Bundesliga 2021/22: A battle of half-spaces between Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich – tactical analysis

Bundesliga 2021-22 kicked off with a big clash between Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich on Friday night. Although the champions were clearly the favourites to win the game, Julian Nagelsmann could not secure his first victory in his debut game. At the Stadion im Borussia-Park, Bayern confronted a tough Adi Hütter team, and they might count themselves lucky for not conceding a second goal.

Since Nagelsmann came from RB Leipzig and while Hütter was deeply impacted by Ralf Ragninck and the “Stuttgart School”, the match was fascinating with so many details involved. This tactical analysis will cover the key tactics of both sides and explain why the adjustments were made.

Lineups

Although Marco Rose joined Borussia Dortmund this summer, he did not recruit players from Gladbach so Hütter had the key players. However, it was a brave decision to bench Marcus Thuram and Jonas Hoffmann, playing Hannes Wolf and Patrick Herrmann on the flanks as both starting wingers were not sharp in the last season. Another notable player was Joe Scally, who was only 18 from New York City FC, and played an impressive debut.

Nagelsmann had limited cards in his hands as some players were not fit to play. Therefore, Josip Stanisic got a chance to start as the right-back, while the new arrival from RB Leipzig, Dayot Upamecano, also had his debut. Nagelsmann did not make huge changes to the formation as it was the same 4-2-3-1 from Hansi Flick’s last season.