RB Leipzig was the only team in the German Bundesliga to win all three first games and so they’re currently at the top of the table with nine points. Their new coach Julian Nagelsmann used a different starting eleven in each of those and always rotated the team. Kevin Kampl played a total of 143 minutes in those three games.
The Slovene is maybe one of the most underrated players in the first German division, but what makes him so important for RB Leipzig? In this tactical analysis in the form of a scout report, we will look at his abilities and explain why he is so important for his teams tactics.
Positioning and movements
One of the 28-years-olds greatest weapons is his versatility. He can play in every position in the midfield. Either in the centre or on one of the wings. During his career, he played in every single position in the midfield but made his most appearances as a central midfielder. When we look at his heatmap of last season, we can see that he’s almost all over the pitch.
His work rate is unbelievable, and he tries to help his teammates offensively and defensively wherever he can as we will see later in this analysis. Last season, he made 27 appearances for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga and in 22 of them he played in central midfield, but mostly more on the left side as you can see in his heatmap. In the remaining five matches he was the left-winger.
During last season, RB Leipzig mainly used a 4-4-2 formation and Kampl was in the majority of the games the left central midfielder. However, since Nagelsmann took over the team this summer, they now don’t use the 4-4-2 formation exclusively. In the two Bundesliga games against Eintracht Frankfurt and Union Berlin, as well as against Osnabrück in DFB Cup game, they played with a 3-5-2 system. In their latest game against Borussia Mönchengladbach, however, the German coach did line his team in a 4-4-2 formation up with Kampl as the left central midfielder.
However, the Slovenes positioning is always very interesting. When his team is in possession, at first he stays deeper to provide a short passing option for the defenders but then joins the attackers in the final third. But the 28-years-old often stays a bit deeper for two main reasons. Firstly, from there he has got a good overview and is always an option for a safe backpass. Also, RB Leipzig usually execute an aggressive counter-pressing to avoid counter-attacks from the opponent. With this deeper positioning, Kampl is in the perfect position to stop counter-attacks.
