Julian Nagelsmann has ticked off his first defeat in a competitive match as coach of FC Bayern – and, as he says, worked through it. The head coach revealed on Friday what should change ahead of the top-of-the-table clash with second-placed Leverkusen on Sunday.
Munich go into Sunday’s top match in Leverkusen as league leaders and favourites. Nevertheless, the record champions are warned. After all, their rivals Bayer are playing an equally strong season so far. The two teams are level on points, with the FCB having the better goal tally (24:7 compared to 20:7). With the exception of the opening game in Mönchengladbach (1:1) and the last game against Frankfurt (1:2), coach Nagelsmann’s team has been able to rely on its offensive.
But when this efficiency fails to materialise and Robert Lewandowski also fails to score against the opponent’s keeper, other elements of the game are called for. There were indications that not everything was going well yet. Already in Fürth (3:1) or against Kiev (5:0) there were moments that the coach did not like. The 1:2 against Frankfurt “had some parallels”, he says: “The opponent had situations that we didn’t solve optimally. “
They were often thwarted by the incredibly attentive Manuel Neuer, who intercepted balls far outside his penalty area and once again presented himself as a classy libero. “That’s why we worked through the game against Frankfurt again,” Nagelsmann explained. Not emotionally, to open wounds, but purely in terms of content, because it was “always the same” things that could be observed.
Five players faster than 35 km/h: Watch out for Leverkusen’s sprinters
What exactly is it about? “About positions in possession of the ball,” says the 34-year-old. Especially in offensive football. That’s where the basis is laid, whether you stand in the right position when you lose the ball in order to get the ball back as quickly as possible in counter-pressing. “The activity in your own possession automatically influences the activity when you lose the ball,” is Nagelsmann’s formula: “If you have a good level of activity with the ball, you will stand so well that you will get the ball back quickly.”
And that, he said, is enormously important, especially against the fast Leverkusen side. Because Gerardo Seoane’s team “is very dangerous on the counter-attack”, says the Bayern coach, they have “an extreme amount of speed in the full-back positions”, plus “five players who run over 35 km/h, that’s not so slow”. And he also knows that FC Bayern often got into trouble when the back chain, which was often wide open, was overplayed with interface passes or chip balls and the centre-backs were forced into one-on-one running duels.
In order to reduce this danger, “the rest of the defence will be very important,” says Nagelsmann. The midfielders are already in demand – on the wing as well as in the centre. They are responsible for ensuring that the counter-pressing starts early enough. In this case, the four-man defensive chain is only the last link in the prevention tactics.
The game in Leverkusen will be a test in any case and show whether the team has learned the lessons from the Frankfurt defeat. A win – and the Munich autumn shines again. Another defeat, on the other hand, would raise a few first grey clouds.