A first glimpse at Jesse Marsch’s RB Leipzig as they comfortably saw off Sandhausen – tactical analysis

As is tradition, the first round of the DFB Pokal opened the season for teams in the Bundesliga, and although Sandhausen have already played twice in the 2. Bundesliga, losing both fixtures, this was our first glimpse of what RB Leipzig look like, not under departed manager Julain Naglesmann (now at Bayern Munich), but under new man in charge, American, Jesse Marsch.

Of course, Marsch is well known to followers of Red Bull football, given his season with Red Bull Salzburg and time before that with New York Red Bulls. As such, before you even see a Marsch side play, you can probably guess what they’ll look like, with healthy servings of intense pressing and vertical, passing football. It’s difficult to tell too much about his Leipzig team from their first offering, particularly seeing as they had well over 70% possession, an unusual amount for a team under the Red Bull banner, but we did see flashes of what is likely to come.

This tactical analysis will provide an in-depth analysis of the key tactics Marsch used in his first game in charge, as Leipzig ran out 4-0 winners on the day.

Formations and line-ups

Sandhausen operated in a 3-4-2-1, dropping into a back five when defending deep, with the front five remaining compact close to the defence. The double-pivot and the two attacking midfielders in front aimed to keep the centre of the pitch compact, which had mixed success over the course of the game. 

Leipzig chose to field a very strong starting XI, in a 4-2-3-1 with Mohamad Simakan and Andre Silva coming in at centre-back and centre-forward, respectively, for their first competitive games for their new team.