37 goals in 9 games, Bundesliga Tactics/Excitement/Incompetence?
By Stanley Croyance
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After a modest opening round to the 2010/2011 Bundesliga season (28 goals in 9 games), the second round has to be one of the most extraordinary rounds in living memory. A mammoth 39 goals were scored, and with it, title contenders like Bayern Munich, Schalke, Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen all tasted defeat.

There have been some deriding this as an unprofessional league, lacking tactics and control, but these results are a positive consequences of having an open league.

Game 1: Bayern Munich travelling to newly promoted Kaiserslautern, and were part architects of their 2-1 defeat, missing many chances bynot making the right attacking decisions. The other part was the gameplan used by Marco Kurz (first season as a Bundesliga coach). His scheme was to try attack as much as possible on the left of the Bayern defence, capitalising on the relative inexperience of Badstuber and Contento, allied to the immobility of Van Buyten to close the gaps between him and Badstuber. Both goals came from breaks down the flanks, the first down the Bayern left where the defence was forced to shift, the second from the through ball between Badstuber and Contento. Van Gaal is a veteran tactician, and won a domestic double and runner up in the Champions League, but on this occasion, Kurz identified the weaknesses and took full advantage.

Game 2: Wolfsburg lost 3-4 to Mainz, again, both sides played their part. Mainz were put to the sword by Steve McClarens rampant system, Diego fitting back into the Bundesliga like a glove, helping his side to a 3-0 lead after 39mins. However Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel has shown he is a coach of considerable ability after a fine 9th placed finish last season after being newly promoted (including a 2-1 win over Bayern Munich). Whilst they were lucky in getting the first goal, the other 3 that won the game were all crafted on flooding the midfield with runners. Tuchel’s midfield out numbered Wolfsburg’s, 5 vs 3, and this ensured that the strikers had the space to isolate the nervous Simon Kjaer who was at fault for 3 of the 4 goals. McClaren is derided in his native England, but he won the Dutch league, so has some recent ability, maybe he reacted too late to the Mainz onslaught, but Tuchel shown acumen to swing the tie for his side.

Game 3: Bayer Leverkusen lost 3-6 to Borussia Monchengladbach, and to my eyes, it seemed like Leverkusen were England, Gladbach Germany. Jupp Heyneckes is not a tactical novice, he's won the Champions League and last season this side lost their first match after game 25 in March. On the opposite bench, Michael Frontzeck has a big history as a loser coach, taking Aachen and Bielefeld to 2.Bundesliga, it would take a big effort to win the game. However in the same fashion Joachim Loew surprised the everyone in the 2010 World Cup, Frontzeck announced his candidacy as his acolyte with a replica 4-2-3-1 formation, full of ability-creativity and mobility, which was enough to undo the Leverkusen slow legged 4-4-2. Maybe Heynckes never expected the devastating counter attacking potential of Reus-Herrmann-Arango-Idrissou, the rest of the league will have learned now.

Game 4: In the Stuttgart 1-3 loss to Dortmund, again, one must praise the tactics of the victor, although it also needs a dishonourable mention of the management of the losers. Jurgen Klopp was dubbed the ‘White Obama’ for his rhetoric and energized coaching style, his team have become a functional and solid unit able to score a variety of goals. Swiss Kojak aka Christian Gross saved the Swabians last season, and in February destroyed Dortmund 4-1. So what has changed? Dortmund were ruthless in attack, scoring their 3 goals in 37 mins, capitalising on the poor showing of Boulharouz on the right with Schmelzer and Grosskreutz terrorising him relentlessly. Simple job for Dortmund. Stuttgart, they have had two significant sales in the last year, Gomez (€30m), Khedira (€14m). From these proceeds, the players (not many) bought in haven’t taken the club forward, and with morale low (loss to Mainz and struggling in the DFB Cup against low opponents) it is a matter of time before someone else runs up a tally against them.

As a football fan, the Bundesliga is a dream to watch, the technique and tactics are of a high level, the philosophy is positive, the narrative captivates, and you get what you want in this sport, unpredictability.
2  Comments
30.08.2010 06:38
Awesome, how's Dortmund gonna end up in your opinion, Stan?
30.08.2010 14:21
Cheers! Hard to really predict where Dortmund will finish, Klopp rarely changes his tactics, if that is figured out, then progress may be stunted. I'd say 6th place at best, the other teams have bigger prospects with their budgets, but Shinji Kagawa could be a break out star this season.
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