Who Is Nordi Mukiele? Nordi Mukiele (187cm/6’2”, 84kg/185lbs) has become an integral part of Régis Le Bris’ Sunderland tactics in the Wearside club’s mission for Premier League survival. The 27-year-old former France international arrived at the Stadium of Light from European champions Paris Saint-Germain last summer for a €12m transfer...
Florian Wirtz’s arrival at Liverpool was met with huge anticipation, with many believing that the German playmaker would become a cornerstone of Arne Slot’s new-look system. Having shone consistently in the Bundesliga, Wirtz brought with him the reputation of a creative force, capable of dictating play between the lines and...
Even though Leverkusen and Mönchengladbach are relatively close to each other, most fans wouldn’t call the game a derby, simply because it lacks tradition. Still, this Sunday's game between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the BayArena had a lot of eyes on it, but not for the right reasons....
On Saturday, August 30, 2025, Werder Bremen faced off against Bayer Leverkusen at the Weserstadion, for Matchday 2 of the new Bundesliga season. Both teams had hired new managers in the offseason: Horst Steffen for Werder and Erik ten Hag for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Yet both teams had started the season with defeats and were...
Inverting the central centre-back (CCB) under Rúben Amorim has become a major talking point for Manchester United. Many questions have been asked about why the Portuguese tactician takes this approach and its pros and cons. Our Rúben Amorim tactical analysis and back-five tactical theory article analyses Rúben Amorim tactics, comparing...
Victor Boniface is a Nigerian international striker who plays at Bayer Leverkusen and is rumoured to have attracted the interest of numerous teams, especially AC Milan, as of late. With some of the biggest names having already completed their summer transfer like Florian Wirtz to Liverpool and Viktor Gyökeres to...
Last Friday, Liverpool broke the British record transfer fee by signing one of the most exciting players of this generation, the German attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, for £100m with potential add-ons totalling £16m, which would bring the total to £116m. The current Premier League champions have been making...
AC Milan are said to be in advanced talks with Granit Xhaka of Bayer Leverkusen. The 32-year-old midfielder looks likely to play in Serie A for the first time, knowing that AS Roma showed interest in 2021, but Arsenal rejected the offer. Xhaka is an experienced midfielder who has already...
At the beginning of May, Bayer Leverkusen officially announced the signing of talented Algerian midfielder Ibrahim Maza from Hertha Berlin, activating a €12 million release clause in his contract to secure his services. The 2023/2024 German champions made the move quickly, given the interest Maza was garnering with the summer...
Many Team of the Season selections are, frankly, boring. Sometimes, you couldn't really call it a team; it's just a selection of eleven players, and their actual positions don't even matter. Sometimes, it's just an absurd selection because the idea is to pick only the players they think are the...
Now it’s finally official: Carlo Ancelotti’s second stint as Real Madrid manager has come to an end, and former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso will replace him. It has been an open secret for over a year that Florentino Perez wanted his former player to be the next Real Madrid manager. With the current season...
Listen to this article free on the Total Football Analysis Podcast. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or RSS. As the club's historic era comes to an end, with manager Xabi Alonso likely heading to Real Madrid, it's time to look forward to the future for Bayer Leverkusen. They look set to embark on a new journey under former...
In the 2023/2024 season, Bayer Leverkusen won the Bundesliga title. They took the world by storm by not losing a single game until the UEFA Europa League final that term. They were that close to an undefeated treble. During that season, many players from the squad received much-deserved world attention,...
Despite currently enjoying an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga, putting them on the path to a record-extending 34th German championship, Bayern Munich were unable to break their Bayer Leverkusen hoodoo on the domestic scene from last season in their direct battles. With both league fixtures for the...
I’m back again with the second part of this series for Total Football Analysis, looking at using specific profiles and data scouting in order to surface and identify some interesting players. Last week, I looked at the dominant defender profile, one of my own personal favourites. This time around, however,...
Since last season, Arsenal have been consistent in creating goals from crosses. This season (not including the game vs Leicester last weekend), Arsenal have already scored 11 goals from crosses, which means they're just seven goals away from matching last season's total. Their 0.5 assists per game this season are...
What Is Double Pivot In Football? The double pivot can be a useful tactic in creating numerical superiority in the build-up phase. It can attract opposition players towards the ball in high areas, leaving space to exploit behind their midfield line. It can also provide stability behind the ball during...
FC Bayern have started their new era under Vincent Kompany as well as anybody can—unbeaten after 10 games and top of the table, largely because of their clinical performance in front of the goal. Kompany’s men have scored 33 goals with an xG of just 24.24 — an overperformance of...
FC Bayern have started their new era under Vincent Kompany as well as anybody can—unbeaten after 10 games and top of the table, largely because of their clinical performance in front of the goal. Kompany’s men have scored 33 goals with an xG of just 24.24 — an overperformance of...
Matchday four of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League is complete. Our tactical analysis shares the best formations, plays and tactics from Champions League week four. We will analyze Barcelona’s attacking tactics, the characteristics of the half-spaces, and the benefits of overloads in these areas. Additionally, we will examine Bayer Leverkusen’s central overload in...
