Bayern Munich is a very good team about high pressing. They don’t let the opponent make game comfortably from defense. They can take the ball quickly in the forward and then score the goal. They use 4-2-3-1 line up.
Firstly let’s have a look at Bayern Munich’s pressing shape. When they are pressing in the forward, Müller comes to Lewandowski’s beside, wingers take position in the half-spaces, centre midfielders take position in the half-way line’s front. Defense line takes position in the half-way line’s little bit back or front. The goalkeeper takes position in the penalty box’s front and his role is sweeper keeper. So the line up changes with 1-4-2-2-2.
The point is the cover centre. And of course narrowing the space. The opponent can pass each other only in their half of the pitch. These 2 centre forwards, 2 wingers and 2 centre midfielders take position in the between 2 players. So they could cover 2 players at the same time.
And all of these 6 players’ positions are close to the opponent’s centre midfielders. Centre forwards take position between the opponent’s stoppers and centre midfielders, wingers take position between the opponent’s full backs and centre midfielders, centre midfielders take position between the opponent’s centre forward and centre midfielders. So all these 6 players have a connection between the opponent’s centre midfielders.
If Bayern Munich wants to take the ball in the forward and then attack quickly with high pressing, one of them Müller or Lewandowski presses to the stopper who takes the ball. The other one takes position between the stopper who has the ball and whose hasn’t the ball.
With that positioning, the opponent’s stopper can’t pass the other stopper. Because they need one more player for passing. They can’t pass each other with 2 players against 1. It’s, as David Sumpter told in his book Soccermatics, piggy-in-the-middle game situation. 2 players cannot pass each other against 1 player. Because 1 player can cover both of them at the same time. Because between the 2 players there is 1 connection. And if the player, who is between the 2 players, takes position in this connection, he can cover both players at the same time. 2 players need 1 more player to pass each other. With this 1 extra player, they have 2 connections and now 1 player can’t cover all the players at the same time. Because all the times 1 connection is free for passing.
I said that because Bayern Munich’s other centre forward do that to cover the opponent’s other stopper. He takes position in his connection between the other stopper and stoppers can’t pass each other.
If the opponent also uses their goalkeeper for passing, again they can’t pass each other because this time Bayern Munich’s both centre forwards take position in the goalkeepers connection between the 2 stoppers. And again the opponent can’t make game.
And with Bayern Munich’s the other centre forward player’s positioning, if any of the opponent’s player wants to close to the stoppers and take the ball, he can close to the centre and cover him quickly.
Because the other centre forward’s position is between the opponent’s two stoppers. He is not too close to one of them. So if the opponent’s any player wants to take the ball from centre, he can close to him more quickly. Because his distance is not too far away from centre.
Let’s use geometry to understand better. Let’s say the opponent’s two stoppers’ distance between each other is 18.32 metres. The right stopper has the ball and Bayern Munich’s one centre forward is covering him. The other centre forward is taking position in the middle of the both stoppers. So between him and one stopper’s distance is 9.16 metres. Let’s say the opponent’s one centre midfielder is closing to the stopper from centre who has the ball. And when the right stopper passes the ball to the centre midfielder, the distance between the other centre forward and centre midfielder is 16.5 metres.
Now let’s change a little bit the other centre forward’s position. If he takes position in the left stopper’s 1 metre beside to cover the opponent’s left stopper, this time between him and the opponent’s centre midfielder’s distance becomes more and now it is approximately 18.5 metres. There is a 2 metres difference in this positioning. Bayern Munich’s forwards use 1st positioning and with that positioning they cover distance less than 2 metres.
I want to explain, with that positioning, Bayern Munich’s other centre forward can reduce the distance between him and the opponent’s centre midfielder. And he can cover the opponent’s centre midfielder more quickly.
Both wingers take position in the half-spaces and let the opponent’s full backs have more space. They cover the centre more and if the opponent’s any player has free space between half-space and centre, they close to him and cover him.
Of course they cover the opponent’s full backs too. Because they match with them because of their natural position. But they are not concentrating on only them.
Bayern Munich’s winger lets free the opponent’s full back who is in the opposite wing. Because he is not in the danger zone. If the ball is in the right wing, they don’t cover the opponent’s full back which one is in the left wing. When they focus on the right wing, Bayern Munich’s left winger becomes the left centre midfielder. Now they have 1 more centre midfielder in the pitch.
Wingers take position in the half-spaces and they can cover centre more quickly because of that positioning. If they take position in the wings, they can’t cover the centre quickly.
With geometry we can understand better. Let’s say the opponent’s left stopper has the ball. And he passes the ball to the left full back. Now let’s evaluate Bayern Munich’s left winger’s move.
When the opponent’s left stopper has the ball, Bayern Munich’s left winger takes position in the opposite wing. And when the ball goes to the opponent’s left full back, Bayern Munich’s left winger closes to the centre. In Bayern Munich, before the ball goes to the opponent’s left full back, he takes position in the left half-space, he doesn’t take position beside the opponent’s full back. If we calculate the pitch’s transverse with 70 metres, because of this positioning, between him and centre has 14 metres. So if he wants to cover centre, he has to cover 14 metres distance.
Now let’s think what happens if Bayern Munich’s left winger takes position beside the opponent’s full back, I mean in the left wing, not in the half-space. Let’s say there is 1 metre between the opponent’s full back and him. In this case, if Bayern Munich’s left winger takes position beside the opponent’s full back’s 1 metre and the full back takes position beside the touchline’s 1 metre, because to make game he should use all the right side, between Bayern Munich’s left winger and centre has 33 metres. So if he takes position beside the full back’s 1 metre, he has to cover 33 metres.
So I want to explain, Bayern Munich’s wingers take position in the half-spaces in the high pressing and with that positioning, they can cover centre quickly. If they took position in the wings, they couldn’t cover centre quickly. As I explained, almost 2 times between them and centre distance increased by taking position beside the opponent’s full back’s 1 metre, I mean in wing.
But of course sometimes when wingers cover centre, the opponent’s full backs can be free and when they take the ball, they can be dangerous for Bayern Munich. This time one full back or one centre midfielder ,whose natural position is close to the winger, closes to the opponent’s full back and covers him. This player is usually Bayern Munich’s one of the centre midfielder’s because full backs should be careful about the opponent’s wingers too.
Centre midfielders must be careful about positioning. If the ball is in the wing, they must close the wing. If they can’t cover free space in the wing, the opponent’s full back will be free. They must take position according to the ball. Or the distance between them and wings (in this situation they must cover wings so I am giving an example by using cover wings) becomes too long and before they cover wings, the opponent can make game from wings.
I want to use geometry to explain better. Now let’s think Bayern Munich is using high pressing. Centre midfielders are taking position approximately in the halfway line’s 16.5 metres front. One of centre midfielder is taking position closer to their defense line and the other one is taking position closer to their forward line. Whether they will take position a little further ahead or behind depends on where the ball is. So if the ball is closing to the right wing, right centre midfielder takes position in front more and the left centre midfielder takes position more behind. If the ball is in the opposite wing roles change. If the ball is in the centre, this time one of the centre midfielder (in Bayern Munich’s line up this player is Goretzka) takes position in front more and the other centre midfielder (in Bayern Munich’s line up this player is Kimmich) takes position more behind.
If we go back to the example, let’s say Bayern Munich’s left winger is pressing to the opponent’s right stopper and the right stopper has the ball. In this situation, the opponent’s right back is free. And let’s say the opponent’s right stopper can pass to the right back. In this situation, Bayern Munich’s left back can’t cover him. Because he is covering the opponent’s right winger. But of course if the right winger wants to take the ball and close to the right back, Bayern Munich’s left back can close to the opponent’s right back and cover him because with that positioning he can cover both players at the same time. Because the opponent’s right back and right winger are too close to each other. But in this example the opponent’s right winger is staying in the forward and Bayern Munich’s left back can’t cover the opponent’s right back. So in this situation, Bayern Munich’s left centre midfielder has to cover the opponent’s right back.
Now let’s think what will happen if the left centre midfielder takes position accordingly to the ball or doesn’t take position accordingly to the ball.
When the right stopper has the ball, Bayern Munich’s left centre midfielder must take position approximately in the halfway line’s 16.5 metres front. With that positioning he can support the forward line in the high pressing and the opponent’s centre midfielders can’t take the ball comfortably. And we can say between him and touchline is approximately 25.85 metres. And let’s say the opponent’s right back takes position in the touchline’s 1 metres beside and goal line’s 27.5 metres front. He can’t take position more front because Bayern Munich is using high pressing and to take the ball from the right stopper he shouldn’t go too far away. Or Bayern Munich’s 1 player can cut his connection between him and the right stopper more easily. He should adjust the angle to take the ball. He should accord his positioning to the right stopper and as he can make, he should take position with a wide angle.
With Bayern Munich’s left centre midfielder’s positioning, when the opponent’s right back takes the ball, Bayern Munich’s left centre midfielder has to cover approximately 27 metres to cover the opponent’s right back. He can’t cover the opponent’s right back when he takes the ball but he can catch him at the right time. First time, between him and right back has 27 metres distance but when right back starts his move to forward and Bayern Munich’s left centre midfielder starts his move to him, between their distance increases quickly and the right back can go with the ball only a few metres. So Bayern Munich’s left centre midfielder can cover him before he can be dangerous with that positioning.
But also it is Bayern Munich’s high pressing’s biggest weakness. Because centre midfielders’ and wings’ distance is the longest distance. Because there are 2 centre players in the high pressing. Usually they don’t cover wings. Usually wingers take position greatly in the half-space, full backs can cover wings well but if winger remained in the centre forward, because of pressing to the opponent’s stopper, and full back can’t cover the opponent’s full back, because the full back covers the opponent’s winger, this time the opponent’s full backs can be dangerous for Bayern Munich.
And if centre midfielders take position closer to wings, this time centre has more space to the opponent and the opponent can make game from centre easily. And naturally if they have to compromise a space in the wing or centre, they choose to compromise wing. If there is a free space in the wings, Bayern Munich players can cover wings more quickly because the opponent can score the goal only from centre. Because goalpost is in centre, not in wing. So the opponent can make game from wing but eventually they must come to centre. But if the opponent can make game from centre, this time Bayern Munich players can’t cover them quickly. Because this time the opponent’s players don’t need to come to wings. So the opponent can go to goalpost more quickly.
If the ball is in the wing, Bayern Munich’s winger, who is in the opposite wing, closes to the centre and becomes the third centre midfielder. If any player is free in the centre, he covers him.
He can do it very well because of his positioning. He takes position in the half-space and because of that, he can come to centre quickly. I explained above the importance of a winger to position in half-space. So I will not go back.
Centre midfielders take position side by side. If the opponent has an offensive midfielder, one of them closes to the defense line and covers him with shadow marking. Because first of all, they want to take the ball in the forward with high pressing, they don’t try to cover between the lines. So the centre midfielder, who covers the opponent’s offensive midfielder too, supports the centre forwards about high pressing.
The other centre midfielder’s role covers between midfield’s front and forward. But he is more comfortable than the other centre midfielder about supporting the forward line because he doesn’t cover a forward player or offensive midfielder. When they use high pressing this centre midfielder closes to the opponent’s centre midfielders, whose close to the defense line to take the ball, and don’t let him move comfortably. He doesn’t cover the opponent’s stoppers because it’s too far away from him but he helps about covering wings which one he takes position closer.
Defense line’s and goalkeeper’s roles have very critical importance. Because of that I added the pressing shape also goalkeeper. Bayern Munich’s defense line has 2 stoppers and 2 full backs. In the high pressure, all the team moves forward and covers free spaces and players quickly. If one player is not in the necessary position because of pressing situation (let’s say winger is pressing to the free stopper and the opponent’s full back is free. And also centre midfielder is covering midfield so he can’t cover full back), this time Bayern Munich’s full back (in this situation) closes to the opponent’s full back and covers him. But he is also careful about the opponent’s winger at the same time. So this time Bayern Munich’s free stopper closes to the free winger.
I want to explain Bayern Munich’s defenders support the teammates about pressing but they are also careful about defending the opponent’s forwards. And when they are pressing, defense line takes position in the half-way line.
It’s important to understand defense line’s role. Between half-way line and the opponent’s half there is no offside to the opponent. So it means if defense line takes position in front of the half-way, the opponent’s any forward player can start his run from Bayern Munich’s defense line’s behind. Because there is no offside now. So Bayern Munich’s defense line takes position accordingly to the half-way line. Not too it’s front or behind. If they take position too in front of it, the opponent’s forwards can use the I said before offside rule. If they take position too behind from it, this time Bayern Munich’s defense and midfield line’s distance becomes too much and defense line can’t support the teammates about pressing at the right time. And this time the opponent can break Bayern Munich’s pressing and make game easily or the opponent’s players can have free space between Bayern Munich’s defense and midfield lines. And the opponent can use them to break Bayern Munich’s high pressing.
Bayern Munich’s defense line doesn’t cover wings too much. They take position less at a distance between the penalty box’s right to left. And it is approximately 30 metres. So they can cover half-spaces and centre quickly. They enforce the opponent to try to make game from wings.
If the ball is in the wing, the full back who is in the opposite wing, takes position in the centre circle’s far side. So he takes position close to the beside stopper and doesn’t let the opponent use space between him and the beside stopper.
And the full back, who takes position in the wing which the ball is too, doesn’t take position too close to the touchline. Because if he takes position too close to touchline, this time between him and the beside stopper’s distance increases and the opponent’s 1 player can use this space.
There is approximately 10 meters between the 2 defense players. With that positioning, Bayern Munich doesn’t give great counter attack chances or free spaces to their opponents. Also their physical power is so high and they can fight against the opponent very well. If the opponent wants to create goal chance, they try to find free space from wings. And this gives a great advantage to Bayern Munich’s defense line. Because if the opponent goes with the ball from wings, they can cover him quickly. Because the opponent’s player must go from wing to centre to pass his teammates or try to score goal himself. And when he goes to centre from wing, Bayern Munich’s defenders can close and cover him. They gain time because of their positioning.
If they also covered wings before the opponent’s counter attack, this time between the 2 defense players’ distance becomes longer. Of course they can cover wings more effectively but this time centre has more space to the opponent. And if the opponent comes from centre, Bayern Munich’s defense line can’t cover them quickly. Because this time the opponent goes from centre and they don’t need to use wings. So this time Bayern Munich defenders can’t gain time and the opponent can finish the attack with a goal more quickly.
Goalkeeper’s role is very important in the high pressing. If the goalkeeper hasn’t sweeper abilities, high pressing can give the opponent to escape the defense line’s behind more easily. Because there is only one player in Bayern Munich’s half when they are in the high pressing. And this player is the goalkeeper. Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper is Manuel Neuer and because of that they can do high pressing more comfortably and the defense line can support the teammates more comfortably too.
Usually Manuel Neuer doesn’t cover wings with his sweeper abilities. Because it’s not necessary. Bayern Munich’s other players can cover wings at the right time because as I said before, the opponent’s players have to go centre eventually. It means Bayern Munich’s players have enough time to cover the opponent’s players. And of course to cover quickly, they have great physical abilities. Bayern Munich’s players have great physical abilities so they can cover quickly.
If we get together, Bayern Munich’s high pressing is very effective. Because they move like 1 piece and their high pressing is mathematically and geometrically very well. Because of that, they can cover free spaces, they can cover spaces which are born with wrong positionings as quickly as well. Enforce the opponent to make game from wings and don’t let the opponent make game or find free space in the centre. Between 2 players’ distances are as short as possible so they can cover spaces greatly. They don’t care about cover wings, they care about cover half-spaces and it provides them to cover centre and spaces which ones can be dangerous for Bayern Munich. They use high pressing with 11 players. All the players, the goalkeeper in this job. Of course they are not perfect because still football is played by humans, but they are really nearly to perfection.