This article was originally published on April 15th, 2023.
After a horrible start of the season, Bayer Leverkusen replaced Gerardo Seoane and are now back in form.
Bayer Leverkusen finished the 21/22 season on a high, securing a spot in the UEFA Champions League and keeping all of his stars. Expectations at the club grew, as Gerardo Seaone went into his second full season at the helm. However, Leverkusen’s start was far from ideal: besides getting knocked out of the DFB Pokal by SV Elvesberg (a 3rd division squad) in the first round, the club managed only 5 out of 24 possible points in the Bundesliga, before the board sacked the Swiss manager.
Xabi Alonso was the one chosen to lead the club under these difficult times. His lack of experience (U14 Real Madrid and Real Sociedad B being his only previous jobs as manager) was put aside, as Xabi arrived in Germany fully backed by the board.
Results so far have been great: after taking charge of Leverkusen, only Bayern and Borussia Dortmund collected more points than Xabi’s team.
Right now, Leverkusen are sixth at the Bundesliga table, after five wins in a row. Considering all tournaments, Leverkusen recently achieved seven consecutive wins, a historical record for the club (after being promoted to the Bundesliga, back in 1979). This sequence was broken Thursday, drawing 1–1 against Union Saint-Gilloise.
How does Leverkusen play?
So far, Xabi Alonso have been using a 3-at-the-back system constantly — there have been games when he adopted a back line of 4 players, but it is something rarer. Some names circle in and out of the starting eleven, but he managed to find a few regulars: Tapsoba, Andrich, Frimpong and Diaby being key players. Florian Wirtz’s return from injury added a lot of quality to the squad and he can be used at different roles.
Wing-backs’ roles when building-up
When playing out of the back, Leverkusen assign different roles to the wing-backs: on the left, Bakker/Hincapié occupy deeper positions, being actively involved in the first phase of possession. At the right side, Frimpong goes high, acting as a winger. The 4+2 structure utilizes the right-side center back as a full-back, taking full width and looking to find both midfielders inside.
Frimpong thrives at this role: the RB already had a really good season in 21/22 (1G/6A), but flourished even more under Xabi Alonso, taking full advantage of his freedom to attack. Until now, he has scored 8 times (!!) and assisted 6. He is able to accelerate quickly from a standing position, easily separating himself from his marker and controls the ball well when carrying over long distances, shifting directions — moreover, he developed a really good timing to attack the penalty box, something that helps explain the number of goals scored by him.
The Spaniard recognized Frimpong’s offensive skills and put them to good use, minimizing his possible defensive fragilities by adding another defender to cover him. The impact on Frimpong’s numbers have been massive: when comparing him to to other defenders and wing-backs (players listed as DF or DF/MF) in Europe’s top 5 leagues, we can see that he is at the top of almost every attacking metric.
Chance creation — exploting space behind the defensive line
When building-up, Leverkusen likes to invite the opponent’s pressure before launching an attack — that usually happens between Frimpong and Diaby (two of the fastest players in the world). The pair link up really well on the right side, understanding each other nicely, using theirs magnificent speed to exploit and attack space: as one drops deeper, dragging a defender, they receive the ball and pass it with one single touch, before turning around and accelerating. Even if the one-two doesn’t work, that space can be exploited by one of the other strikers.
In the example below, Diaby (playing left winger) drops to collect the ball and Schalke’s defender follows him. The French plays a one touch pass and immediatelly starts running on the opposite direction, getting himself an significant advantage over the defender.
Wirtz offers an alternative
Returning from an ACL injury, youngster Florian Wirtz offers a new dimension to Levekusen, for his creative skills and technical qualities. Playing as an false nine or one of the wingers in Leverkusen’s 3–4–2–1, the German is constantly seen looking for a pocket of space to receive the ball between the lines, before turning and launching a pass to a runner, behind the defensive line.
Pressing traps
Another key component of Xabi Alonso setup is the pressing system adopted by Leverkusen. Tipically, the defensive structure consists of 3 players in more advanced positions, ahead of the midfield duo: this group of five players limits progressions in the centre, forcing the opponent to go from side to side, where a trap is activated: when anticipating a wide pass, Leverkusen’s wing-backs immediately starts running to press the ball receptor, congesting the sector and forcing an error.
Leverkusen’s pressing system isn’t the most agressive one. They are more than happy to let the opposition defenders trade passes between them, focusing on blocking passing lanes to start pressing mainly when a full-back receives the ball. That way, Leverkusen can exploit the space behind the defensive line using their lightning fast wingers, transitioning really quick from defense to attack when recovering the ball.
Here’s an example of how the pressing system works:
This kind of structure worked really well for some others Bundesliga teams — most notably, Eintracht Frankfurt used it to great effect in the first half of the season. It isn’t without risk (a good team could find a pass through the middle, drag a midfielder and get a free shot at zone 14 as sometimes Adli, Wirtz and Diaby doesn’t move properly), but it works wonderfully when recovering the ball as the attacking trio are closer to goal and ready to hit the defensive line — considering the main characteristics of Leverkusen’s attacking trio, it makes sense.
Andrich and Palacios are also vital for this system to work: they are two midfielders capable of covering a huge amount of ground and strong at defensive duels, winning around 60% of all duels contested (aerial ou ground). Both of them are physically strong and recovers lots of ball also — beyond that, Palacios offers some ball progression as well, if needed.
High-speed attacking transitions
Upon recovering the ball, Leverkusen sometimes goes back to the same principle when building-up: inviting pressure and hitting the space behind. In the example below, a miss-hit pass from Goretzka allows Leverkusen to intercept the ball, it goes to Adli, the winger makes a one-touch pass and starts running to receive a through pass.
UCL may be a real target
The horrible start of the season got Leverkusen behind on the race for a UCL spot. 6 months after hiring Xabi Alonso, however, they are back in contention and can at least fight for it. Before round 28, Leverkusen finds himself 5 points behind RB Leipzig (current 4th place), and still get to face them at home. Beyond that, they are still competing at the Europa League (quarter-finalists) and can achieve a continental title. Still early signs, but Xabi Alonso’s first steps as a professional coach are looking promising enough.
