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RB Leipzig have not received off to probably the most profitable of campaigns this season, solely profitable one among their opening 5 fixtures and shedding to Shakhtar Donetsk of their first Champions League group match. Consequently, coach Domenico Tedesco has been relieved of his duties, forcing the membership to start out once more only a month into the 2022-23 marketing campaign.
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Whereas their defence has conceded 9 targets within the league already, their assault hit a brand new low of their most up-to-date Bundesliga match, a 4-0 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt by which they didn’t create a single shot on track. Final 12 months, Tedesco got here in to revitalise a entrance three benefitting the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Andre Silva and Dominik Szoboszlai, however this season from matchday two, they’ve additionally introduced Timo Werner again after an underwhelming spell at Chelsea.
Since then, a beginning line up of Nkunku and Werner have solely managed to look sharp in opposition to Wolfsburg and is now rapidly regressing. Why is not it working?
To grasp why it is failing now, we have to recognise what was so efficient final 12 months.
Leipzig switched from Jesse Marsch‘s high-intensity, counter-attack method again in the direction of a slow-possession philosophy and Tedesco, together with very balanced actions from their entrance three, received them enjoying as they have been used to underneath Nagelsmann. The primary features of the assault that have been tough to defend concerned the varieties within the patterns of the offensive gamers and their traits. For instance, Nkunku was the roaming, technically-gifted and quick ahead, Andre Silva was a succesful, link-up striker who offered presence up entrance and Leipzig had a dynamic No.10 (Dominik Szoboszlai, Emil Forsberg, Dani Olmo) connecting the strikers with the midfield.
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Their particular person strengths have been so effectively put collectively that at any given second final season, a participant may drop onto the wing or assault the area behind the final defending opponent (also called the “final line of defence”) whereas nonetheless being structurally balanced by their teammates. This allowed Tedesco’s males to assault by all 5 lanes of the pitch, whether or not it was a ball development by passing or an extended ball with them profitable the second ball.
The techniques final 12 months underneath Tedesco ended with RB Leipzig profitable the DFB Pokal, qualifying for a Champions League spot and Nkunku profitable Bundesliga participant of the 12 months. Whereas they drew their first sport 1-1 in opposition to VfB Stuttgart this season, they have been unfortunate to not win, with their entrance three working as anticipated. However of their second match, with new signing Werner staring in opposition to Cologne, we may see issues effervescent.
As a centre-forward, Werner is a really succesful choice to assault the area behind the final line of defence, the place he can outrun the opponents along with his velocity and agility and transfer into harmful scoring positions. Nevertheless he’s not as a lot of a link-up participant as Silva and affords much less bodily presence. The difficulty that confirmed up at instances within the first match Werner and Nkunku began collectively is that they’re each related by way of motion, roaming round and never providing as a lot in linking-up play.
In lots of instances, Leipzig progress the ball from their again three onto the wing, which supplies option to fast passes behind their rivals defence with Werner and Nkunku drifting huge or beginning a deep run. Since their No.10 can also be a really dynamic and forward-thinking participant, they haven’t any choices to progress to a ahead who will then maintain up the ball, resulting in Leipzig shedding the ball or unable to struggle for the second ball.
This shouldn’t be framed as merely a “Werner downside,” however as a difficulty with the construction round him and the personnel required to make this efficient. As we have seen within the DFB-Pokal, when Werner began together with Silva, the assault flowed easily and there have been robust options within the remaining third. (They have been enjoying a fourth-tier German crew besides, 19 pictures on track and an 8-0 win remains to be proof that this was an environment friendly method.) This means that having two forwards with related patterns of play underneath Tedesco’s philosophies hindered them as they can not gather second balls or get right into a secure counter-pressing (the act of defending after shedding possession) construction, which in flip additionally hurts their defensive stability after they lose the ball.
Because the above already suggests, rotating between Nkunku and Werner was one option to repair this challenge and because it guarantees to be an extended season with fixture congestion and the 2022 World Cup, it is not the worst choice. Nevertheless, you at all times invite criticism when leaving your finest gamers on the bench and outcomes do not go your approach because of this.
A extra pragmatic method would have been to make use of Nkunku as a No.10 in the identical formation as a substitute of Olmo, who’s injured for six weeks anyway, and subsequently permitting all three of the aforementioned forwards to start out collectively with out altering the construction. Final 12 months’s Bundesliga participant of the season definitely has the skill-set to play as a ten and would create area to play a bodily more-present striker, similar to Silva and even Youssef Poulsen, who can stability Werner and Nkunku in addition to preventing for second balls and offering the construction permitting them to take action.
There was additionally a 3rd choice, which was to alter the formation to a 3-1-4-2 with Nkunku and Werner up entrance, however enjoying two No.8s (central midfielders) behind them. This could have meant Tedesco would not have needed to drop any of the principle beginning XI, and there would have been somebody behind the 2 strikers to gather second balls, subsequently balancing the construction in each assault and defence. The draw back to that is that while you push extra of your crew greater up the pitch, you are extra uncovered to counter-attacks.
Sadly, as we noticed in opposition to Leipzig’s sport in opposition to Shakhtar, Tedesco didn’t attempt both of those workable options and opted to go for a 4-2-3-1 with Silva up entrance, Nkunku as a ten and Werner on the left wing. This formation did not go well with the person profiles of those gamers; moreover, it affected their build-up play in such a approach that it pushed gamers to make particular person errors, wanting like that they had no extra confidence to play.
There have been options for Tedesco, however sadly he could not benefit from them earlier than his tenure at Leipzig fell away with the outcomes. Time will inform if Marco Rose can get them again as much as scratch and first up, he faces his previous membership Borussia Dortmund this weekend.