Bayer Leverkusen have been an impressive season, unbeaten in 41 games in all competitions, and are just one step away from winning the Bundesliga for the first time in 119 years, reaching the final of the German Cup and reaching the last eight of the Europa League in their bid to become Germany's treble.
They have struggled at the bottom of the table at the beginning of last season to soar this season, and the biggest difference is coach Xavi Alonso. At the end of last year, the editor wrote a series of "European football visions" on the fall of Lyon and Ajax, as well as the sudden rise of Leverkusen and Girona, after a few months, Lyon has returned to the middle of the stream, Ajax is trying to compete for European qualification, Girona fell to the third place in La Liga, only Leverkusen can still keep the unbeaten golden body, and is expected to be the historic Bundesliga king. At the time, the article outlined what Xavi Alonso had changed for Bayer Leverkusen, and this attempt focused on a tactical analysis of how Bayer Leverkusen's style of play this season has transformed their performance.
Xavi Alonso was second from bottom in the Bundesliga when Xavi Alonso took charge in October 2022 and has since gradually locked his squad into a 3-4-2-1 formation, with three centre-backs in all Bundesliga games this season, with only a few Europa League matches using a back four.
Defensive changes: Establish a five-man defensive system
For any team to win the championship in a long league, it is more important to defend than to attack. From relegation to unbeaten in the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen have conceded just 19 goals in the league, far fewer than arch-rivals Bayern Munich (29). Looking at the goal figures alone, the "pharmaceutical factory" is actually 11 goals less than Bayern, and their offensive performance has certainly been reborn under the coaching of Xavi Alonso, but the main reason why Bayer Leverkusen can become an undefeated division is actually a solid defense.
Xavi Alonso's arrangement is to establish a five-man defence, and when the team moves from attack to defence and decides not to press high posts, the two wing-backs will move back to form a five-man defence with the three centre-backs.
Two midfielders will be behind to protect the middle and the top of the box, while three frontline players will cover the line on the perimeter and force the opposition to attack from the wings. Under this system, the Bayer Leverkusen defence has a numerical advantage most of the time, and the team will only organize an attack if they make sure that they are not easily torn apart by the opponent.
Organizational change: first slow and then fast
According to the Opta chart, Bayer Leverkusen is the slowest and most complex in the entire Bundesliga. Unless a quick counter-attack is launched, the team will slowly organize from the back. For the most part, Jeremy Frimpong, who plays at right-wing-back, will come forward, with three centre-backs moving to the right and left wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo returning to the back to form a back four.
Once this transition is complete, attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz will be tasked with tearing down the defence, finding space with the ball in the middle and having the most freedom to dribble. Against Heidenheim in February, the opposition allowed him to carry the ball freely between the midfield line and the back line on a number of occasions, and he ended up providing Bayer Leverkusen with one assist and four key passes.
After entering the opposition half, although Bayer Leverkusen has the ability to control the ball, the overall attack tends to be fast and not muddy, and the players do not hesitate to pass risky straight lines, and will immediately launch a small area after failure.
Especially when the strength of the straight line is slightly stronger, and the opposing player has to turn to face the goal, this is also the success of the "pharmaceutical factory" in pressing high this season. According to statistics, they have won the ball 6.6 times per game in Final Third, ranking first in the Bundesliga.
Offensive method: do not blindly cross, mainly on the ground
When looking at the essence, I believe many people will have an impression of the clip of Leverkusen's wings flying together, this team often creates overload (overload, that is, to play more and create a numerical advantage in two ways), but in fact, the average number of crosses per game is lower than the average of the Bundesliga.
At the beginning of December last year, the official website of the Bundesliga counted Leverkusen's attacking style. They do tend to flank into Final Third, but the delivery of goals comes mainly from the middle, with 38 per cent on the left side and 18 per cent on the wings.
Although they don't blindly cross, it doesn't mean that they will only attack from the middle, and the more common picture is that Bayer Leverkusen organizes attacks on both sides, lures the opposing defenders out of the penalty area, tears the defense near the K corner, and then creates opportunities from it, one of the advantages of this style of play is that it is less likely to be counterattacked.
A bold offensive mode that is not afraid to make mistakes
Under Xavi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen are bold in attack and are not afraid to make mistakes. In fact, from the comparison of the following three average data per game, we can see the offensive context of this team: 1.3 times in the middle, 0.62 times in the Bundesliga, 17.44 crosses, 17.77 times in the Bundesliga, 2.67 times in a straight line, and 1.48 times in the Bundesliga. (Data from xvalue)
Whether or not he will press high after losing possession depends on factors such as position and number of players. For example, after a corner kick is over, the Leverkusen defenders will return to the defensive position to prevent counterattacks, and there will be fewer miscommunication errors in the front, middle and back.
Bayer Leverkusen attack the core of the three
Xavi Alonso's tactics were successful, and three key players had to be mentioned: left-attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, left-wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo and right-wing-back Jeremie Frimpong.
Talented midfielder: Florian Wirtz
Florian Wirtz plays as a left-sided midfielder, but he has a lot of freedom and can see the German anywhere in attack. Although he is only 20 years old, he is highly skilled and ranks in the top 10 of the Bundesliga in terms of successful dribbles and chances created per game. He has made 39 appearances in the Bundesliga, German Cup and Europa League this season, scoring 14 goals and providing 18 assists, making him the team's strongest attacking weapon.
Under Xavi Alonso's tactical system, Florian Wirtz will occasionally take the initiative to join the attack on the right flank, thus causing an overload. However, he is best at breaking through the middle or passing a very dangerous straight line, as mentioned above, and Bayer Leverkusen has been dominated by attacking from the middle.
Cutting wingback: Alejandro Grimaldo
Alejandro Grimaldo, who is currently tied for first place in the Bundesliga for assists, is a Spanish player who came from the Barcelona Academy academy and only came from Benfica this season to fit in with coach Xavi Alonso and can play the role of a popular playmaker in the game at left wing-back.
Due to his skillful and level-headed skills, he is also very dangerous in his movements, so he will not only be included in the middle to help play, but he will also often appear at the top of the opposition penalty area and even cut into the ground.
Alejandro Grimaldo has scored nine goals in the Bundesliga this season, second only to striker Victor Okoh Boniface (10 goals), and he is also tied with Bayern's Leroy Sane and Borussia Dortmund's Julian Brandt for the league's top assists with 11 assists.
Wingback: Jeremy Frimpong
Compared to Alejandro Grimaldo, Jeremy Frimpong, who plays as a right wing-back, has a much simpler role: he only waits for a pass on the right side of the attack, tears through the opposition defence with his speed and dribbling ability, and is more like a winger.
Bayer Leverkusen have been a threat to their fast break this season, and Jeremy Frimpong's speed is a big reason. Against Bayern Munich in February, Xavi Alonso sent him as a substitute, and made a number of counter-attacks to make the opponent's defense loud, and also scored the third goal for the team. He has scored 12 goals and provided 11 assists in 36 appearances this season, including eight in the Bundesliga.
Summary: Xavi Alonso's human-centred magic
As can be seen from the above, Leverkusen has not been particularly innovative in terms of tactics this season. The biggest change in their winning streak is the back five and two midfielders stabilizing the back, while in attack, the most powerful ones are pressing up front and overloading on the wings, but they are relatively common in today's football, with the occasional centre-back overlapping that was the preserve of Sheffield United and Atalanta.
However, it can be seen that Xavi Alonso has set a relatively clear policy and process for the team, from "attacking> attacking to defending> defending> to defending to attacking", these four steps are closely interlinked, and all have a clear direction, even if other substitutes come on, the team can operate in a general way, and adjust the style of play according to the characteristics of different players.
Focusing on improving the defence, reusing two young players, Florian Wirtz and Jeremy Frimpong, to create an attack, and enriching the team's attacking routine with new signing Alejandro Grimaldo, is exactly the skill of "watching the food and eating" as a coach. He does not pay attention to how to use the space of the stadium like several famous coaches, but intuitively "people-oriented", and "plays a good cost performance at a very low price" under limited resources.
Jose Mourinho has praised Xavi Alonso's high ball quotient, saying that he has played under a number of famous coaches, and can learn the tactical thinking of different coaches, and will make a good coach. Mourinho's defensive counterattack, Pep Guardiola's ground control passes, and Ancelotti's "food and food" can all be glimpsed in this Bayer Leverkusen team.
Although the tactics were not particularly innovative, Bayer Leverkusen showed unity and consistency in carrying out the above four steps. It can be said that discipline is also Xavi Alonso's military magic, after all, tactics are dead, people are alive, the point is that under the leadership of the Spanish coach, the team can play the tactical effect he wants, which is the most valuable place.
Will Xavi Alonso's magic last season?
There has been a lot of speculation about whether Xavi Alonso will stay next season and which team he will coach, but he has announced that he will stay on the job, so the question for him and Bayer Leverkusen has changed to "will they be able to maintain their standards next season"?
Foreign media believe that he has little chance of leading the team to defend the title next season, one of the reasons is that Bayern has decided to change the coach, Bayern is unstable under the leadership of Thomas Tuchel this season, and it is not known who the new coach is, and the foreign media are generally optimistic.
To a certain extent, Bayer Leverkusen has been unbeaten this season, with a certain "morale balloon" component, which has a certain similarity with Leicester City's fairy tale of winning the Premier League title back then. Recently, the "pharmaceutical factory" has fallen into defeat in the league and cup competitions, and it is all due to the fighting spirit of the players who won or tied at the end of the game, in fact, we can already see that they are gradually tired and a little relaxed.
Jeremy Frimpong's eye-catching performances this season have attracted the attention of many big clubs, with Bayern rumoured to be interested in prying off the right wing-back, while Florian Wirtz, who has been heavily used by the German national team, recently scored the opening seven seconds against France, and it is not surprising that a big club beckoned to him given his young age.
Whether Bayer Leverkusen can achieve another good result next season depends on whether they can keep the main lineup, a certain degree of personnel changes are inevitable, once the main force is pried away, can the new recruits quickly integrate?
The road to the title next season will not be easy, and it is time to test the skills of Xavi Alonso.