Niko Kovač Tactics At Bayern Munich 2018/2019 – Tactical Analysis

One of the intriguing questions of the summer 2018 close season has been who would be the next Bayern Munich manager after Jupp Heynckes departure.

A bumpy start to the season last year under Carlo Ancelotti led to the Italians departure from Bavaria, with steady-hand Heynckes taking the reigns and leading the club to another Bundesliga crown.

The 73-year-old, however, made it clear he would not remain at the Allianz beyond the summer.

This led to the question being posed, who next for FC Bayern?

Many predicted that Julian Nagelsmann would be next to take on the hot seat, although it took some by surprise when former Croatia captain, Niko Kovac was named the new boss.

He turned Eintracht Frankfurt into European contenders, from being relegation candidates in the German top-flight.

Clearly, enough for the Bayern hierarchy to be convinced of his ability to progress the German giants.

Kovac started to make his name as a manager when he took the senior role as Croatia boss, plunged into the deep end with his first two games after taking over from Igor Stimac, before a World Cup 2014 play-off games against Iceland.

Croatia qualified 2-0 on aggregate.

Kovac and his team managed to win one game and lost two at the tournament.

He then moved onto become Eintracht Frankfurt boss, leading them to an 11th place finish and DFB Pokal cup final runners-up in 2017.

The Berlin-raised Kovac eventually won the Final against his new team Bayern, in the Olympiastadion in his home city back in May.

Tactical Idea

At Eintracht, Kovac preferred a three-man defence and a three-man midfield, varying depending on the fixture and opposition.

His team would look to prevent the opposition from playing through the centre, using compact midfield numbers to show the opponents wide in a bid to press them and win the ball back.

He likes numerical superiority and a defensive stability in his block.

Whilst I dont expect to see Bayern play with a back three and wing-backs, what his former team were exceptionally good at was having the wing backs drop into a flat back five out of possession.

This then allowed an aggressive press from the near side wing back whenever the ball was moved into a wide area.

Bayerns recent friendly against Manchester United, in possession they have a three-man defence, with left wing-back David Alaba positioning himself inside the attacking third to create a numerical advantage.

This could be conceived as Alaba taking up an Inverted full-back role.

A huge focus on the wide play and the willingnes