Nagelsmann had to change his pressing scheme after 30 minutes of a well planned build up from Emery, however Villarreal kept creating chances

Reading what people’ve been writing after this game encouraged me to get that game, watch it, and analyse what Emery’s been doing with the ball.

Emery decided to start the game with his most used system 4-4-2 vs Bayern’s 4-2-3-1. The thing is that he decided to start with Lo Celso (17 CM) and Coquelin (19 CM) as wingers.

What was Emery’s plan with the ball and how Lo Celso and Coquelin were used in these positions?

To talk about what Villarreal doing with the ball we have to talk first about Bayern pressing scheme. Bayern starts the game with the following pressing structure: wingers presses on CBs, Muller marks Parejo, Lewa marks Capoue.

While Davies jumps to press Foyth (RB) once the ball was played to him. Same applies on the other side for Pavard.

What Villarreal’s been trying to do in this phase is to create space for Lo Celso to receive after he tucks in, so he can either dribble with the ball forward or play the lay-off pass to Parejo who has the ability to deliver long balls to Danjuma(15), ideally to get him in 1v1 situations with Pavard or Upamecano.

As you can see Capoue will move to outside dragging Lewandowski with him so Lo Celso can receive the ball. And then he will pass it to Parejo who will put it directly into the space for Danjuma, however it was not executed perfectly this time.

The third man run and dragging opposition to create spaces to exploit is a simple and basic idea, however it was the key and main approach for Emery this game, especially with 4 CMs in midfield who can switch positions continuously and simultaneously without suffering. If you rewatch the goal scored again, you will see the same movements in their progression.

Coquelin tucked inside and then started to drop off, so Kimmich followed him. At the same moment Parejo runs into the space behind Kimmich as if he was sure he will be a third man receiver in moments.

Capoue dropped then passed it directly without even looking to Parejo, who was ready to give a one touch pass to Lo Celso. And now they reached the ultimate goal, a 2v1 or 3v2 situation on the flank with Lo Celso having space and time to do such combination with Moreno.

How did Nagelsmann react ?

30 minutes were more than enough for Julian to try to solve the problem he was facing without the ball, which was Lo Celso getting space and time inside and Danjuma/Moreno getting 1v1 situations on the flanks.

At the minute 34, we will see that Bayern’s pressing scheme was changed completely, Lewa is now the one responsible of pressing CB with the ball while shadowing the other CB. While the winger in the active side will press the full back, while Muller and the winger at the weak side will mark Parejo and Capoue. (next screenshot when ball is on the left)

So now Davies doesn’t have to press the full back so he can stay with Moreno or Lo Celso (whoever drops off in this area) easily.

One more example for what this new scheme provided to Bayern defensive shape, Lo Celso doesn’t have the same space anymore since Davies can stay with him while Gnabry press Foyth (RB).

So that will take us to see the same scheme applied when the ball is on the right side, winger at the weak side (Coman this time) marks Parejo, Muller shifts to mark Capoue, Lewa shadows the CB and Gnabry presses Foyth (RB).

As you can see now, thanks to Nagelsmann tactical tweak, he changed the previous 2v1 situations into a 2v3 situation; with Davies staying back and Musiala getting closer so Lo Celso is marked by Kimmich and not a passing option for Villarreal anymore.

Emery still achieved his objective in possession; getting Danjuma in 1v1 situations, so how did he respond to Nagelsmann modifications ?

Bayern’s new pressing scheme was successful in marking Lo Celso and making Villarreal struggle in build up and progression. However Emery played around and tried two solutions in the second half. First solution was trying to get Bayern’s winger to press inside again so their full back will have to jump to press Villarreal’s free full back.

Capoue scans his shoulder making sure Coman will follow him, then he starts dropping off.

Now Pavard automatically gets closer to Estupinan(LB) who became free after Coman followed Capoue.

Capoue beat Musiala easily then pass it to Lo Celso who got the space he wants again, while Danjuma was in the perfect situation (1v1) again waiting for Lo Celso’s pass, however he didn’t pass it to him at the right time.

Second solution was switching the play taking advantage of the far winger’s new role (marking the DM). As always Coquelin stays inside, ball switched through Parejo to Estupinan(LB), so Pavard had to jump to press.

Then Estupinan(LB) will make a quick one-two with Coquelin, taking advantage of his pace against Pavard, so Upamecano had to shift to press him.

So now Danjuma can run behind Upamecano waiting for the ball from Estupinan. This pattern occurred more than once in the second half and two of them ended with two dangerous chances for Moreno.

Unai Emery put a well plan of what he wanted to do with the ball, and reacted quickly to Nagelsmann’s modifications, but the 2nd leg will be a whole different story, specially that 1st leg ended with only a 1-0 lead. Emery will enter the game with different objectives, needing to master other phases like mid/low block and transitions.