How the Rhine Derby ended with Koln and Leverkusen sharing the points – tactical analysis

The Bundesliga continues to pump out fascinating games week-in-week-out, with Koln and Bayer Leverkusen taking centre stage this past weekend. These sides have been two of the more tactically interesting teams this season and following this draw they sit in eighth and fourth place in the league, respectively. Leverkusen in particular remain in the chasing pack of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich who adorn the top of the table with 21 and 22 points themselves. Gerardo Seoane’s Bayer Leverkusen had the best of the first half, and went in at the break two goals to the good, courtesy of finishes from Patrik Schick and Karim Bellerabi. However, Steffen Baumgart’s Koln rallied in the second half, and the transformed Anthony Modeste continued his excellent form this season, notching twice to ensure the points were shared between the sides. This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of the key tactics used by both sides over the course of the game.

Formations and line-ups

Koln lined up in a midfield diamond in a 4-3-1-2, with Timo Horn in between the sticks. The back four had Luca Killian in at centre-back alongside Rafael Czichos. Benno Schmitz and the outstanding Jonas Hector played at full-back either side of them. Dejan Ljubicic anchor the midfield diamond and Odrej Duda sat at the top of it in the 10 position. The hard-working Florian Kainz and Salih Ozcan played in the wide midfield positions. Modeste was partnered up top alongside Mark Uth.

The graphic below shows Leverkusen in a 4-4-2, however, teenage wonderkid Florian Wirtz had more of a free role than shown in this image. At times it could look like a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 with Wirtz drifting into the 10 position. Lukas Hradecky started in goal with Jeremie Frimpong, Odilon Kossounou, Jonathan Tah and Piero Hincapie in front of him in defence. Kerem Demirbay and Robert Andrich were partnered together in central midfield with Bellerabi and Moussa Diaby either side of them on the wings. Patrik Schick led the line up front.

Leverkusen’s counter-attacking

Koln and Leverkusen had a very similar xG, with Koln’s slightly higher on 1.31 and Leverkusen at 1.19. However, Koln had a far higher volume of shots with 16 over the game. Yet only five of these were on target. A glance at their shot map from the game shows a high number of efforts from long distance and in general a lack of shots close to or inside the six-yard box. 

Leverkusen on the other hand had only half the shots Koln did, with eight, and yet also hit the target on five occasions. Incidentally, all of their shots came from inside the area.