In yesterday night’s Champions League action against the present two best footballing clubs in the world, Real Madrid didn’t defeat Bayern Munich as much as murder them. With the onus on Guardiola’s men to overturn a 0-1 deficit, make no mistake, this was a humiliation.
As I sat there watching my assumption of Bayern being the best team in the world get shot to pieces, Joe Morrison raised an interesting question during the post-match analysis. Following Real’s 4-0 dismantling of Bayern, a result of exposing their set-piece weakness and playing on the break, what prevails in modern football; tiki-taka football or counter-attacking play?
It was a loaded question, one that has genuinely stumped me. After all, despite me being a massive fan of the possession game (I’m an Arsenal supporter, hello!) I must admit, there is evidence to suggest that passing football is on the decline. Barcelona and Arsenal have faded over the years, while Bayern Munich (under Jupp Heynckes) and the present Real Madrid have flourished under the use of explosive wingers, essential to any counter-attacking philosophy.
Let’s look at last year’s Bayern Munich. Under the stewardship of Heynckes, personnel like Ribery and Robben were star men as wing play was massively encouraged. Bayern Munich were a team menacing on the break and deadly on the flanks. The result? They won all trophies possible, not to mention demolish Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate. Lest we forget, Barcelona is the biggest possession-based team in the world.
To the more nostalgic of you, Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2004 resembled the same. Using the Premier League’s tonic to success – power and pace – strong and speedy wingers like Robert Pires and Fredrick Ljungberg made Arsenal a team to fear on the counter-attack. As time passed, Arsene Wenger chose to use diminutive, quick, central attacking midfielders and changed his philosophy. Perhaps he thought that English football was on the cusp of a revolution, or he wanted to terrorize the league’s centre backs rather than the full backs using a more keep-ball approach, I don’t know, but he obviously got it wrong. Wenger’s decision to switch from counter-attacking football to a pass-and-move, possession based philosophy has been incorrect. Strength and speed still rules the EPL.
Perhaps we could apply the same logic to Bayern. Upon Guardiola’s arrival in the summer of 2013, Bayern’s footballing ideology of wing play was switched to a more possession based style of play. The priority changed from purchasing wingers to attacking midfielders, hence Mario Gotze and Thiago Alcantra found a place at Bayern. While at first it seemed to be working, Real’s demolition of Bayern has turned the tables.
Bayern Munich had 69% of the football yesterday, yet they lost 5-0 on aggregate to an undoubtedly superior Real. Just let that sink in.
Probably a more combined approach – one that has a balance between possession and playing on the break – would be touted as the solution here. I believe only two teams in the recent decade have ever come close to achieving that, which were the aforementioned Invincibles (who won the league unbeaten), and the Ronaldinho-centralized team of 2006 (who won the Champions League that year).
I firmly believe that currently, no team in the world has a balance between both footballing ideologies, which is a shame. Jurgen Klopp’s ideology of pressing and attacking blitzkrieg-style is commendable, but unless he manages to pull it off with better players, I won’t be convinced.
While all the recent evidence goes to suggest that presently, possession football is inferior to quick breakaways, I’m still not sold on the idea. After all, you need the rare right players to employ a counter-attacking philosophy. You need superior stamina and sometimes, even luck, to not concede goals when under the cosh and catch the opposition unawares on the break.
Whatever may be superior, I’d like to end this post by congratulating Carlo Ancelloti. Not just for handing Bayern’s arse back to them with relative ease, but also for having a genuine plan in the summer transfer window. To me, buying Gareth Bale had seemed like a purchase out of fan pressure, while selling Mesut Ozil, a panic reaction to covering some of the expenses of Bale’s buy.
Turns out the guy had a proper plan. Bale’s thunderbolt pace and British aggressive mentality has made him key to their wing play approach, while Ozil was sold because his workrate in a fast-paced attacking philosophy would always have been questionable. For me, it remains to be seen if Ancelloti’s counter-attacking philosophy (one that was absent at Chelsea) was one he found out of luck, or whether he had planned it all along.
Either way, it’s bringing results.
As I sat there watching my assumption of Bayern being the best team in the world get shot to pieces, Joe Morrison raised an interesting question during the post-match analysis. Following Real’s 4-0 dismantling of Bayern, a result of exposing their set-piece weakness and playing on the break, what prevails in modern football; tiki-taka football or counter-attacking play?
It was a loaded question, one that has genuinely stumped me. After all, despite me being a massive fan of the possession game (I’m an Arsenal supporter, hello!) I must admit, there is evidence to suggest that passing football is on the decline. Barcelona and Arsenal have faded over the years, while Bayern Munich (under Jupp Heynckes) and the present Real Madrid have flourished under the use of explosive wingers, essential to any counter-attacking philosophy.
Let’s look at last year’s Bayern Munich. Under the stewardship of Heynckes, personnel like Ribery and Robben were star men as wing play was massively encouraged. Bayern Munich were a team menacing on the break and deadly on the flanks. The result? They won all trophies possible, not to mention demolish Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate. Lest we forget, Barcelona is the biggest possession-based team in the world.
To the more nostalgic of you, Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2004 resembled the same. Using the Premier League’s tonic to success – power and pace – strong and speedy wingers like Robert Pires and Fredrick Ljungberg made Arsenal a team to fear on the counter-attack. As time passed, Arsene Wenger chose to use diminutive, quick, central attacking midfielders and changed his philosophy. Perhaps he thought that English football was on the cusp of a revolution, or he wanted to terrorize the league’s centre backs rather than the full backs using a more keep-ball approach, I don’t know, but he obviously got it wrong. Wenger’s decision to switch from counter-attacking football to a pass-and-move, possession based philosophy has been incorrect. Strength and speed still rules the EPL.
Perhaps we could apply the same logic to Bayern. Upon Guardiola’s arrival in the summer of 2013, Bayern’s footballing ideology of wing play was switched to a more possession based style of play. The priority changed from purchasing wingers to attacking midfielders, hence Mario Gotze and Thiago Alcantra found a place at Bayern. While at first it seemed to be working, Real’s demolition of Bayern has turned the tables.
Bayern Munich had 69% of the football yesterday, yet they lost 5-0 on aggregate to an undoubtedly superior Real. Just let that sink in.
Probably a more combined approach – one that has a balance between possession and playing on the break – would be touted as the solution here. I believe only two teams in the recent decade have ever come close to achieving that, which were the aforementioned Invincibles (who won the league unbeaten), and the Ronaldinho-centralized team of 2006 (who won the Champions League that year).
I firmly believe that currently, no team in the world has a balance between both footballing ideologies, which is a shame. Jurgen Klopp’s ideology of pressing and attacking blitzkrieg-style is commendable, but unless he manages to pull it off with better players, I won’t be convinced.
While all the recent evidence goes to suggest that presently, possession football is inferior to quick breakaways, I’m still not sold on the idea. After all, you need the rare right players to employ a counter-attacking philosophy. You need superior stamina and sometimes, even luck, to not concede goals when under the cosh and catch the opposition unawares on the break.
Whatever may be superior, I’d like to end this post by congratulating Carlo Ancelloti. Not just for handing Bayern’s arse back to them with relative ease, but also for having a genuine plan in the summer transfer window. To me, buying Gareth Bale had seemed like a purchase out of fan pressure, while selling Mesut Ozil, a panic reaction to covering some of the expenses of Bale’s buy.
Turns out the guy had a proper plan. Bale’s thunderbolt pace and British aggressive mentality has made him key to their wing play approach, while Ozil was sold because his workrate in a fast-paced attacking philosophy would always have been questionable. For me, it remains to be seen if Ancelloti’s counter-attacking philosophy (one that was absent at Chelsea) was one he found out of luck, or whether he had planned it all along.
Either way, it’s bringing results.