After a disappointing 21/22 campaign, VfL Wolfsburg moved quickly to appoint Niko Kovac as the man to take over from Florian Kohfeldt.
The Green-and-Whites have appointed the former Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt head coach on a three-year deal until 2025.
The Berlin-born manager, who is Croatian through his family, is returning to the Bundesliga after a stint in France with Ligue 1 side Monaco.
Although he was sacked in January after falling out with sporting director Paul Mitchell, his spell at the Stade Louis II was considered a success.
In his first and only full season in charge, he took them from being relegation candidates to title contenders by finishing third with a 63%-win rate.
However, his biggest achievements have come as a Bundesliga coach, where he won the league and cup double with Bayern Munich in the 2018/19 season as well as the DFB Cup victory with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018.
This article will be a tactical analysis of Niko Kovac’s tactics and style of play.
We will focus on his attacking and defensive tactics and provide an insight into the tactical trends the Wolfsburg fans can expect to see at the Volkswagen Arena this coming season.
Niko Kovač Formation
Niko Kovac is a coach who has shown a lot of flexibility with the formations he chooses to implement.
He is a tactically astute manager who coaches his teams to be able to fluidly change formation in-game and between matches.
You can see from the data below how many different formations the former Croatian international has used in each of his full seasons in charge.
Niko Kovač Formation At Eintracht Frankfurt 2017-2018
When he was in charge of Eintracht Frankfurt, he built his tactical approach from a three-man defence.
The graph below shows his main formation was a 3-5-2 setup, but Kovacs in-game tactics saw Frankfurt switch between a 3-4-1-2 and a 3-1-4-2 formation as this suited the more counterattacking approach he used at the club.
Niko Kovač Formation Bayern Munich 2018/2019
At Bayern Munich, Niko Kovač preferred formation was the 4-2-3-1 setup because of the playing squad he had available.
He couldn’t look to set up with a 3-5-2 as Robert Lewandowski was the only recognised striker at the club, and the importance and influence of Thomas Muller meant that he couldn’t be left out.
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