<b>Manuel Neuer: “We played Pep football”</b>
The performance in the first half against Cologne reminded Manuel Neuer of the attractive and successful football Bayern played under Pep Guardiola. The sense of self-contentment seems to run dangerously high at the record champions currently. A comment.When Pep Guardiola gathered his players around him for the final team talk to give out his last tactical instructions before a game, Manuel Neuer would allegedly always sit in the front row. Sources close to the club said at the time that he was one of the team’s biggest admirers of his coach.It can thus hardly be called a big surprise that the first half against Cologne did not remind the 33-year-old of the treble winning season under Jupp Heynckes, but of the extremely well planned and suffocating football his team played under Guardiola. “We played Pep football”, “Sport1” quotes Neuer as saying.The reporter Carsten Arndt used this opportunity to compare Bayern under Flick with Bayern under Guardiola. His result: Going forward the current team makes a really good impression. Despite making fewer passes and having less possession of the ball, they currently have more shots (20 to 18) and more big chances (5.2 to 3.2) than the successful Pep team. Their chance conversion is a bit better at the moment too (19 to 17 percent). As far as goals are concerned, the difference is actually quite clear: 3.1 goals per game under Flick opposed to 2.5 per game under Guardiola.<a href="#and-what-about-the-defense"></a>And what about the defense?So far, so good. But the article does not consider the defense at all. On average, Bayern has conceded 9.33 shots per game in the Bundesliga since Hansi Flick took over. Under Niko Kovač they averaged 10 this season and 7.6 last. In the 2017/18 (8.5) and 2016/17 (8.9) seasons this figure was also below the current average.In the first year under Guardiola’s reign, Bayern also conceded 8.9 shots per match, but in the following two years the figure dropped to 7.5 respectively. Since shots alone do not provide a complete picture, the quality of the chances should also be taken into account. Perhaps Bayern under Flick only allow half chances?Here, the expected goals model from StatsBomb, whose values are openly accessible on the fbref.com website, is a suitable tool. Compared to the 2017/18 season under Kovač, the number of expected goals per game against has increased: from 0.77 to currently 0.96.Unfortunately, the data on fbref.com does not go back further than the previous year. However, if you look at the data from other, possibly less accurate models, an estimate for the time of Guardiola at Bayern might be around 0.6 to 0.7 expected goals against per game.<a href="#where-do-bayern-get-their-rest"></a>Where do Bayern get their rest?Without a doubt, Flick’s offensive playing style is the main reason why Bayern play successful football again and the players enjoy their time out on the pitch. On average, the reigning champions allow their opponents only 6.35 passes until they take a defensive action. A figure that was quite similar under Guardiola.But Guardiola’s greatest achievement, which he developed bit by bit over the three years he was at the club, was to make his football appear as though he had all phases of the game always carefully planned through to a T. There was always an alternative to every course of action. The players always knew what they had to do next. Even when things did not work out.In this regard, there is no comparison to the team’s current level of performance. Even if the development of Bayern under Flick is more than remarkable and his promotion to head coach was the right decision to rescue a faltering season, his team does not demonstrate that it is capable of the same extent of flexibility at the moment.If all goes according to plan, there are hints that Bayern is able to play an overwhelming and dominant football that even teams like Leipzig are unable to cope with.…
The performance in the first half against Cologne reminded Manuel Neuer of the attractive and successful football Bayern played under Pep Guardiola. The sense of self-contentment seems to run dangerously high at the record champions currently. A comment.When Pep Guardiola gathered his players around him for the final team talk to give out his last tactical instructions before a game, Manuel Neuer would allegedly always sit in the front row. Sources close to the club said at the time that he was one of the team’s biggest admirers of his coach.It can thus hardly be called a big surprise that the first half against Cologne did not remind the 33-year-old of the treble winning season under Jupp Heynckes, but of the extremely well planned and suffocating football his team played under Guardiola. “We played Pep football”, “Sport1” quotes Neuer as saying.The reporter Carsten Arndt used this opportunity to compare Bayern under Flick with Bayern under Guardiola. His result: Going forward the current team makes a really good impression. Despite making fewer passes and having less possession of the ball, they currently have more shots (20 to 18) and more big chances (5.2 to 3.2) than the successful Pep team. Their chance conversion is a bit better at the moment too (19 to 17 percent). As far as goals are concerned, the difference is actually quite clear: 3.1 goals per game under Flick opposed to 2.5 per game under Guardiola.<a href="#and-what-about-the-defense"></a>And what about the defense?So far, so good. But the article does not consider the defense at all. On average, Bayern has conceded 9.33 shots per game in the Bundesliga since Hansi Flick took over. Under Niko Kovač they averaged 10 this season and 7.6 last. In the 2017/18 (8.5) and 2016/17 (8.9) seasons this figure was also below the current average.In the first year under Guardiola’s reign, Bayern also conceded 8.9 shots per match, but in the following two years the figure dropped to 7.5 respectively. Since shots alone do not provide a complete picture, the quality of the chances should also be taken into account. Perhaps Bayern under Flick only allow half chances?Here, the expected goals model from StatsBomb, whose values are openly accessible on the fbref.com website, is a suitable tool. Compared to the 2017/18 season under Kovač, the number of expected goals per game against has increased: from 0.77 to currently 0.96.Unfortunately, the data on fbref.com does not go back further than the previous year. However, if you look at the data from other, possibly less accurate models, an estimate for the time of Guardiola at Bayern might be around 0.6 to 0.7 expected goals against per game.<a href="#where-do-bayern-get-their-rest"></a>Where do Bayern get their rest?Without a doubt, Flick’s offensive playing style is the main reason why Bayern play successful football again and the players enjoy their time out on the pitch. On average, the reigning champions allow their opponents only 6.35 passes until they take a defensive action. A figure that was quite similar under Guardiola.But Guardiola’s greatest achievement, which he developed bit by bit over the three years he was at the club, was to make his football appear as though he had all phases of the game always carefully planned through to a T. There was always an alternative to every course of action. The players always knew what they had to do next. Even when things did not work out.In this regard, there is no comparison to the team’s current level of performance. Even if the development of Bayern under Flick is more than remarkable and his promotion to head coach was the right decision to rescue a faltering season, his team does not demonstrate that it is capable of the same extent of flexibility at the moment.If all goes according to plan, there are hints that Bayern is able to play an overwhelming and dominant football that even teams like Leipzig are unable to cope with.…