{"id":17,"date":"2015-09-23T16:35:42","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T16:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/motz.football\/analysis\/2015\/09\/23\/borussia-dortmund-v-bayer-leverkusen-3-0\/"},"modified":"2017-12-08T23:05:04","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T23:05:04","slug":"borussia-dortmund-v-bayer-leverkusen-3-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motz.football\/analysis\/2015\/09\/23\/borussia-dortmund-v-bayer-leverkusen-3-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen (3-0)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Match date: 20 September 2015<\/i><\/p>\n

Borussia Dortmund have had an excellent start under Thomas Tuchel, coming into the match having played ten matches and winning all ten. The Dortmund players have spoken about how refreshing Tuchel is and how attentive to detail he is, as well as how tactically sound the German coach is. While Dortmund have started brilliantly, Leverkusen have struggled a bit to recapture their good form of last season.<\/p>\n

This is Borussia Dortmund\u2019s first\u00a0\u2018big\u2019 test under Tuchel. Bayer Leverkusen have been excellent under Roger Schmidt, so it was always going to be a good match. Tuchel continued with a 4-2-3-1 \/ 4-1-4-1 and had his strongest XI on the field, excluding Marco Reus who was only fit enough for the bench with a toe injury.<\/p>\n

Bayer Leverkusen and Roger Schmidt started in a 4-4-2 with the newest signing, Javier Hernandez, up top with Stefan Kiessling.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Leverkusen\u2019s Press, Hummels<\/b><\/p>\n

So far under Thomas Tuchel,\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl have been incredibly important to Dortmund\u2019s play. When Borussia Dortmund played Monchengladbach<\/a>,\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan\u2019s display seemed to capture a lot of what Tuchel wanted his side to look like. Since that 4-0 win, Dortmund have continued in good form and continue to impress with the performances behind the good results. Up against Leverkusen, however, they had their biggest test. This is not really because Leverkusen are a\u00a0\u2018big club\u2019 in Germany or because they did well last year compared to Dortmund, but rather because of Roger Schmidt\u2019s tactics. He enjoys a high-tempo match with his sides continuously pressing high up the pitch while Dortmund like to control the ball (as good Bayern Munich though and Leverkusen lost that match 3-0<\/a>) and will look to play out of the back through Leverkusen\u2019s pressing.<\/p>\n

The opening minutes of the match saw Hummels and Sokratis exchanging passes. Leverkusen were high up the pitch in a 4-4-2, but neither striker was putting pressure on the Dortmund centre backs, instead, they were cutting off the passing lanes into\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl. Calhanoglu and Bellarabi were both narrow as well, again, hoping to cut off the forward passing lanes from Sokratis and Hummels, in particular. The German centre back is one of the best ball-playing centre backs in the game, so if Leverkusen and Schmidt were going to cut off the passes to\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl, they had to ensure that Hummels did not have any forward options. Below you can see a screen capture from early in the match with Sokratis on the ball. Notice the positioning of the Leverkusen strikers and wide players as they cut off those passes in the Dortmund centre midfielders.<\/p>\n

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This approach from Leverkusen worked to an extent as\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl and struggled to get on the ball less than they typically would, although because of the high percentage of Dortmund\u2019s possession in the match, they still saw plenty of the ball. In the above screen capture, you can see where Weigl wants to be receiving the ball; between the first and second lines of Leverkusen\u2019s pressing. Early on, however, Leverkusen\u2019s positioning forced Hummels and Sokratis to play the ball into their respective full backs; a forward pass, but not really breaking Leverkusen\u2019s pressing lines and because of that were not that threatening, rather than getting the ball into Weigl.<\/p>\n

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Even when Dortmund\u2019s midfielders were getting on the ball, a Leverkusen player was usually touch tight to them, forcing the ball back to Hummels and Sokratis. With Leverkusen suffocating passes into\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl, Dortmund had to work the ball to Kagawa and Aubameyang another way and so Hummels became the deep-lying playmaker of sorts that\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan was in that 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach. However, for Hummels to get the ball through the Leverkusen midfield, it meant that\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl had to be clever in their movement. The Dortmund duo had to drift apart to drag the Leverkusen players with them and create a passing lane for Hummels to play forward. The outward movement of\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl was a trigger for Aubameyang to come checking in for a pass from Hummels, likewise with Hummels to Kagawa. The first good Dortmund attack came from this scenario. Bellarabi left his position to press Hummels, Weigl began moving into the half space with Javier Hernandez following him, and Aubameyang checked into the centre passing lane that was created. A few passes later, Jonas Hofmann had a good chance. Below is a screen capture of Hummels\u2019 ball bypassing the Dortmund midfield as well as Leverkusen\u2019s first two lines of pressure.<\/p>\n

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For the first half, Kagawa and Aubameyang were the target players for Dortmund. G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl were responsible for creating the passing lanes into the more advanced two and Hummels had to play the pass. There were times when Kagawa would move into the wide areas, again, triggered by the movement of\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl in the midfield. In the match, Hummels made ten passes to Kagawa and Aubameyang, nine of which came in the first half as Dortmund bypassed the midfield and Leverkusen\u2019s press.<\/p>\n

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Dortmund Going Forward<\/b><\/p>\n

During Dortmund\u2019s build up play,\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan and Weigl were usually on the same receiving line, but when the home side were able to break Leverkusen\u2019s press, Dortmund\u2019s shape was more of a 4-1-4-1 than a 4-2-3-1 with\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan moving forward to be in line with Kagawa. Mkhitaryan and Hofmann would typically drift in and out of the half spaces laterally, opening up space either centrally for Kagawa and\u00a0G\u00fcndo\u011fan to operate or in the wide areas for Ginter and Schmelzer to get forward, or they would push further forward in line with Aubameyang. Weigl was almost always available when Dortmund were in Leverkusen\u2019s half as the home side had a man advantage in the centre of the pitch. Weigl\u2019s positioning allowed the home side to move the ball more freely as Leverkusen defended in a 4-4-2 for most of the match, although looked like a 4-2-3-1 at times in the second half.\u00a0Below is an example of Dortmund\u2019s shape when in possession in Leverkusen\u2019s half, in particular focusing on the midfield triangle\u2019s shape.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

The particular phase above came after Dortmund had overloaded the left side of the pitch, which they look to do often under Tuchel. Aubameyang, Kagawa, and Mkhitaryan had all drifted over while Hofmann took up a central striker role. Dortmund overloaded the left constantly throughout the match, opening up the right side for a quick switch, but the combination play on the left, through the half space and centrally, particularly between Kagawa and Mkhitaryan, was excellent and dragged the Leverkusen back line out of their shape consistently.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

A year ago, Mkhitaryan was looking down and out at Dortmund. He struggled to find the form that earned him a move from Shakhtar Donetsk, but under Tuchel, he has looked fantastic. As mentioned above, Mkhitaryan\u2019s movement through the half space on the left was fantastic. He would drift inside and his combination play with Kagawa, Aubameyang, and Schmelzer was excellent. The Armenian international was excellent with the ball at his feet as well. He would pick up the ball in the left half space and go on diagonal runs with the ball, evading defenders, while creating space for his teammates. It was not as explosive as Messi\u2019s runs, but against Leverkusen, it was just as effective in getting away from defenders and creating space.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Schmidt\u2019s Changes<\/b><\/p>\n

At halftime, Schmidt took off Kiessling and Kramer. Neither performed particularly well. Kiessling was unable to really help Javier Hernandez press either Hummels or Sokratis and the German striker was unable to keep up with the movement of the ball to take away the central passing lanes. He was also meant to be an aerial outlet for Leverkusen when Dortmund pressed, but he struggled to win his duals against Sokratis and Hummels. With that, it made sense for Schmidt to replace him with a more energetic forward option in Julian Brandt. The thought behind the youngster\u2019s introduction was to allow more pressing, but also an another counter attacking option. With Brandt, Bellarabi partnered Hernandez up top.<\/p>\n

Schmidt also brought Mehmedi on at halftime for Kramer. This moved Calhanoglu into the middle with Kampl, which gave Leverkusen an energetic midfield duo, but meant they lacked some a real ball winner in the centre of the pitch.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n

Tuchel\u2019s side got the best of Leverkusen in every part of the match. While Leverkusen\u2019s pressing seemed difficult to break down at times, Dortmund were able to adjust in order to break the lines. With this win, it gives Dortmund 11 wins in 11 matches under Tuchel. The movement of the midfield was key to opening up Leverkusen and going forward, Dortmund\u2019s combination play was too much for Leverkusen.<\/p>\n

Schmidt has struggled to find the form of last year and now has just six points from their opening five matches. Tuchel tactically got much the better of Schmidt with the latter never really adjusting his side once Dortmund were able to pass through the midfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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