This season of the Bundesliga has unpacked no short of excitement with many big names challenging each other not just for the top spot, but also for a place that would gain them an advantage in the race for European football. Rather than the familiar scenario of Bayern München dominating the league, the likes of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund or RB Leipzig are now rotating among each other for the top of the league. The race for a spot in the European competitions next season also brings excitement as the gap between teams is quite small.
Last weekend, two of the teams running for a place in the top six, Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt, met each other in what was considered an interesting match in terms of both teams’ tactics. The home side, who was managed by former Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner, were sat in fourth place before the match as they hoped to secure a positive result that allowed them to be in a more positive state to return to the Champions League. Meanwhile, last season Europa League semi-finalist, Frankfurt, had a struggling start to the season as they found themselves sitting 12th before this match. Still, Adi Hütter and his players hoped their visit to the Veltins-Arena would bring them three points to improve their place in the league table.
It is fair to say that Frankfurt had a decent match as they neutralised Schalke’s attacking force on several occasions. But just one moment of a counter-attack from the home side put them on the back foot as Benito Raman secured the winning goal for Schalke. This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Schalke’s 1-0 win over Frankfurt. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out the noticeable tactical points in both Hütter’s tactics and Wagner’s tactics.
Lineups
Entering this match, Wagner opted to line his side up in a familiar 4-4-2 formation as Alexander Nübel continued to be the first choice in goal. At the heart of Schalke’s defence, the team would miss the service of Matija Nastasić as he continued to be ruled out after missing the trip to Leverkusen, while Salif Sané and Benjamin Stambouli remained on the team’s treatment list. This left the German manager no choice but to use Weston McKennie as a centre-back alongside Ozan Kabak and they completed the back-four that had Bastian Oczipka playing as left-back and Everton loanee Jonjoe Kenny occupied a similar role on the opposite flank.
The team were also left without the service of former Hoffenheim striker Mark Uth since he was still recovering from his injury. Youngster Ahmed Kutucu was a doubt before the match and also didn’t make the eventual squad list. Thus, the front three that Wagner used for this match consisted of striker Benito Raman, who received support from attacking midfielder Amine Harit and the two wingers in Daniel Caligiuri and Rabbi Matondo.
Lucas Torró managed to recover from his illness and returned to the lineup as he paired up alongside former Young Boys midfielder Djibril Sow. Up front, Bas Dost finally made a return but his situation was still being monitored before the match. Still, he was chosen to play as the team’s leading striker. On the bench, Hütter had many interesting offensive options to pick from, such as Japanese attacking midfielder Daichi Kamada, or the Portuguese striking duo André Silva and Gonçalo Paciência alongside several defensive choices in veteran Makoto Hasebe or Simon Falette.
Frankfurts offensive strategies
It has become a familiar scene to see Frankfurt playing out from the backline since they had three centre-backs who were comfortable with the ball at their feet and able to make penetrative passes up front. Especially with Hinteregger and N’Dicka, they had two excellent ball-playing defenders who could take on the responsibility of linking up with the midfielders and progressed the ball up the field.
In order to do
