In this set of three analyses, I have given a brief tactical analysis of all 18 teams in the Bundesliga.
I teamed up with Zoltan Toth, an excellent data analyst who also writes for the site, and he created these fantastic graphs to highlight every team’s performances based on the same set of metrics.
The yellow in these graphs show possession and this is based on a team’s overall possession percentage along with the number of passes they play per 90. The dark blue part of the graph represents a team’s direct play, combining the number of long passes and progressive passes a team plays per 90. The green, individual progression, also shows the amount of 1v1’s and progressive runs a team makes per 90. The light blue, showing a team’s final third threat, shows the number of touches a player on that team takes before shooting on average, as well as their expected goal minus their expected goal chain. And finally the red, which shows pressing efficiency, combines their PPDA along with their defensive duel success percentage.
In this final part of the series, I will give an analysis of the tactics used by Paderborn, RB Leipzig, Schalke, Union Berlin, Werder Bremen, and Wolfsburg.
Paderborn
Steffen Baumgart was told before the season that regardless of how this season went, he wouldn’t lose his job. That’s a mature approach from the board, as Baumgart is an excellent coach, working on a shoestring budget. Paderborn have grown a reputation of finding hidden gems for little to no transfer fee, and last summer Sorting Director Markus Krösche was pinched by RB Leipzig for the same role, replacing the legendary Ralf Rangnick. But Krösche oversaw a programme which looked to bring in undervalued talents and get the most of them, helping Paderborn work their way back up the leagues, and several of these players will no doubt move this summer for far more than Paderborn paid.
This season they have considerably underperformed their expected points total, which suggests that luck has not been on their side, but truthfully it would take a miracle for them to stay up this season as they languish at the bottom of the table on 16 points.
