It has been an interesting eight months at FC Koln, where they have managed to work their way through three managers. First, it was Markus Anfang, sacked in the closing stages of the 2018/19 season as Koln looked to be faltering in the run-in towards the climax of the 2. Bundesliga campaign. They brought in Achim Beierlorzer to right the ship and ensure promotion. He achieved that goal, but after languishing too long in the lower echelons of the Bundesliga, and with the risk of losing touch with the rest of the pack, they once again pulled the plug.
Eyebrows were raised upon the appointment of Markus Gisdol who has had a relatively steady if unspectacular managerial career thus far. Yet there can be no doubt that Gisdol has turned things around in Koln.
His tenure started with a difficult 4-1 loss to RB Leipzig, a draw against Augsburg and another loss to Union Berlin. Since then they have beaten Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Werder Bremen. In their last four games, they scored seven, whilst keeping two clean sheets.
This tactical analysis will look at the tactics used by Gisdol to gain such success in such a short space of time.
Are there any obvious changes that have occurred?
Initially, I wanted to title this article “What Koln are doing differently under Markus Gisdol”, but that would perhaps be overstating things. For Koln seem to be doing a lot of what they’ve been doing all season, but under Gisdol they are just doing it better. As a coach, his overarching philosophy is probably very similar to that of Beierlorzer. He likes to be direct in possession, and create openings to play forward quickly, and break the lines effectively. Gisdol has likely looked at what Koln did well under Beierlorzer whilst added in some minor changes to help them improve as a side.
Under Beierlorzer Koln used a 4-2-3-1 formation more frequently as the season progressed, and Gisdol has continued to use this.
A glance at the statistics in Gisdol’s short reign thus far show that overall there is little difference to what Koln are doing in the attack, albeit there are slight improvements.
They are averaging 0.66 more shots per game, taking shots slightly closer to goal, and have minimally improved in their xG, although it is early days.
Defensively there are more noticeable improvements. They are allowing three fewer shots on goal per game, and also fewer shots on target, which would go some way to explaining their three clean sheets in Gisdol’s six games in charge, and they continue to press high as they did under Beierlorzer.
Kolns pressing structure
Under Beierlorzer Koln were renown for an aggressive press and as mentioned above, that hasn’t changed. Gisdol puts an emphasis on protecting the central spaces and when out of possession, Koln take up a particularly narrow shape.
The press will often present itself still in the 4-2-3-1 formation, with the initial press coming in the form of a front three. However, the central player in the front three that are pressing, will generally avoid pressing the central defenders. Instead, they will sit a little deeper, blocking the initial central passing lane, and forcing the defenders to pass laterally as the analysis below shows.
It is as this point where he will be supported by his teammates who will press the defender who has received in a wider area, whilst the other two balance the press and forms a screen centrally, as the image below shows.
