Tactical Analysis: Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen - Control Over Chaos

Written on 21/02/2024

As it stands, Xabi Alonso is one of the most sought-after managers in world football. Liverpool are interested in him as a potential successor to Jürgen Klopp after this season. Bayern Munich will also be looking to hire the Spaniard after announcing Thomas Tuchel’s departure in the summer. 

There is a general perception that people are going slightly overboard in terms of jumping on the bandwagon of a manager who has had one good season in management in top-flight football. Let me address that before moving on. Alonso was appointed as the Leverkusen boss on 5th October 2022. He was their manager for 26 league games last season (76% of the total), winning 45 points and leading them to a sixth-placed finish, much better off from where they were before he arrived.

So, although the numbers have been off the scale this season (32 games unbeaten in all competitions and eight points clear of Bayern at the top), it does not feel like a one-trick smash-and-grab. The basis of this was set in 2022/23. We are just witnessing the evolved version of his team this year and it has been a joy so far.

With some of the housekeeping done, let’s dive deeper into the tactical side of things and look at how Alonso sets his team up, what his philosophies are and much more. Let’s note that while 5-2-3 is his system overall, they only defend in that shape and move into something else when in possession. More of that is below!

Out-of-Possession Shape and Functionality

In this section, we will look at Leverkusen’s out-of-possession shape, how they go about nullifying the spaces for the opposition and how well it has worked so far.

This is the standard 5-2-3 formation Leverkusen falls into when defending in a mid-block. Although Eric Dier has the ball with no pressure, the compactness of the defensive shape allows them to nullify spaces between the lines. Five at the back makes it easier for the wing-backs to hold the width defensively and deal with any diagonal balls to opposition wingers. There are hardly 15 yards between the last and the forward line. That’s how tight and compact this shape is.

When there is a trigger to press the opposition build-up, the front five (midfield and forward players) are very narrow and close to each other, not allowing the defender to play through the midfield. Wing-backs have enough insurance from the centre-backs that they can either go high and tight on wingers or stay with the line ready to jump whenever the ball is played out wide.

Man-on-Man Press

Alonso’s men generally go for man-v-man marking when pressing high. The above image is a clear depiction of that. Once the opposition plays through or clears it out, they revert to space defending as shown in the two instances before this. The picture below is another representation of this methodology.

I saw many clips of them pressing high with each player knowing who to pick up at all times. They even time the change from man-v-man marking to space defending very nicely. These things are by-products of how well they are drilled as a team. With 238 high turnovers in the league (29 better than second-placed Bayern in this metric), they are dangerous with this method of winning the ball back high.