Borussia Dortmund has been one of the more successful teams in Europe over the last five years. Their turnaround over the last decade has been remarkable. In 2003, the financial status at the club was so disparaging, they had to receive a loan from arch rivals Bayern Munich to reconcile the payroll. A decade later, they were in the Champions League final against the same Bayern Munich.
Dortmund owe their recent revival, and transformation to Jürgen Klopp, current manager, and his high risk, high reward brand of football, now famously referred to as gegenpressing. It’s how they managed to win two of the last five Bundesliga titles despite having resources far inferior to that of perennial rivals Bayern Munich. But as all high risk high reward endeavours, it was destined to go south at some point.
The gegenpressing tactical set up is probably the most athletic, and demanding set up in all of football. When deployed right, it is as mean a form of attack as it is a form of defence. What gegenpressing (or counter pressing) simply means is that on losing the ball, you immediately press the opposition in an attempt to win it back, ideally under ten seconds.
In normal tactical terms, it means the closest player of team A (distance) attacks the man who won the ball (or whoever might be holding it at that time) of team B, while team-mates from team A attempt a one-on-one marking of all the players of team B who are in a position to receive the pass.
This pattern was revolutionised by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. In Klopp’s dynamic version however, the players from team A attempt to converge on the player holding the ball from team B, while keeping all the passing lanes to other team B players in their cover shadow (what this means is that they converge on the ball in such a way that should the opposing player choose to attempt a pass, there is a very, very high chance of that pass being intercepted).
In either the conventional or the dynamic sense, the gegenpressing if executed right makes it almost near impossible for the team who just won the ball to do anything immediately dangerous with it. Very few players can dribble their way or pick a meaningful pass around such pressure. Not only can the opposition not do much harm when being “gegenpressed”, it also gives the opportunity to win the ball high up the pitch, and closer to the opponent’s goal.
The hallmark of a great team is that the output of the whole is always more than the individual parts. Like all proactive formations, the Joga Bonito, the tiki taka, the gegenpressing was always going to get found out, and now it has been found out in a big way. As at the time of writing this article, Dortmund lie bottom of the Bundesliga, holding the red lantern as is said in those parts.
I’ve always been of the opinion that the three standout coaches I’ve watched are Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho. My reason being that they were the most tactically flexible. Their formation on any given day is dependent on the formation of the opposition. With coaches like Pellegrini, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp you know what you’re getting. There is hardly, if ever, a plan B. On those days when Plan A doesn’t work, the team succumbs.
On Matchday 2 of this current Bundesliga season, when Dortmund almost surrendered a three-goal lead away at FC Augsberg, it occurred to me on that day that Dortmund are uncomfortable defending in the conventional way. Sitting back and soaking up pressure was alien to them. And on evidence of recent showings, Klopp must either find a way to make his darling tactical set-up work again, or find another way to play. Another major problem is that Ciro Immobile and Adrian Ramos look lost playing in this way.
You can’t help but feel sorry for Klopp however, every season he has to contend with losing at least one key player to a bigger fish in the European football waters. Nuri Sahin, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski are four high profile exits from the last four seasons, which means that he has to keep rebuilding his squad instead of improving it.
With Marco Reus rumoured to be leaving the club this summer it seems there is no end to the poaching of these Dortmund players. It must be hard building a team around someone whom you suspect might not be in your squad next season.
It’s been said in some circles that the yellow and black men will end up being relegated this season, this I believe is impossible. In the end, the likes or Reus, Aubameyang, Hummels, Bender and co will bail Klopp out of the rot. But serious changes will have to be made before Die Schwarzgelben can truly compete with Bayern Munich again.
Adedamola Obisesan
