Tactical analysis: how Mainz stopped Bayern on the wings

Mainz Bayern tactical analysis: Mainz were almost perfect in stopping Bayern on Saturday. Shut down the wings with energy, counter whenever you can. A good game plan that went bad with lack of scoring and a couple of important mistakes in the middle. What can we learn from it?

Tactical points

We usually find faults in Bayern’s play when they get countered. On the following play, possession was earned by Mainz and the passing was absolutely perfect. Nothing that FCB could do about it, except for Boateng, who made a good stop.

Uh oh

Bayern still gave the ball away a number of times. On this play, Boateng doesn’t control the ball properly and it creates a chance for Nicolai Müller.

Did you forget something?

The Mainz plan was clear about shutting down the wings by outnumbering the Bavarians. Here, Robben has to deal with four well-positioned players and the one who makes the challenge is Noveski, the best tackler on his team. No chance whatsoever for Arjen.

Help me out, guys

Did I say outnumbered?

Only 7 guys to beat.

Next up: the left wing. Franck Ribéry also had to deal with an enormous amount of coverage. As soon as he got the ball, two guys and a half went in front of him.

Take a good look at the following play. Ribéry gets two guys chasing him, a third is there to react to a potential dribble. Two more are on each guy near the top of the area. Mandzukic has a defender and the keeper checking him out. Outnumbered everywhere, save for the long shot.

The hosts were incredibly disciplined, shifting their pressure wherever the ball was. This made them run out of gas later on, but it still worked for 80 minutes.

Steel discipline

Many mistakes were made when controlling the ball. Here, Basti doesn’t control and Koo challenges him for the ball, winning and setting up the counter.

Control the ball before going forward…

Right at the restart, a scare moment. Choupo-Moting hit the post. How did it happen? Loss of possession on a useless attempt to dribble by Kroos. He had wide passing options. I’m not sure what he was thinking.

Huh…

What did it take to beat them? Perfect plays. Here, Toni Kroos produces a magic pass towards Thomas Müller in the air. No. 25 will redirect it to Robben with his head, leading to the most direct shot on goal just after the hour.

Ball flying high near the upper left corner. An almost impossible pass to make in his position.

In the “how do you beat Bayern?” department, here is one of the typical long passes that can kill us when the boys have a high line of defence. It took an outing by Neuer to kill this play.

Dangerous

In this mix of things, Bayern had serious problems winning take-ons in the attacking third. Look at the following FourFourTwo graphic to have an idea.

Passing was especially inaccurate in the same area. This screenshot tells the story.

One play was brilliant defensively. On this, Javi contains a Mainz player for a few seconds and he needs support. Kroos comes in, Javi releases the opponent, and immediately gets covered. Risky if not perfectly executed, but very well done by Bayern.

Getting relief

Switching

How Bayern scored

1:0 Schweinsteiger. A repeat of the Arsenal scheme. Everybody is focused on stopping attacking midfielders or the striker and Basti gets space for a run in the middle, this time to take a superb cross by Shaqiri.

Schweini gliding

2:0 Götze. There is so much you can do to stop Franck Ribéry. He attracts everyone to the left side and Karius makes the mistake of coming out to challenge him instead of allowing his defender to do the work. Tor Götze.

Piece of cake

Statistical points

Statistics from whoscored.com and FourFourTwo.com.