Can Pep Guardiola succeed with the 3-4-3 system at Bayern Munich?
Since the success of Juventus in Italian Serie A under former manager Antonio Conte to ?the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the 3-5-2 and its variants have been enjoying a new lease of life. Now as the new season has commenced, he have already witnessed its execution in the Premier League with Van Gaal’s Manchester United and even Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich using variants of the three centre back formation.
Pep Guardiola, the Bayern Munich manager has earned the reputation of being a tactical freak and an innovator. He deserves full credit for the revolution that is tiki-taka. He has continued to implement other novel tactical ideas during his time at Bayern as well, the best of which was the amphi-positional use of his full backs during the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter finals last year.
And he is at it again! He has been setting out a 3-4-3 and a 3-3-3-1 formation this season. Will he succeed in implementing it smoothly? Or will he ditch it mid-season to play his more tried and tested 4-1-4-1? We attempt to answer those questions during the course of this article.
Pep’s use of the 3-4-3 at Barca
This season is not the first time we have seen Pep Guardiola trying out the 3-4-3. He implemented it at Barcelona in one-off matches to counter the opponent's strengths. But the sample size is too small to make a comprehensive judgement of whether it was a success or a failure.
He rolled out the 3-4-3 in the opening game of the 2011-12 season against Villareal. He was without his first choice defenders in Alves, Puyol and Pique. So he decided to use Abidal, Busquets and Mascherano in a 3- man defence with Busquets the sweeper, Abidal and Mascherano flanked him. His line up had no designated full backs or wing back. Keita was the holding midfielder, Thiago and Iniesta the shuttlers and Fabregas was the attacking midfielder of the lot.
This worked perfectly against Villareal.Villareal used 2 strikers, so the three man defence was perfect to counter them. Two on two with the sweeper being the spare man. Their full backs were never allowed to venture forward due to Barcelona's dangerous wingers and their midfield was matched 4 vs 4. Barcelona comfortably won the game 5-0.
So Pep Guardiola has used the system to good effect earlier.
Cut to Bayern Munich
The 3-4-3 and the 3-3-3-1 formations have been utilised by Pep since the pre-season and it has continued in the DFB Pokal and also the Bundesliga season opener against Schalke where it was a 3-3-3-1.
Xabi Alonso played the Busquets' role as the sweeper- the centre of the three man defence. He was flanked by Badstuber on the left and Boateng on the right. Alonso was very effective in his role, spraying passes around, long balls over the defence etc. This was the first three in the 3-3-3-1.
The next three comprised of one holding midfielder in Rode who was accompanied by Lahm and Bernat who were the designated wingbacks.
Making up the last three were the interchangeable attackers Shaqiri, Muller and Gotze. Lewandowski was up top.
Everything clicked for Bayern in the first half of the game. They literally toyed around with the Schalke defence and got in behind quite easily with through balls and long balls over the top of the defence. There were lots of passes exchanged in central areas and late runs were being made which caused a lot of damage. Bayern scored a good goal through Lewandowski and should have had more for their efforts.
The defensive part of the formation was smooth too. Bayern effectively blocked out Schalke's passing options and regularly won back possession. They also made a conscious effort to stifle Schalke in the middle and stop them from creating from the flanks.
It all changed in the second half though, as Bayern were given a taste of their own medicine. Schalke started cutting off supply to the Bayern attackers in the central channels and the Bayern attackers were reluctant to move wide. Schalke equalized and had the better of the second half. The game ended 1-1.
Few of the Bayern admitted to being extremely fatigued in the second half and it showed as the runs and the movement stopped. Bayern were also missing key personnels like Schweinsteiger, Thiago, Robben, Ribery and Alaba. Once all of them return the whole picture should be a lot more clear.
Predicting the 3-4-3:
The signing of defensive machine Mehdi Benatia is a huge boost for Bayern and should easily help them to cope with the long term injury of Javi Martinez who slotted in very well into the sweeper role. Benatia can play a variety of roles and excel in all of them. He could slot in as a direct replacement for Martinez in the sweeper role. He can also play in the right centre back role.
Boateng, Benatia and Badstuber are my choice for the three man defence. Boateng the sweeper and Badstuber and Benatia the left and right centre backs respectively. The 3-4-3 formation requires defenders who are good on the ball and three satisfy that requirement. Dante had a disastrous last season and should get the drop in my opinion.
In Lahm and Alaba, Bayern have two of the world's best full backs. Adding to their obvious quality is their immense versatility. They can both play in the midfield, as full backs, wing backs and also as wide centre backs. This gives Pep a lot of options and tactical flexibility. Pep has shown a liking for playing both of them in midfield at various times. But playing both Lahm and Alaba in midfield when the likes of Schweinsteiger, Alonso, Thiago and Rode are available seems implausible. Ideally, playing in the wingback positions suits their natural qualities immensely and that is where I see them playing. But Pep will occasionally use one of them in midfield as he does have Bernat and Rafinha as more than able deputies for the wingback roles.
The prospect of Alonso and Schweinsteiger in the same team is mouth watering, two of the most influential deep-lying playmakers of this generation. But they are quite similar and I feel there is a place for only one of them in the line-up, paired with Thiago Alacantara. Thiago brings in a great passing range, good dribbling ability and most importantly drive from midfield. Sebastian Rode has also impressed and will be used occasionally when a more defensive option is needed.
The attacking trio is where Pep is spoilt with a wealth of world class players. Muller, Robben, Ribery, Gotze and Shaqiri are all world class and are stars in their own right. Each brings different traits into the team though. But given the task of picking two out of them, it has to be Robben and Ribery with Lewandowski up front. Robben brings pace, dribbling and goals along with his knack of turning up in big games. Ribery is unstoppable on his day. Muller and Gotze will play prominent roles too, but the first choices are surely Robben and Ribery.
In Lewandowski, Pep has the most complete striker in world football right now. He can play as the target man who will finish off chances. He can also get involved in the build up play and create chances for teammates. Against teams trying to mark him tightly with two centre backs, I expect him to play the false nine role and bring his team mates into play by drawing away defenders.
Conclusion
In this whole discussion of tactics, systems and formations we should not forget that we are talking about Bayern Munich of all teams. A squad which boasts of some of the best players in world football, the likes of Schweinsteiger, Lewandowski, Lahm, Benatia, Ribery, Robben, Alonso, Muller and Gotze. The biggest strength of both the Bayern squad and their manager is their flexibility- the ability the players have in playing different positions in different systems and still perform well. These players can make even the poorest of systems look good. But since we are on it, I personally see no reason why the 3-4-3 will not work for Bayern Munich and Pep Guardiola. Bayern Munich has all the ingredients to make the 3-4-3 work.