How Xabi Alonso Is Taking Bayer Leverkusen to the Next Level
In almost one year as the manager of the Club, the Spanish manager turned Die Werkself into one of the most entertaining and successful teams in Europe.
While Alonso himself isn't getting too carried away, there's no doubting what an entertaining brand of football they're playing, which he deserves immense credit for. Integrating the likes of Victor Boniface, Alex Grimaldo, Jonas Hofmann and Granit Xhaka into the fold superbly, these new faces have proven shrewd additions and made sure the loss of Moussa Diaby to Aston Villa has hardly been felt.
Evolving the team into a slicker outfit in possession, who control matches superbly, and a more effective pressing unit, the improvement in all phases has been notable.
Organizing his team in a base 3-4-2-1/shape, which frequently morphs into a 4-2-4 depending on the positioning of the wide defenders and roaming 10s, this has given them a platform from which to be such a lethal offensive team.
Preferring to build out from the back, Alonso's back three/four, goalkeeper and central midfielders give them a strong, connected foundation to beat the first line of pressure. Excellent at drawing out foes, generating passing angles, forming positional and numerical superiorities and creating conditions for up-back-throughs and third-man combinations, their fluidity has been impressive.
The likes of Florian Wirtz and Hofmann add to their central presence from their attacking midfield slots to give crucial options between the lines and in the half spaces while Jeremie Frimpong especially and Grimaldo, who mixes things up by staying deeper and charging upfield, typically supply the width.
Towering, athletic and multifaceted forward Boniface then serves as a fantastic reference point up front, with his capacity to pin markers, win second balls, embark on crafty forward runs and hold up the ball ensuring he leads the line with aplomb.
“Victor is not merely a proficient striker; he is a complete player,” Alonso recently said. “And you can see that he gets along very well with his teammates, both on and off the pitch.”
Due to their shape giving them lots of natural diamonds and triangles, this, in alliance with their close proximity and relentless variations, helps them cut through opponents sharply to progress through the thirds.
Some extra wrinkles come through their nifty rotations in the final third, how they overload one flank, which then leaves the wide man on the far side to be isolated, the way one wing-back may stay deeper to support build-up and when a center-back will push high to join in attacks. In addition, one of the central midfielders may also drop into auxiliary full-back positions to offer structural security behind the marauding wing/full-backs and to give a vital extra number in less densely populated zones.
Another integral element is how they populate the box well, ready so the ball holder has a choice of multiple options for crosses and cutbacks into central areas and the front post or the back stick, where blindside runners can be so dangerous vs. ball-facing adversaries.
Able to hurt opponents in so many ways in both transition and slower, more methodical passages with their wonderfully skilled and gifted players that can wreak havoc on the dribble, through their passing and with incisive individual and collective movement, adversaries have found them a very challenging proposition to combat.
Then, when it comes to their pressing, it's been interesting to see the gifted coach tailor his shapes and set traps to disrupt his opposition, plus also strategically press in response to certain triggers like passes into wide areas, back passes, sloppy or underhit passes and when a player receives with their back to goal or in an open body posture.
Often setting up in an asymmetrical manner, plus great at using the touchline as an extra defender and at ensuring the players use their cover shadows to block passing lanes behind them, they've been a very effective force.
Usually solid and compact when defending in a mid or low block, where they shift coherently, are positionally sound, know when to drop back or step up and can handle crosses into the box with their towering defenders, this duly adds to their stopping quality.
Instilling his principles superbly to get all the players on the same page and dovetailing in unison, there's been much to like about their output in this regard.
Balanced, masterfully coached, with plenty of squad depth and acting wisely in the transfer market, Die Werkself continue to go from strength to strength in this crusade under Alonso's expert tutelage, whose system has served as a catalyst for him to get the best out of his side.
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