“It’s all about having effective possession,” said Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti before his team’s trip to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League. “Possession is important because it allows you to control the game but you need to make the most of it.”
In the first half at the Vicente Calderon, Bayern enjoyed 64% possession – not a tiki taka ballerina’s weaving ceaseless triangulated patterns from left to right with handball traits, but rather with directness and with more horizontality in their game. That dominance was scarcely a surprise against Atletico, who sat deep and relied on a high press and rapid counter-attacking, a solid blue print for success.
Thomas Muller, a football player with the athletic looks of a physics teacher, should have put Bayern ahead after 15 minutes, but he found Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak on his way again. In last season’s semi-final, he had saved the German’s penalty. This time, Oblak produced a stunning left hand reflex save from Muller’s volley.
The Pep era
For all of Bayern’s possession, the fruits were paltry, a leftover feeling from the era of Pep Guardiola. Ancelotti’s pre-match words could well have come from his predecessor, who has professed the virtues of possession-based football across Europe. He did so at Munich, where he demonstrated tactical flexibility and trademark strategic intelligence.
But failing to deliver a Champions League has left Bavarians, who take the domestic title for granted, confused: was Guardiola ever a success at their club? The supreme instructor of football understanding did not win the one trophy the club yearns for, the prize that the club considers the benchmark of success. For Bayern, a victory in Europe’s prime club competition represents compensation: they are jealous of the global footprint Barcelona and Real Madrid enjoy.
Guardiola’s singular philosophy and managerial qualities may be nigh impossible to replace, but was his Bayern team better than the great Jupp Heynckes’s outfit? At this early stage, the same question probably goes for Ancelotti as well. Bayern’s personnel has barely changed from last season. They have added Mats Hummels in defence, and the brimming Renato Sanches further up field.
Yet, Bayern Munich are different from last season. The Guardiola school has not been discarded, in the sense, that the players have internalised his ideas and blueprint. They can now all claim a deeper understanding of the game. But a new coach, naturally, brings new accents.
‘Tinkerman’ Ancelotti?
Ancelotti is a pragmatist, but with a modernist touch. He is not of the class of Atletico manager Diego Simeone, who reviles the idea that football can be anything more than result-orientated. In many ways, at least on the outside, Simeone is the extreme opposite of Ancelotti. The former is a compulsive neurotic, who constantly flirts with self-combustion. The Italian stands serenely in his technical area, exuding a rationality to his coaching, amidst the increasingly insane climate at the top of the coaching pyramid.
The Argentine, a self-proclaimed antagonist, advocates that there simply is no higher good in the game than winning. Ancelotti would not per se support that dogma. He supports neither theory nor pragmatism. He does not design great footballing revolutions or foster any grand visions.
Ancelotti tweaks and adapts, if and when required. That is precisely what he has done at Bayern Munich, though the Italian claims he has not done much so far. The defence plays a less of a higher line, with Ancelotti preferring Hummels and Boateng as a central pairing. Up front, both Muller and Frank Ribery have been rejuvenated, regaining their form from the Heynckes era. Under Ancelotti, Bayern are unswerving and more direct.
On a tough night, Madrid ,though, were better, pontificating a brand of highly tactical and cautious football, emphasising the righteousness of artful defending. Bayern were slow, across the field, and Yannick Carrasco obliged when Philip Lahm, Javi Martinez and Boateng ball-watched ten minutes from the break. It was a goal that got worse and worse with every replay from Bayern’s point of view.
After the break Antoine Griezmann should have scored a second from the spot. Bayern remained lethargic, with too many errors. And, so the debate will continue to rage if Ancelotti’s Bayern may become a better XI than Guardiola’s. Having suffered their first defeat of the season, it’s clear that the Bavarians are still very much a work in progress.
Brief scores:
Atletico Madrid 1 (Yannick Carrasco) beat Bayern Munich 0
