808 passes; 24 shots; Analysing Munich's 2-0 victory over Hertha BSC

By grvadmin

Two goals in the opening 45 minutes were enough for Guardiola’s Bayern Munich side to take all 3 points in their home tie with Hertha Berlin. Bayern are unbeaten this season in the Bundesliga and have set a league record with 40 points, having 13 wins from 14 games. 

Thomas Müller, known as ‘The Raumdeuter’ (German translation: space interpreter), scored his 13th goal of the season as he converted a header from Benatia’s corner on 34 minutes. 

Coman finished off an exquisite move in the 41st minute to give the home team a 2 goal advantage, as  Boateng played a forward pass to Javi Martinez who played first time with his heel onto the forward run of Coman to finish, with Pep Guardiola applauding his team in the dugout.

Hertha BSC set up with a deep block in the second half to restrict space for Bayern to attack and keep the scoreline at 2-0, and the win took Bayern Munich 11 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

We have again analysed the game and sessions can be found  on The Coaching Manual website to coach your team and players to dominate possession and create chances like Bayern Munich.

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Dominating possession through positional superiority

Even with players such as Robben, Costa and Alaba out with minor injuries and Ribery, Thiago, Bernat and Götze sidelined with longer term problems, Bayern’s line up is still impressive and allows to play towards Pep’s philosophy of dominating possession and creating attacking opportunities through positional superiority.

The positional understanding of the Bayern players to create attacking options and overloads in all areas of the pitch was key to them dominating the game and being able to attempt 808 passes and completing 730 passes resulting in a pass accuracy of 90%. Of course, pass completion and pass attempts are just an indicator of style of play, rather than a performance measurement, however the passing game of Bayern is key to how they break down opposition sides.

This technical practice encourages clever combinations, making good supporting runs and will refine your players passing ability; http://www.thecoachingmanual.com/watch?video=21b&session=5634387206995968

Against Hertha BSC, Jerome Boateng was able to push on as an attacking midfielder to receive higher up the pitch, with Xabi Alonso sitting deeper and acting as a midfield ‘libero’ to prevent any counter attacks and also initiating attacks by breaking lines with forward passes and switching play quickly to tilt and expose the ‘weaker’ side of Hertha BSC before the opposition defensive units can shift.

Here is a warm up practice will introduce your players to the concept of Switching Play; http://www.thecoachingmanual.com/watch?session=5692201761767424

By Alonso sitting deeper and offering defensive security, this also allowed Rafinha and Lahm to push higher up the pitch when Munich were in possession in order to support the attack in wide areas and create attacking overloads.

This small sided game will provide your players to identify opportunities to create Attacking Overloads; http://www.thecoachingmanual.com/watch?video=17d&session=5657382461898752

In comparison to teams across Europe, Bayern attempted and completed more passes this weekend than any other top European side and this is a key component in their approach and victory over Hertha Berlin.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Suzanne1172