FC Bayern vs FC Barcelona analysis: Bayern need to wake up
left a very weird image of the German champions, as the La Liga giants exposed some of the weaker points of Nagelsmann’s side and confirmed their recent performances weren’t a fluke.
| Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
A 2-0 victory, some very good individual performances and solid composure and focus during the match.
However, Tuesday’s match showed everyone this Bayern aren’t the team that slaughtered their rivals two seasons ago; Barcelona exposed some things that Julian Nagelsmann and the club have to work on if they want to compete with the best this season.
It’s true possession or having the most chances is worthless if you don’t win, but Barcelona coach Xavi was right when he said the La Liga giants were the better team for a large spell of the match.
The result shouldn’t blind the analysis of the game for either side, and the truth is Bayern were lucky Lewandowski wasn’t his usual self and that Nagelsmann proved his tactical eye by recognizing the weak link Sabitzer was in the midfield.
Even Oliver Kahn put the match into context and pointed the bad phases of the match to Bild in the post-match interview: "We should not exaggerate things again and fall into euphoria. You saw what kind of football we can play in some phases. Nevertheless, there are still phases in which we can play better"
Their defense is not solid
Bayern’s defense is unbalanced.
On one flank, the left one, you have the combination of the best left-back and one of the best central defenders in the game with Alphonso Davies and Lucas Hernández.
But the other side it’s a completely different story.
Benjamin Pavard’s performances have been quite irregular during his spell at Bayern despite this season’s improvement, and even himself said his preferred position is center-back, while Noussair Mazraoui is still gaining competitive rhythm, so we still have to wait, but did very well when he substituted the Frenchman.
Dayot Upamecano is still a prospect player, although he’s turning 24 this October and time is running out for him, but it’s hard to label him as ready for matches like this.
He is a physical presence and his ability to break lines with his dribbling makes him very valuable, but Upamecano still has a lot to learn defensively.
He struggled whenever he had to battle with Lewandowski in the air and still doesn’t get the right timing to step up and anticipate the movements. He did make some great blocks and last-man covers, but his positioning and lack of anticipation allowed several attacks.
What’s even more intriguing is Matthijs De Ligt’s time on the bench, as the Dutch defender holds all the physical and offensive traits Upamecano gives to the team except for the speed, but is an improvement to the Frenchman when it comes to intangibles and maturity.
The midfield
As Leon Goretzka said after the match, it was absolutely expected for Sabitzer to start and that was clear in everybody’s eyes.
What was also clear is that the pair Sabitzer-Kimmich might work for the Bundesliga, but on European nights they can’t play together.
It might be that the Austrian midfielder had a night-off, but you can’t allow that at that level and against that rival.
Sabitzer was constantly off position to regain the second balls and slow to cut the attacks with the counter-pressing.
Bayern in general terms were slow in the activation after losing possession, giving the sense they’re lacking intensity.
If the idea was to have him to give Kimmich more attacking freedom, it didn't work, and the Austrian didn't provide much of a constant box-to-box presence.
It was clear both number 6s were worried about the counter-attacks directed towards Dembele or Raphinha, but they were stuck in no-man's land most of the time between trying to press quickly to recover/cut the counter-attack and tracking back.
Nagelsmann’s tactics
Aside from the selection of the starting XI, Julian Nagelsmann took some decisions regarding the setting of the team.
Defensively Bayern played a 4-4-1-1 in a middle-block with Sadio Mané acting down the left and Jamal Musiala behind Thomas Müller leading the pressing.
This set-up with Mané down the left flank made sense and worked fairly well; the Senegalese forward has a lot more stamina and a bigger defensive work rate than Müller and allows to keep Musiala in central positions.
Plus, having Mané down the wing made Jules Koundé think twice whenever considering overlapping Raphinha.
However, during the first half, Pedri and Gavi were able to receive the ball in the half spaces and turn around quite frequently, Kimmich danced with Pedri when Bayern waited as a middle block, but Barcelona’s quick circulation of the ball and Lewandowski’s movements made it hard for Bayern to identify the attacks.
The defensive transitions were worrying at times too, the speed of the opponents indeed made it hard, but Bayern’s defensive transitions weren’t performed as a unit.
It gave the feeling Der Rekordmeister were a fractioned team during the transitions, offensively they attacked with four-five players and defensively only 6 returned quickly in the transition.
Could not cope with Barcelona’s initial pressing
Xavi elected to go very high with the pressing at the Allianz Arena; something that seemed to shock Bayern and Nagelsmann a bit, as they were not able to sort it out.
Lewandowski started the press down the middle as Pedri and Gavi followed him to close passing lines to Kimmich and Sabitzer, forcing Hernandez and Upamecano to play to the flank where Raphinha and Dembele were ready to jump to force a long pass.
Bayern attempted to make the field longer by pushing Müller and Mane up and Musiala trying to be the link-up, but all 4 of Barca’s defenders were efficient in denying turnarounds and second plays and Bayern’s lack of a target man made it harder for the Germans.
Sadio Mané won a couple of duels with his back to the goal against Jules Koundé, but couldn’t hold the ball in the same situation against Araujo; the Uruguayan was too big of a presence for Mane to hold the ball there.
Mané and Sané couldn't attack the spaces behind Barca's defensive line as all the line was quick on their feet to close the spaces and read the runs; they missed Coman in these situations as the Frenchman’s speed and dribbling are a differential factor.
The overload in the center lanes of the attack made Barcelona’s defensive job easier, as Bayern weren’t pinning their fullbacks wide enough to create space between them and the center-backs.
Bayern won, they’ll probably end up winning the group, and showed composure by holding off on the edge of the cliff.
But there are a good amount of things that surely will keep Julian Nagelsmann and the board awake.
The team that was a sledgehammer attacking and defending with all 11 men and dominating their rivals seems to be gone.
