Before starting to read this article, you can check my other article about Bayer Leverkusen’s attacking tactics to understand this article better. I explained some important tactical things that they form this article’s basis.
First of all, I thought theoretically. I assumed I have a mid-level team and I thought that how I can stop Bayer Leverkusen’s attacking effectiveness.
They play with like a 2-1-4-3 line up in set attacks and I chose 4-2-3-1 line up. Because in set defences, I want to cover Bayer Leverkusen’s right and left centre midfielders with 1 by 1. Because as I explained, in set attacks, they use right and left centre midfielders to make game. They create triangles with full backs and wingers but these triangles’ most important players are left and right centre midfielders. So we must focus on this point.
Also our wingers must take position in half-spaces and mustn’t press to the opponent’s full backs much. In Bayer Leverkusen’s set attacks, they make triangles with right and left centre midfielders and wingers but they are not dangerous for us like wingers or right and left centre midfielders. And because of that, I want to give them more space in the wings and because our wingers take position in half-spaces, we can cover the centre more effectively. And also wingers can give us numerical advantage in the centre against the opponent’s right and left centre midfielders. The opponent’s right and left centre midfielders take position in half-spaces. Our wingers too. So if our wingers get closer to the midfield, we can cover them with 2 vs 1 and our defensive midfielders can defend them more comfortably.
We must cover wingers greatly too. They take position in set defences with 2 different types, as I explained before in my article: In wings or half-spaces. If they take position in wings, our full backs must cover them with 1 by 1. But this time the distance between our stoppers and full backs increases, it means half-space’s distance increases, and if the opponent can use this space effectively it won’t be great for us. In Bayer Leverkusen, right and left centre midfielders try to use half-spaces. So in this situation, they have danger for us and we should cover them effectively. Because of that, our defensive midfielders must cover them with man marking. And because our wingers take position in half-spaces, they can help our defensive midfielders.
If the opponent’s wingers take position in half-spaces, this time our full backs must take position more close to our stoppers. I mean they must take position in half-spaces. Now the opponent’s right and left centre midfielders can’t use half-spaces effectively because wingers are in there. But now the problem is we don’t have any player to cover wings. It can give a lot of space to the opponent’s full backs. I said we can give more space to the opponent’s full backs. But now they have all the wings so now if we let them free too much to use these spaces, they can be dangerous for us. So in this situation, we must change our wingers’ positionings a little bit. Now they must focus on to cover the opponent’s full backs more. They must be careful about the opponent’s right and left centre midfielders too but now their first role is covering full backs. And now because their wingers are in half-spaces, right and left centre midfielders can’t be dangerous for us like before.
Now let’s talk about our other players’ roles. Our centre forward has numerical disadvantage against Bayer Leverkusen’s stoppers with 1 vs 2. So he can’t cover both. But it’s not important for us because we are in set defence and we don’t want to increase tempo, we just try to cover spaces. So our centre forward must take position in our side and wait for them. If they want to dribble with the ball much and try to help their teammates, he must stop them. And he can do it without covering both at the same time.
Our offensive midfielder must cover the opponent’s defensive midfielder greatly with man marking and he must be aggressive. Because if the defensive midfielder can take the ball comfortably, he can support attacks and help right and left centre midfielders to make game.
Our stoppers have numerical advantage against the opponent’s centre forward with 2 vs 1. We can use this numerical advantage greatly. Just our stoppers must be aggressive against him. Bayer Leverkusen uses Schick or Alario in centre forward position and both haven’t great physical power. So our stoppers can be careful and aggressive, they can use this numerical advantage and cover him.