Serge Gnabry infiltrated Dortmund’s lines with his inside movement
It’s been a while since Bayern Munich hadn’t won the Bundesliga — and it looks like we are going to add another year to that tally. Tuesday’s game against Broussia Dortmund was a key factor in whether the dynasty of Bayern will commence for another year or not.
Four points apart, Bayern traveled to Dortmund to face Lucien Favre’s side in a rematch after Bayern thrashed Dortmund with four goals in the reverse fixture. That fixture coincidentally was Hansi Flick’s first Bundesliga match in charge of Bayern.
Flick’s influence transformed Bayern back into the devouring machine that they were during the last decade. It feels like Bayern are ticking once again after an up and down tenure with Niko Kovac.
Dortmund meanwhile have added to their squad this season with some energetic fueled signings in Thorgan Hazard, Julian Brandt and Erlin Haaland. The search for Dortmund’s 9th title and their first since 2012 was still on.
The game was full of intensity and quick neat passing combinations. A silver lining of not having fans in the ground is that you can hear the sound of a perfect pass, or the sound of a quick passing combinations between the players.
Clear cut chances were minimal throughout the game and a delicate chip from Joshua Kimmich was eventually the difference between both sides.
The only major chance fell to Serge Gnabry in the first half and this chance was the result of a pattern that Bayern illustrated throughout the first half. Gnabry regularly moved inside to provide a passing option for ball progression, as well as being an untracked source of threat in-front of goal. Rather than going for the far post here, Gnabry moved further inside.
It paid off eventually as the Dortmund defence doubled up on Kingsley Coman and Robert Lewandowski leaving Gnabry totally free. Gnabry’s finish was only saved by a goal-line clearance from Lukasz Piszczek.
Another Bayern chance was Coman’s shot from the right side that was saved by Roman Buerki. In the build up to the chance Gnabry continued his stride in the middle of the pitch rather than going to the left wing where he operates.
Lewandowski who was standing when receiving the ball and therefore didn’t accumulate speed chose to play in Gnabry who was already accelerating forward, making the Bayern attack faster to catch the Dortmund players out with pace and intensity. Gnabry then played Coman whose shot could have opened the score.
The major factor that enabled Gnabry to go inside freely was Alphonso Davies, or road-runner like Thomas Mueller called him after the game. Davies’ threat going forward kept Achraf Hakimi shackled to the far side. This sometimes created a gap in Dortmund’s defensive line as seen below.
This gap could have been used better by the Bayern players but in this instance we can see the benefit of Gnabry’s initial inside positioning. He was able to attack that gap due to Hakimi’s wide positioning and Gnabry’s initial inside positioning making him closer to that space. Mueller couldn’t make the pass, but it would have been a text-book goal of Bayern’s offensive game-plan.
The wing area was mainly left to Davies and this further confused the Dortmund players as Gnabry’s movement was unpredictable. In this snippet, Pizszcek is signalling for someone to mark Gnabry as he’s pinned by Mueller. Meanwile, Hakimi is looking over his shoulder to see Gnabry’s positioning but keeping in mind that Davies can have a go at him.
A better ball from Davies could have put Gnabry in a better position to have a shot on target. That wasn’t the case as his ball over the top of Dortmund’s defence was wider than necessary.
The second part of Gnabry’s role was his horizontal movement from wide to inside to offer a passing option. A progressive line splitting option that could take out two of Dortmund’s defensive lines.
Quite often he would make the right movement but Bayern’s players would be reluctant. Choosing the safer option of going wide as seen in this chance when Kimmich could have played Gnabry and put him in a position between the lines but he played it wide.
Gnabry was regularly making the right movement and calling for the pass. It’s a risky pass from Jerome Boateng to Gnabry, but Boateng definitely has the ability to perform this pass that would take out half of Dortmund’s outfield players.
Mueller, Coman and Lewandowski were mainly pining the Dortmund defence, allowing Gnabry to make that movement inside behind the Dortmund midfield. All the meanwhile, Davies is out wide making Hakimi sleepless during daylight.
The movement eventually reaped its rewards. In the build up to Kimmich’s wonderful goal Bayern managed to progress up the field through Gnabry’s movement. Gnabry moved horizontally across the pitch in the back of Dortmund’s midfield and allowed Kimmich to play the line splitting pass. Now that Bayern have infiltrated the Dortmund shape, they could combine dangerously.
After losing the ball twice, Bayern were still dangerous as they were already behind enemy lines. The final passing combination between Kimmich, Coman and Mueller resulted in Kimmich’s beautiful chip over Buerki.
The second half maintained the same pace and the game lived up to its hype. Dortmund’s changes didn’t create enough chances for them to equalize, but there was a decent shout for a penalty when Haaland’s shot hit Boateng’s arm. In the end, Bayern extended their lead to seven points and the title yet again looks like it’s staying in Munich.
Bayern’s resurrection under Flick can be seen in their possession play in terms of intensity and combinations but a certain tweak gave them an edge against Dortmund. Gnabry was behind enemy lines ready to strike.
