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Alonso’s secret to success
Xabi Alonso broke the vice-curse together with a fantastically well-coordinated team. The head coach, who is actually still quite inexperienced, relies on a distinctive style of play that is rarely seen in this form in Europe.
Last autumn, Xabi Alonso once spoke of how, after his arrival in Leverkusen, he had the then weak team play switching football in order to initially get out of their sporting misery. After all, Bayer Leverkusen were second to last in the Bundesliga when Alonso replaced Gerardo Seoane, who was fired at the time.
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But switching football with relatively shorter possession times was just a means to an end for the Basque. The 2022/23 season was not the time for experiments, especially since Alonso did not have the luxury of calmly conveying his tactical concepts to his team.
The summer break afterwards was more suitable for this. In preparation for the current season, Alonso consciously changed the Werkself’s playing style towards possession-heavy football. The basic structure that we have seen in recent months, as well as the rhythm of the game with a controlled opening of the game, was set by Alonso. He wanted his team to develop as much dominance on the ball as possible while also methodically gaining space.
A special feature of Leverkusen’s game is the accordion effect when they have possession of the ball. Forward passes are usually followed by a short pass back to one of the central defenders or sixes. The opponent often lets himself fall behind the front pass receiver, but then doesn’t move out again immediately when the ball lands again at Granit Xhaka and Co.
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So Leverkusen marches down the field without taking any full risks. Securing the ball is at the heart of it all.
Individual quality in the offensive zones is crucial
Compared to the previous season, the Werkself have been supplemented in certain areas. Xhaka acts as a ball magnet and impulse generator from the six-man position and therefore takes on the role that Xabi Alonso often held during his active playing career. There were also Álex Grimaldo, Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface, all of whom also fit perfectly into the ball possession system.
Since Leverkusen is very focused on ball control in the center, a tactically intelligent winger like Grimaldo is not only essential for plowing the left side, but also for well-coordinated inbound runs towards the opponent’s penalty area.
Alonso philosophized about how important individual quality is, especially in the front areas of the pitch. No matter how well the game structure can be designed on the drawing board and implemented on the field, in the narrow spaces near the goal it requires intuition, speed of action and technical precision, which Grimaldo or even Florian Wirtz have.
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As soon as the offensive players are put into position by Xhaka, who has shown consistently strong field awareness this season, they can prove themselves in the spaces between the lines and make breakthroughs.
Bayer saves its energy well
The playing system with its high level of ball security enables the Werkself to gradually break apart inferior opponents and their tight defensive formation. Leverkusen also has the opportunity to unnerve ambitious teams like West Ham United in the Europa League over the course of the season.
Due to the relatively slow rhythm of the game and the comparatively small number of pressing sequences, Alonso’s players also do not burn through their energy reserves so quickly. It was anything but a coincidence that the new German champions scored the decisive goals in a few games.
Of course, there was also a growing confidence in our own strengths over the course of the season. However, the first impulse came from Alonso, who instilled a new self-image in the Leverkusen team with his aura and superior manner.
2024-04-18 17:04:24
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