Bayern Munich are well known on the men’s side of the sport for their domination domestically. Year in year out they are the overwhelming favourites to claim the silverware on offer. However, on the women’s side, things are slightly different. VfL Wolfsburg have claimed the summit of the Frauen Bundesliga for some time now. They have one each of the last three league titles, and five out of the past seven. Bayern have been the only team to break Wolfsburg’s hold in this time, winning consecutive titles in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 campaigns.
In this tactical analysis scout report on Bayern Munich, we will take an in-depth look into their side and tactics. We will begin by looking at their structure and strengths of play, before going into the areas they have to improve upon to overtake their rivals once more to bring the league title back to Munich.
General set-up
Typically, we will see Bayern Munich utilise two main formations. The 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 are used over 60% of the time, and this majorly revolves around the implementation of their double pivot system. This midfield allows them to have success getting forward using the tactics we will go into detail about later in this piece.
At the centre of what Bayern work to implement is the use of the double pivot midfield system. While they will sometimes opt for formations such as the 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1, these are often used against specific opponents and how they are set up to defend against Bayern.
Even with a three in midfield, the main concepts used remain the same. The midfield keeps compact in order for the side to be expansive down the channels. As we will look at in this next section, Bayern look to overload the wide areas using their full-backs in order to break deep blocks in these areas, rather than trying to work possession through the centre of the pitch, where sides are better able to be compact.
Attacking the channels
Bayern Munich look to use their full-backs a significant amount in generating their attacking movements. As mentioned above, Bayern’s midfield set-up is a major part of these players having the freedom to play in such a manner. In this section, we will explain how this tactical set-up does this, and how Bayern utilise it.
The use of a double pivot is often most effective in giving full-backs the freedom to push forward into the attack. In major teams around the world, we can see the style of pivot used is normally dictated by the type of style the team uses. Jumping over to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team on the men’s side, they use a single pivot in their midfield. This is because most of their attacking intention comes through building possession into the more advanced number eight’s in the centre of the pitch. From here they will then look for opportunities to play out wide to their wingers, where they will typically be in one-v-one situations with their opposing full-back. With the attacking nature of this midfield structure, the full-backs are often used to tuck into the defensive structure to add solidity to the side against counter-attacks when possession is lost. The full-backs will still get forward but it is more situational.
Jean-Luc Vasseur’ Olympique Lyonnais side are built on the foundation of a double pivot in midfield. This structure is very similar to Bayern’s. Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood are two of the most effective attacking full-backs in the world, and they are given total freedom to move forward up the pitch to combine with the wingers. The double pivot holds their position in front of the defence to provide the protection against counter-attacks. These players are able to hold back because Lyon look to move possession forward using wide areas, rather than through the middle the majority of the time as we discussed with Guardiola’s side.
The same type of set up can be seen with Bayern Munich. As we mentioned in the initial section, regardless of the formation used by the German club, the intention of the midfield structure is to allow the full-backs the freedom to move forward. The likes of Simon, Gwinn, and Hendrich are all extremely dangerous from these deep positions. This has effects on how the side can set up further up the field as well. With the full-backs providing the width for the side quite often, the wingers are able to move into the middle of the pitch and make up for the lack of two advanced midfielders in this central area.
One specific role that is evident in Bayern’s system for the central midfielders is actually to drop into the position of a traditional full-back. This tactic presents a couple of difficulties for the opposition in terms of marking this Bayern system. Without the central midfielder making this movement, the outside midfielder for the opponent is able to drop deep with Bayern’s full-back and keep her marked. However, once the central midfielder takes this position away from her normal marker, it now forces the opposing wide midfielder to make a decision on who to mark.
The outside midfielder has two options. She can continue to track back with the full-back. The problem with this would be the potential of the central midfielder picking up possession now in plenty of space and able to move forward and look for ways to move the opponent’s defensive block. The outside midfielder can also stay forward and mark this central midfielder. However, with this, the attacking full-back is now free to move up the pitch unmarked and create a numerical superiority with her winger.
In the image above, we can see an example of this. Magull has dropped in from her central midfield position to the space on the right side of the defensive set-up. Acknowledging this, Gwinn moves forward to be in line with Bayern’s attack. You can see this decision the opposition’s outside midfielder now has to make. If she follows Gwinn, Magull will be left totally unmarked and able to dribble forward into the middle of Bayer Leverkusen’s defensive system.
