Xabi Alonso has long been touted as a potentially elite coach due to his playing heritage under Pep, Mourinho, Ancelotti, etc.
He also played in the #6, much like Guardiola, Arteta, Carrick & many other top coaches.
He's living up to that name at Bayer Leverkusen.
MEGA-THREAD!
Xabi Alonso has transformed Bayer Leverkusen from 2nd bottom in the Bundesliga to 3 points off European places in merely a matter of months.
However, his style may not be the tika-tika traditional Spanish style that you may think it is.
It's closer to that of Thomas Tuchel's.
Alonso plays a 3-4-3 but Bayer start off in a 4-2-4 in the build-up where the centre backs split either side of Hrádecký before the left centre-back of the back 3, Hincapié, pushes out to left back with Leverkusen's left winger, Adli, staying high & wide on the ball-side flank.
Interestingly, though, the typical rotation of a team who play a 3-4-3 in this instance would consist of the left centre back acting as a situational fullback which pushes the left wing back high and wide i.e. Ben Davies and Ivan Perišić at Spurs within Conte's 3-4-3.
Alonso does implement this type of rotation too with Tapsoba, the left centre back, pushing out to left back with Hincapié holding the width on the left wing, but against Bayern he implemented a different strategy whilst maintaining the same 3-4-3 shape in settled possession.
Andrich, Leverkusen's #6, dropped in between the two centre backs to form a back 3 which resulted in Leverkusen lining up in a 4-3-3 on paper which actually represented Alonso's typical 3-4-3 in settled play.
However, Leverkusen's build-up isn't linear - they also often go long.
Bayer like to pump the ball long into midfield where their wingbacks come inside to collapse the play alongside the centre backs & the midfielders before battling for 1st and 2nd balls.
Their success rate here is high when considering they get so many men in close proximity.
Off the back of either A) successfully building out from the back in their 4-2-4 shape or B) going long into midfield and being successful within duels, they transition into their 3-4-3 (3-2-5) shape.
In the build-up they're close together.
In attack, they occupy each lane.
The positional play across the park simplifies the game for the players as there's not an area in the pitch that isn't occupied. It's why the 3-4-3 has rose to prominence in recent years, largely thanks to Antonio Conte. It occupies each space on the pitch & is hard to break down
There's players in close proximity in the final 3rd so they can combine, there's numbers attacking the box, the wingbacks can receive high & wide in 1v1 situations, the 3-2 build-up are close together making the passing distances short + they keep the unit compact in transition..
The 3-2 base isn't the only thing keeping Leverkusen compact in defensive transition though. The spacing in attack enables the block to counterpress effectively irrespective of where play breaks down.
These are all staples of a traditional 3-4-3, but here is where Alonso's is 
Many teams who play a 3-4-3 fail to exert sufficient pressure on the opposition's build-up. Teams often fall back into a 5-4-1 low block which allows the opposition time and space on the ball, but not Leverkusen.
Alonso inverts the wide forwards and Leverkusen's press is superb.
Instead of being passive positionally, Diaby inverts into a central role, ready to pounce on the opposition centre back should he receive possession.
Behind him at wingback is Jeremie Frimpong who is high and aggressive to press.
The opposition subsequently have no spare men.
Often times the '1' in the 5-4-1 can be passed around because they get outnumbered by the opposition centre backs, whether that be in a back 2 or a back 3, but that's not the case with Alonso's team.
The wingers invert to press centres backs in a back 3 but also in a back 4.
Even a passive coach like Antonio Conte can implement an effective & aggressive high press against an opposition back 3 because the teams simply match up all over the park, but effectively implementing a press against an opposition back 4 when playing a back 3 is a gamechanger!
Alonso successfully implements this, though.
Moussa Diaby is often the forward to invert to press the left centre back whilst the #9 presses the right centre back.
Then, behind him, Frimpong is ultra aggressive to back up the press by pushing as high as the opposition fullback.
Even more impressively, when the opposition recycle & the play is switched (picture #1), the left wing back is ready to spring high to press the opposition fullback on the far side too.
This is why I made a comparison to Tuchel at the start of the thread - a superb 3-4-3 press..
Then, in settled play, Alonso sets Bayern up in a 5-2-3 shape to ensure the striker doesn't become isolated and that the front 3 can get sufficient pressure on the ball. Behind that, the centre backs are similarly aggressive to step out and press those dropping between the lines.
And, of course, the obvious benefit that comes with a back 5 is the sheer fact that it's rare that the opposition will overload the defence because of how they spread out to cover the width of the pitch optimally.
Alonso's team are unique, but they're similar to Tuchel's Chelsea
Those same off-ball principles are what won Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea the Champions League - the ability to use the natural qualities that come with a 3-4-3 but to level the system up by implementing it aggressively and with aggressive pressing.
However, it's not flawless...
Thomas Tuchel may have won Chelsea a Champions League, and although he may have been sacked due to political issues, his teams faced tactical problems that Alonso's Leverkusen also face.
Firstly, in possession, the 3-2 build-up can be relatively easy to match up against.
Leverkusen may have some technical quality in the build-up, particularly stemming from Tapsoba, but even the absolute elites struggles to play out of high presses where the opposition have every player marked.
Often times teams can be too fluid, but they can be too rigid too.
technical quality in the build-up, particularly stemming from Tapsoba, but even the absolute elites struggles to play out of high presses where the opposition have every player marked.
Often times teams can be too fluid, but they can be too rigid too.Alonso's team may transition from a 4-2-4 into a 3-4-3 which represents a level of fluidity which is undeniable, but they lack fluidity in settled play. The absolute elites are also unpredictable in settled play whilst maintaining elements of rigidity.
Leverkusen lack fluidity.
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal or Guardiola's City, for example, transition from a 4-3-3 to a 3-2-5 or a 2-3-5 in settled play.
The fact that they operate with inverted fullbacks (Lewis, Stones, Zinchenko, etc) means their shape represents a variety of shapes which is hard to press.
Much like Tuchel's Chelsea, this means that Alonso's Bayer face a similar issue as teams can adapt their system to press their 3-4-3 shape with regularity.
Secondly, with regards to their off-ball structure, the sheer fact that Leverkusen defend with 5 in defence poses an issue.
The line of 5 in defence means one player has been taken away from offensive areas meaning there's one less player in A) the press and B) high up the pitch for counter-attacks.
This can result in elite technical teams using their technical prowess & forcing Bayer to defend deep.
One less player in the press and on the counter-attack is something that can be exploited against the absolute elites.
It changes Leverkusen's typical game from aggressive pressing and keeping the ball to defending deep & counter-attacking.
The same applied to Tuchel's Chelsea.
However, the type of team that has the quality to utilise such an advantage includes the likes of Manchester City, yet Tuchel had 3 victories in 5 games against Guardiola's City during his time in England, one of which being in the Champions League final.
So, it's not crippling.
It merely means that the Alonso's team may become more 'defensive' against the absolute elites, even though they will always try to maintain aggression because that's their philosophy, much like it was for Tuchel.
Being forced deep isn't always an issue, though, but it can be.
To counter-attack with 4 players in an off-ball 4-4-1-1 shape, for example, is a lot easier to do than counter-attacking with just 3 players. This is a problem Tuchel often faced with Chelsea because he lacked elite attacking quality.
Despite these flaws, they're still a team
teamLeverkusen will still press well against 99.9% of teams & even in those games where the absolute elite level of opposition may take *some* control away from them, they still have potential to win via counter-attacking, defending deep effectively, keeping the ball for periods, etc
Alonso's tactical level is promising beyond belief, and he's showing signs he absolutely belongs at the elite level.
This thread, though, has yet to even discuss some of the individual qualities and dynamics within the Bayer Leverkusen team.
We cannot ignore their individuals.
Jeremie Frimpong is one of the most dynamic profiles I've seen at wingback in a long time.
His ability to dribble on the inside and outside is similar to that of Luke Shaw.
His turning radius and close control dribbling in tandem with his speed makes him uniquely dangerous.
Frimpong's profile alongside the world class talent in Moussa Diaby poses one of the biggest threats in world football down that side of the pitch.
The duo personify dynamism in the sense that they are both comfortable in the half space AND in wide areas.
As a pair, they have been Leverkusen's primary threat under Alonso with Florian Wirtz just back from injury and Patrik Schick unable to maintain fitness.
The sheer fact that Alonso has made the progress he has made thus far without those two reliably fit is unfathomable.
The thing about it is, a front 3 of a dynamic 1v1 threat and dictator of attacks like Diaby in tandem with a class "raumdeuter" profile in Wirtz complemented by a complete #9 profile in Schick represents excellent balance and quality, so the results will only continue to improve.
Overall, it's clear that Alonso has taken many principles from the elite coaches he has worked with throughout his career & applied them to Leverkusen.
It could be argued that he takes the qualities of Mourinho (pragmatism) & Pep (positional play) & blends them together..
qualities of Mourinho (pragmatism) & Pep (positional play) & blends them together..
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