<b>Bundesliga Matchday 30 Preview: Leverkusen against Bayern</b>
The upcoming week will set the tone at FC Bayern for the rest of the season, beginning with Saturday’s match against Leverkusen. With this game and a week later at home against Gladbach, Bayern can already bag the Bundesliga title if results go their way. In midweek there will also be another home game against Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB-Pokal.Three more victories and the season of FC Bayern is coming to a successful conclusion. In this case, even if Borussia Dortmund is able to maintain the current seven point gap, Bayern will have all but secured the title with nine points still to be awarded.And almost by the by, Bayern can make it to the DFB-Pokal final in midweek. All it takes is another home win against Eintracht Frankfurt. The danger, however, lies in precisely this apparent certainty that in their current form an alternative is hardly conceivable.What is forgotten is that these three teams have already been stumbling blocks for the record champions in the ongoing season. At a different time and in different circumstances, sure, but it is a timely reminder that easing off just a little too much on home stretch, as tempting as it may be, could at least somewhat endanger the current tranquility on Säbener Strasse.<a href="#leverkusen-intends-to-reach-the-champions-league"></a>Leverkusen intends to reach the Champions LeagueEspecially since there is a lot at stake for all three opponents. Eintracht Frankfurt will see the cup as their last chance to reach European competition next year. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, will be fighting for one of the coveted Champions League tickets. Behind Bayern, Dortmund (60 points), RB Leipzig (58), Gladbach and, of course, Leverkusen (56 each) all still have a realistic chance.Leverkusen in particular seemed to have come out of the starting blocks strongly when the Bundesliga resumed play after the coronavirus break. Clear victories at Bremen (1-4) and at direct competitors Gladbach (1-3) were a convincing beginning. However, they followed this up with a bitter 1-4 home defeat against Wolfsburg and a rather lucky win at SC Freiburg (0-1).These four games highlighted all of the strengths and weaknesses of Leverkusen’s style of play in a nutshell. If they manage to impose themselves on the game and take the lead relatively quickly, and if their opponent allows them to play their game, they are difficult to beat.<a href="#about-numbers-and-playing-styles"></a>About numbers and playing stylesAgainst both Bremen and Gladbach, Leverkusen consistently managed to position their key players in the centre of the field. Similar to Bayern, Peter Bosz’s team often tries to build up from the back with a large number of players – with similar amounts of movement. Leverkusen’s positioning is often good enough to get into the space between the lines with very direct and long low passes.The “Werkself” also pulls the opponent’s formation apart vertically. Another similarity to the game of FC Bayern under Hansi Flick is that the wingers often push to the center from the flanks to create overloads in first line of attack and to open up space for the very offensively oriented full-backs, who keep surging up from the back.After Bayern (18105) and Dortmund (17496), Leverkusen has played the most passes in the Bundesliga (16273) with some distance to Leipzig (13925). What seems clear: Leverkusen wants to have the ball.With 4484 “pressures”, i. e. the number of times when Leverkusen’s players put pressure on an opposing player when he wants to get the ball, keep it or pass it on, Leverkusen has the fourth smallest value. Bayern have 4151 Pressures on their books, putting them in 17th place in the league.<a href="#leverkusen-and-bayern-are-similar"></a>Leverkusen and Bayern are similarBut – and this is crucial – this figure has no deeper significance for an evaluation of a team’s strengths and weaknesses. It only…
The upcoming week will set the tone at FC Bayern for the rest of the season, beginning with Saturday’s match against Leverkusen. With this game and a week later at home against Gladbach, Bayern can already bag the Bundesliga title if results go their way. In midweek there will also be another home game against Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB-Pokal.Three more victories and the season of FC Bayern is coming to a successful conclusion. In this case, even if Borussia Dortmund is able to maintain the current seven point gap, Bayern will have all but secured the title with nine points still to be awarded.And almost by the by, Bayern can make it to the DFB-Pokal final in midweek. All it takes is another home win against Eintracht Frankfurt. The danger, however, lies in precisely this apparent certainty that in their current form an alternative is hardly conceivable.What is forgotten is that these three teams have already been stumbling blocks for the record champions in the ongoing season. At a different time and in different circumstances, sure, but it is a timely reminder that easing off just a little too much on home stretch, as tempting as it may be, could at least somewhat endanger the current tranquility on Säbener Strasse.<a href="#leverkusen-intends-to-reach-the-champions-league"></a>Leverkusen intends to reach the Champions LeagueEspecially since there is a lot at stake for all three opponents. Eintracht Frankfurt will see the cup as their last chance to reach European competition next year. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, will be fighting for one of the coveted Champions League tickets. Behind Bayern, Dortmund (60 points), RB Leipzig (58), Gladbach and, of course, Leverkusen (56 each) all still have a realistic chance.Leverkusen in particular seemed to have come out of the starting blocks strongly when the Bundesliga resumed play after the coronavirus break. Clear victories at Bremen (1-4) and at direct competitors Gladbach (1-3) were a convincing beginning. However, they followed this up with a bitter 1-4 home defeat against Wolfsburg and a rather lucky win at SC Freiburg (0-1).These four games highlighted all of the strengths and weaknesses of Leverkusen’s style of play in a nutshell. If they manage to impose themselves on the game and take the lead relatively quickly, and if their opponent allows them to play their game, they are difficult to beat.<a href="#about-numbers-and-playing-styles"></a>About numbers and playing stylesAgainst both Bremen and Gladbach, Leverkusen consistently managed to position their key players in the centre of the field. Similar to Bayern, Peter Bosz’s team often tries to build up from the back with a large number of players – with similar amounts of movement. Leverkusen’s positioning is often good enough to get into the space between the lines with very direct and long low passes.The “Werkself” also pulls the opponent’s formation apart vertically. Another similarity to the game of FC Bayern under Hansi Flick is that the wingers often push to the center from the flanks to create overloads in first line of attack and to open up space for the very offensively oriented full-backs, who keep surging up from the back.After Bayern (18105) and Dortmund (17496), Leverkusen has played the most passes in the Bundesliga (16273) with some distance to Leipzig (13925). What seems clear: Leverkusen wants to have the ball.With 4484 “pressures”, i. e. the number of times when Leverkusen’s players put pressure on an opposing player when he wants to get the ball, keep it or pass it on, Leverkusen has the fourth smallest value. Bayern have 4151 Pressures on their books, putting them in 17th place in the league.<a href="#leverkusen-and-bayern-are-similar"></a>Leverkusen and Bayern are similarBut – and this is crucial – this figure has no deeper significance for an evaluation of a team’s strengths and weaknesses. It only…