The transformation of Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola
"I've got no explanation, It's a mystery.” said Guardiola after the defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates which was the first Champions League defeat of their season. "In the second half we played well until the goal. In the end we played with a back three, we attacked everywhere, we had chances in the box, we had control, but in the end they scored two goals and we, none.”
"We had enough chances to win the match, or at least not to lose, but congratulations to Arsenal for the win and we will meet again in two weeks in Munich," These were the words of Pep Guardiola after losing at the Emirates ominously stating the theme of things to come two weeks later.
On Wednesday night, There was nothing more left to do than admire the sheer brilliance of Guardiola’s Bayern against a hapless Arsenal. Before Wednesday night, Bayern scored 29 goals in their seven home games this season, Robert Lewandowski at the fore of it and the second and third-best teams in the Bundesliga had conceded five goals apiece.
The Premier League’s joint best defence and one of Europe’s most in-form sides, Arsenal were torn apart by a rampaging Bayern Munich side at the Allianz Area. The best opposition faced thus far by Guardiola’s Bayern ended up with the same scoreline. 5-1 vs Dortmund. 5-1 vs Wolfsburg. 5-1 vs Arsenal.
A lot has been said about Guardiola’s system schooled and nurtured at La Masia yet ‘the brain’ set to work on an already triumphant treble winning Jupp Heynckes team of whom many thought had raised the bar high enough after their Champions eague triumph but Guardiola thought otherwise.
Employing the same strategies of possession based football, libero defenders, wingback wingers and a tenacious possession recycling strategy he set about implanting his philosophy into the core of Bayern’s team starting with captain Phillip Lahm. The rest followed suit, before long most players learnt to play multiple positions and liberalised the all-important role of a single player sacrificing rigidity for the sake of fluidity of his system.
Franz Beckenbauer and company perhaps had this blueprint in mind when they first sacked Heynckes for the Spaniard but the magnitude of the effect Guardiola had was underestimated – a complete transformation of the Bayern Munich we knew.
Style under Jupp Heynckes
Under previous boss Jupp Heynckes the formation was a more rigid and text book 4-2-3-1, a flat back four and two holding midfielders – current Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger/Toni Kroos and Javi Martinez while the remaining places were taken up by Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery/Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez/Mario Mandzukic.
In Heynckes’ system the creativity came from the wings as compared to the centre, and current Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos and Schweinsteiger played an integral role in supporting the attackers. Their typical plays involved long diagonals to the flanks from deep in midfield and then balls being dribbled or crossed into the centre without holding much possession and lesser passing as compared to other clubs there was much lesser play through the middle.
Speedy wingers would cut inside or go outside to the byline and cross the ball at pace for target men Gomez and Mandzukic. The team relied heavily on its central midfielders making deeper runs to attack balls crossed from out wide while the pivot of Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger made defending without the ball much easier.
One other characteristic was that the Bayern team under Heynckes were extremely well drilled and could operate for the entire 90 minutes at high levels, something which was a foundation for Guardiola to build upon.
Under Heynckes’ with his system Bayern won the treble of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Champions league in 2012-13 with much style and were regarded as one of the most feared teams in Europe.
Style under Guardiola
In came Pep Guardiola in 2013 and immediately went about making changes he shifted the 4-2-3-1 to a more dynamic 4-1-4-1 and he brought in Thiago Alcantara to exemplify his possession-based brand of football.
Guardiola plays only one holding player, thereby allowing him two creators and two wingers behind his lone centre-forward. The whole team plays further up the pitch, pressing hard from the front to win the ball back as quickly as possible, with a brisker tempo in possession as well.
His high pressure pressing tactics and off the ball recycling make Bayern dominate possession in almost all games, a stark contrast to the style under Heynckes. A tactic used by Bayern is to force opponents to the sides of the pitch and attempt to recover the ball and after recycling it start an attack immediately.
The possession-based play mean no defenders are at stand still often transforming them into liberos who are encouraged to get forward as much as possible. The high line and press without the ball and collective team press ensure most of the game is played in the oppositon half with a quick incisive passing game to build most attacks.
The wing play is also far from the text book crossing under Heynckes, the wingers usually dribble and drift inward freeing more space for the overlap not to cross but to stretch the play and free up more space in the centre of pitch. Keeping possession remains paramount.
Transformation of players roles are common under the Spaniard – Phillip Lahm into a holding midfielder, Javi Martinez into a centre-back and David Alaba into a winger/midfielder are some of the few.
As compared to Jupp Heynckes’ managed Bayern, under Guardiola creativity and fluidity are given greater importance as compared to rigidity of player roles in the system. Against Arsenal, Bayern were at their devastating best, a stunning display of athleticism and teamwork in perfect harmony. The rapid interchange of players, the work without the ball, the high press, the possession, the one-touch passing and the finishing – all perfectly executed
All their gameplay was straight out of the top draw – at the highest level of anything we have seen in the Champion’s league so far – something they managed without Arturo Vidal, Mario Gotze, Juan Bernat, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Mehdi Benatia or Holger Badstuber.
This is not Barcelona 2.0 but rather a formidable team coached using the style of play but a different entity in itself, one with lightning quick pace and a hunger to score goals from every position. Guardiola has dispensed with the players who could not execute the football he demands and signed younger, quicker ones like Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman in their place.
Arturo Vidal and Joshua Kimmich have been brought in to quicken the pace through the centre of midfield, while a fit, functioning Thiago Alcantara orchestrates from the centre. This Bayern team are more direct in getting to the final third and finish with decisiveness.
"Maybe [Guardiola] has changed it a bit," said captain Philipp Lahm "Now we have wingers like we had two years ago with Arjen [Robben] and Franck [Ribery] - players which you put in one-on-one situations, players who create space. Now we have again two more of this type of player, which we all know we have missed at crunch times in the past.
"We have more possibilities. By doing this we maybe have adjusted our game a little bit as you try to get these players in position. But we have not changed the way we play."
"We can play a back three or a back four, we can play with one or two support strikers, whatever," said Lahm. "I don't know how many systems we have. Our game is very flexible in any case,” a statement highlighting the brilliance of the Guardiola philosophy.
In all likelihood this team will come up against the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona against whom they have failed to win in the past but for now this Bayern side is delivering the goods and Guardiola has transformed and fine-tuned his side after one season to turn this Bayern Munich side into a European juggernaut.