Bayern's overall ability to play the ball has been greatly reduced since the departure of the centre-backs a combination of Boateng and Alaba at the same time last season. With the exception of Jules, who is about to leave the team, few defenders can pass to instigate and launch a team-wide offensive, which makes the back Kimmich have to take on a heavier organizational task.
What is even more fatal is that Bayern actually confidently set a single back in this game against Bochum, and Bochum's tactics since the beginning of the game are not conservative, and the whole team takes the initiative to press the formation forward and then adopt a high-level pressure tactic against Bayern. So, it's not hard to understand that Kimmich, who is a single back, was almost robbed of his direction by his opponents - throughout the game, Kimmich passed 85 times, and the success rate was only 76%, far below the season average of 87%.
When the team continues to lose the ball under the high pressure of the opponent, coupled with Bayern's choice of single back in this game, this makes the limited midfield constantly face the impact of the opponent's steal, and the lone kimishi can not provide barrier protection in front of the defense. As a result, Kimmich is not only difficult to contribute in terms of offensive organization, but also passive on the defensive end of the team, with 0 steals, 0 blocks and 0 clearances for the whole game.
When the "assist king" Müller of the five major leagues cannot play in the system of cocooning himself, and the core of the organization, Kimmich, becomes the target of the opponent's key siege, a fiasco is inevitable for Bayern. In this regard, I wonder whether Nagelsman is not satisfied with Mueller's own performance in the No. 10 position, or blindly believes that Kimmich alone can support the team's back position? Of course, such a tragic result is not only a sudden change of team and a defeat, but also a record for humiliating goal conceding in the history of the team.
[Conclusion: Nagelsman continues to live? 】
From Borussia Moncheng's 5-0 win over Bayern in the German Cup to the promotion of Ma Bochum's four-time half-time goal at bayern city gates, more and more teams seem to have found effective tactics to conquer this Bayern team. It is conceivable that when facing Bayern, an attacking team, the "swing bus" is basically ineffective. Therefore, the way to change the way - to launch a high-level oppressive defense against Bayern, the way of "treating others in the same way as others" has proved to be effective.
In the face of more and more strong opponents, Bayern itself seems to be still immersed in the "whole life". In particular, after Davis was injured, the "false three-centre-back" system that Bayern tried in the first half could not be continued, and Nagelsmann first designed the three-centre-back system of wing-backs to play wing-backs, and then directly changed to the 4141 formation last weekend, which is to ignore the 4231 inherent system left by many successful predecessors.
Facing a more formidable opponent in the Champions League, it is not clear whether Nagelsmann will continue to stubbornly abandon the 4231 system. However, no matter how his new squad is designed, there are many thorny issues that need to be carefully considered, such as: how to alleviate the organizational burden on Kimmich? How can I better integrate defensive players into the attack? And how to make this dangerous defense line no longer completely destroyed.