Bundesliga 2021/22: how Marsch improved RB Leipzig’s pressing with a 3-5-2 – scout report

At the end of the last season, Julian Nagelsmann was announced to be the new Bayern Munich head coach, and his coaching staff were also brought to the Bundesliga champions. Then, RB Leipzig promoted Jesse Marsch as the head coach from RB Salzburg. The 48-year-old American head coach was deeply influenced by Bob Bradley and Ralf Rangnick, and his team was branded by intense pressing. Under Marsch, the PPDA of his Salzburg and Leipzig since 2019/20 were very low (5.88, 7.78, and 8.8).

Despite being highly rated and there were many expectations, Marsch’s start at Leipzig was beyond satisfaction. Partially the reason was because of the departure of experienced defenders such as Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté, another reason was the adaptation period between coaches and players. Although playing as many as nine different formations in Austria, Marsch was rather consistent with a 4-3-3 in his first few games to give players familiarity. However, the result was a bit disappointing as Leipzig merely achieved one win in the first five league games. One of the problems was the pressing, which they failed to stay compact and remain aggressive. Therefore, to better improved the team performance from this regard, Marsch introduced a back three system which gave the players more confidence to step up in the defensive phase. This tactical analysis is a scout report that compares the differences of the systems, and explain why the back three tactics would be a better choice at the moment.

Issues within a back four

Apart from the first five games, Marsch also reverted to the 4-3-3 formation in the match against SC Freiburg. However, that match ended in a 1-1 draw and they could not contain the oppositions, eventually conceding 1.29 xG and 15 shots.

Although Marsch’s defensive philosophy is ball-oriented with concepts of man-marking, the issue of the back four was the subject of space. In a 4-3-3, the first line was often stretched by the build-up (both vertically and horizontally) and the midfielders were detached, giving them difficulties to execute the trap and recover possession. Also, with two central defenders at the back only, they were afraid to step up and close spaces behind the midfield, which resulted in losing compactness in the defensive organization.

For example, in the above situation, Friberg had three players appearing behind the second line, and this would fix the Leipzig number six’s attention (Kevin Kampl) and dragged him down. The headache of Leipzig was the red space, when there was a striker to occupy the centre-backs, no one could step up to close that area, and that’s why Kampl must be aware of the players behind instead of going out to press.