Bundesliga goes to have a aggressive title race this season courtesy of Xabi Alonso. It is a sentence that has been hardly used for the German league. The reason is Bayern Munich’s domination within the league since 2013. The Bavarians have gained the final 11 seasons, going through only some challenges throughout this era. This time, although, one thing has modified. Bayern Munich is third within the desk, and the 2 groups above them, Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen, have performed some good soccer. Whereas Stuttgart have been closely reliant on goal-scoring phenom Serhou Guirassy, Bayer Leverkusen have a much more balanced squad, which is being led by Xabi Alonso, who’s slowly making his title within the managerial circuit throughout Europe.
Even earlier than he took cost on the BayArena, Alonso had a reasonably restricted profession as a supervisor, along with his solely stint coming with Actual Sociedad’s youth and B workforce. Nevertheless, he has taken like a duck to water since taking cost in October 2022.
So, how did the gifted Spaniard do it in a span of 1 12 months?
Bayer Leverkusen stats and taking part in modelÂ
When Alonso took cost of the membership, they had been second from backside. Alonso made a direct impression, successful six of his first ten video games. In reality, Alonso took Bayer Leverkusen on two five-game successful streaks within the season. Bayer Leverkusen was the fourth-best workforce within the league.
After ending the season in sixth place, the membership strengthened their squad over the summer time, including gamers comparable to Nathan Tella, Granit Xhaka, and Jonas Hofman. Nevertheless, their finest purchase was Victor Boniface, one of the vital in-form gamers throughout the continent.
And the outcomes have been large. Alonso is an enormous proponent of Gegenpress, particularly within the opposition’s half. It is a high quality that he admired about Pep Guardiola when he performed underneath him at Bayern Munich.
This is the reason they’ve been persistently urgent their opponent. Knowledge from Soccerment present that Leverkusen has a Gegenpressing Depth % (GPI) of 61.38, the second-best in Europe. They’re additionally probably the greatest groups by way of Field Tilt, which measures the proportion of possession a workforce has of their opponents’ half.
This excessive press model suffocates their rivals, forcing them to commit errors and provides the ball away near their aim. Successful the ball excessive up the pitch additionally ensures a workforce has a excessive likelihood of making goal-scoring alternatives. No workforce has created extra massive possibilities within the prime 5 leagues than Leverkusen.
One other nice space the place Leverkusen have improved massively is the midfield, and that has been largely all the way down to the addition of Granit Xhaka. The skilled Swiss worldwide has introduced metal to the midfield and ensured the workforce aren’t dominated in the midst of the park.
Analysing Bayer Leverkusen techniquesÂ
Beneath Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen play a 3-4-2-1. The motive of this formation is straightforward: use the wing backs to stretch the sector as massive as attainable, whereas Boniface is aided by two attacking gamers who play within the two inside channels.
Nevertheless, whereas this method could also be efficient, it requires a whole lot of effort from the gamers. This requires squad depth, which is what Leverkusen achieved on the finish of the switch market. So, whereas the again three might encompass gifted gamers comparable to Odilon Kossounou, Jonathan Tah, and Edmond Tapsoba, ought to something occur to them, they’ve an sufficient alternative in Piero Hincapie.
Equally, in midfield, Xhaka and Exequiel Palacios maintain issues easy, retaining the ball and creating a number of passing choices, particularly to Florian Wirtz, who’s a quantity ten, or to the 2 backs in Alex Grimaldo and Jeremier Frimpong.
Grimaldo has particularly been give the licence to go up the pitch and ping the ball into the field. The opposite scoring alternatives are created by the neatly made turns by Jonas Hofmann and Florian Wirtz duo. These two type a lethal passing partnership with Xhaka and Palacios.
The quartet varieties varied passing strains by their imaginative and prescient and fast motion, which leaves the opponent often chasing shadows. Wirtz, who missed final season on account of an harm, has stepped up massively being the creator-in-chief for the workforce. He and Hofman have created 42 possibilities for the workforce, greater than any duo throughout the highest 5 leagues, which is why Leverkusen has been scoring objectives a lot.
Bayer Leverkusen key gamers in squad: Objectives and AssistsÂ
One beauty of Leverkusen’s squad is that they aren’t over-reliant on any single participant. Whereas Boniface offers the aim, Hofmann and Wirtz create it. In reality, Xhaka and Palacios have additionally massively improved their attacking sport this season. Palacios has gained 18 fouls for his workforce, the joint-most within the league, whereas Xhaka has delivered the second-most by balls within the league.
In defence, the triumvirate of Tah, Kossounou, and Tapsoba have stored issues easy, beginning the play from the again and expertly breaking the opposition’s excessive press. And as soon as the ball reaches the midfield, it’s powerful for the opposition to regain possession.
Furthermore, the squad additionally has high quality replacements on the bench, which ensures that even within the occasion of an harm or suspension, the standard of the workforce doesn’t take successful.
Leverkusen possesses all of the qualities {that a} workforce requires to cease the Bayern Munich juggernaut. No matter occurs, come Could this season, the Bundesliga can have one heck of a race to xbe topped champions.
