RB Leipzig principles of play under Julian Nagelsmann – Attacking organisation and defensive transition

Following up on my previous analysis of Nagelsmann’s defensive organisation’s and attacking transition’s principles of play (https://tacticandtechnique.com/rb-leipzig-principles-of-play-under-julian-nagelsmann-defensive-organisation-and-attacking-transition/), I will now look at the other 2 moments of the game.

Quick ball circulation, depth over width and preventing counter attacks

This sums up what RB Leipzig are looking to achieve when they are in possession of the ball, and thus the principles of play they have implemented: a high tempo possession based football with constant emphasis on penetrating the opponent.

This willingness to play forward as much as possible can be seen all over the pitch, but is particularly obvious in the way they play out from the back, with a common principle being to play the furthest pass possible. It is rare to see RB Leipzig having extensive possession spells in their own defensive third. The instruction seems to play limited number of passes in deep positions, with the centre-backs and the goalkeeper looking in priority to link up with their most advanced teammates. It’s important though that the players (and the coaches) understand the nuance between playing a clean pass as far as possible up the pitch, and simply booting the ball out as far as possible. There seems to be a misconception from some coaches, confusing playing out from the back and avoiding long passes, which lead to teams playing unnecessary number of passes in their own third thinking that long passes are forbidden.

One of the reasons RB Leipzig tend to play forward rather quickly from the back is that Nagelsmann asks his players to avoid square and vertical passes but play diagonal passes as much as possible. From a centre-back’s perspective, it means that the only conservative passing option is to play back to the goalkeeper, considering that square passes between the 2 CBs are avoided. Square passes obviously still happen, but at a much lower level than some other teams. As we discussed in the first article, square passes are often a pressing trigger for the defending team, therefore avoiding them reduces the occasions to be pressed and having a player isolated. Besides, as we consider that we need width and depth to occupy the pitch effectively and create space, we should apply the same rule to a pass and therefore play 2 dimensional passes i.e. diagonal. The below map shows the team’s most frequent passing circuits in the Bundesliga, evidencing the emphasis on diagonal passes, with the Bayern map as a comparison.

This principle is expressed on the pitch with RB Leipzig’s trademark zig zag passing patterns as in the below clip against Hertha Berlin.

Diagonal and penetrative passes are only possible because of the players positioning where everyone should support the ball carrier on different heights and width and move to receive behind a line of pressure. A way to breakdown how effective possession to penetrate can be achieved is to look at the different roles players should fulfil:

• Ball carrier: the player on the ball
• Passing option: a player the ball carrier can pass the ball to. He is ideally unmarked so he has space and time upon receiving the ball, but can also be marked while still able to receive a pass without being intercepted
• Third man: a player who can’t receive a pass directly from the ball carrier, but who is in a position to receive a pass from the player acting as the ‘passing option’., the second pass as we can call it. The third man usually can’t receive a pass from the ball carrier because he is marked, and/or because he is screened by an opponent
• Attract pressure: a player whose positioning and/or movement invites pressure from the defending team, creating space for his teammates
• Rest-defense: players who are not directly involved in the progression of the ball and whose role is to occupy positions allowing them to defend against potential counter attacks if possession is lost

Roles occupied by the players are dynamic though in relation to the position of the ball, of the opponents and of their teammates. Besides, a player can combine 2 roles depending on the situation (only the first 3 above can’t be matched together for obvious reasons)

In this clip we can see the roles each player is playing in a possession phase, and how they evolve as the ball, the opponents and the teammates move.

Sabitzer’s movement at the start of the clip, dropping closer to the ball carrier, is a regular play we can see from RB Leipzig. He stays in his marker’s eyeline and run at a rather slow pace so he can be followed and open space behind him. Below another example, in the same match against PSG, with Haidara in Sabitzer’s role.

To receive the ball behind a line of pressure, players basically have 2 options:

• Making a forward run behind the line starting from a deeper position
• Dropping behind the line starting from a higher position

Key tactical elements used by RB Leipzig here are:

• Forward runs behind the opponent’s defensive line
• Up-back-through combinations to find a teammate facing the opponent’s goal running forward
• Pinning the defensive line to create space between the lines
• Up & down counter movements between 2 players
• Combinations and rotations through wide triangles

Dribbling is obviously another way to penetrate an opposition’s block. However, this is not a key feature in RB Leipzig’s game. Compared to the other teams in the Bundesliga’s top 6, they are well behind in terms of progressive runs and dribbles attempted per 90 minutes. It might be intentional from Nagelsmann as dribbling situations typically have a lower success rate than passing, but it might also be due to the players’ profiles with only a few of them appearing as particularly skilled in this exercise.

Another aspect of Nagelsmann’s system that might be unfavourable to dribbling is that he asks his players to move the ball quickly, with short amount of time on the ball per player. Interestingly though, he asks his players to avoid one-touch passes as much as possible as these increase the risk of misplacing a pass ¹. That doesn’t stop them from being one of the team with the most passes per minute of possession as per the below chart.

Quick and efficient passing sequences requires to constantly have passing options available and shorter distances between players. Nagelsmann therefore asks his players to maintain closeness to the ball to ensure it can circulate quickly, but also allowing the team to produce an effective counter pressing (which I will discuss further later)². This closeness among players in possession also involves the ball-far players, a concept sometimes called ‘minimum width’ and that can also be observed in Ten Hag’s Ajax Amsterdam for example (see video below).

We often read or hear that to be successful in possession, teams must occupy the whole pitch and in particular the 5 vertical channels we typically split the pitch in. However, deploying wide players off the opposition’s fullback rather than all the way out to the touchline has some advantages over maximum width:

• The ball travels quicker when switching the play as there is less distance to reach the target
• As the ball is switched, teammates also have less distance to cover to slide and support the receiver
• Wide players have less distance to cover to get into their defensive positions when possession is lost

Having a compact shape in possession might make things a little bit harder though as this also encourages and allows the opponent to be even more compact himself. The quick ball circulation is therefore essential, and so is having multiple forward passing options to force the opponent back and pin players in deeper positions so the ball carrier can’t be pressed easily.

To create forward passing options and reduce the opponent’s coverage of the wide areas despite not necessarily using the whole width of the pitch, RB Leipzig aim to have as many players as possible ahead of the ball and overload the centre of the pitch.

Common attacking shapes nowadays are 1-3-2-5 and 1-2-3-5, meaning that teams usually try to have 5 players ahead of the ball. This number will vary depending on the opponent, the moment of the game, the type of game, etc. We can say that for a team like RB Leipzig who aims to dominate his opponent this is the minimum number they would try to keep in most games. This is a very important principle to encourage players to constantly move with the ball and make forward runs. Let say you are the player on the ball and you have 5 teammates ahead of you. You pass the ball to one of them so there are now maybe 4 or less players in front of the ball. Yourself or a teammate therefore need to make a forward run to rebalance the team, and on and on as the ball travels forward. It basically ensures that the team constantly attack the opposition’s goal while maintaining closeness between players.

Overloading the centre of the pitch, and more specifically the centre-backs/centre-midfields area, is crucial as well for RB Leipzig to be able to still use the width of the pitch while not necessarily deploying all out wingers. They typically try to maintain 3 players in central positions. Against back 4s, it generally forces all 4 defenders to remain compact, slowing down or preventing the fullbacks to access the wide areas, Against back 3s, the defending team would usually drop a centre-midfield or one of the wing-backs. This is simply due to the fact that defending team usually try to maintain a numerical advantage against the most advanced players to avoid 1v1s.

Some examples of how overloading the centre of the pitch and having numbers ahead of the ball help RB Leipzig progressing possession:

Counter pressing to score

Similar to the defensive phase discussed in the first article, the ultimate objective in each moment of the game is crucial to determine the principles and tactical elements to implement. In Nagelsmann’s case, the defensive transition is seen as an opportunity to catch the opponent off guard to create goal scoring opportunities. As we already mentioned, the way he wants his team to attack is very much influenced by how he wants to react during defensive transitions. When RB Leipzig lose possession, they should therefore already have numbers around the ball to counter press effectively.

The very first counter pressing principle is to apply immediate pressure on the ball upon losing possession. Obviously, there are situations where this is either not possible, or just not the best option. A rule of thumb is to counter press only if a certain amount of passes were made in the zone where the ball is lost, and to otherwise drop behind the ball to prevent penetration. The rationale behind it is that if the team had a possession phase in a specific zone before losing the ball, there should be a high number of players around it ready to counter press. And conversely, if the team only only had a short possession spell in that zone, there is a lack of compactness around the ball and it is therefore safer to drop into the defensive shape.

As in when they are in their defensive organisation, RB Leipzig aim to attack the ball with as many players as possible. This doesn’t mean players are just running frenetically towards the ball in the hope of winning it. In some situations, as many players as possible might just be one. Generally speaking, the closest player to the ball press it. But to increase efficiency, it’s also important that the first pressure comes in front of the ball carrier and diagonally from the centre of the pitch towards the touchline. Frontal pressure will prevent the ball carrier from being able to shield the ball and resist the press. The diagonal run will screen central passing options and force the ball carrier into a wide area where he will have less options to escape the press. Players around the ball are then responsible for squeezing the area, screening short passing options to create an overload, while players away from the ball should drop into their defensive positions in case the counter press is unsuccessful. RB Leipzig’s centre-backs are typically man-marking the opposition’s centre-forwards and can therefore be seen stepping up when one of the forward drops, with the other players in the backline covering the space. In some situations, this can lead to RB Leipzig’s centre-backs taking very high positions into the opposition’s half as below against PSG

As short and central passing options are blocked, RB Leipzig can create a second wave to attack the ball carrier in numbers. A common feature is to ‘sandwich’ the ball carrier, with a second RB Leipzig player attacking him from behind. If the first press is more efficient from the front as just explained, the player on the ball is less likely to be able to shield the ball when pressed from behind by a second player as he would typically not be able to see this player coming as he focuses on the pressure in front of him.

To conclude this section, some clips of counter pressing situations:

How are RB Leipzig performing?

Looking at the goals scored only, they haven’t been particularly prolific so far this season. In Bundesliga, they have scored 37 goals in 21 games, 1.76 goals per game. In Champions League, 11 goals in 7 games, only 1.57 goals per game. By comparison, they averaged 2.2 goals per game last season in the same competitions (97 goals in 44 games). Compared to other top teams across Europe, this is a rather low average thankfully offset by their good defensive performances.

A first element to explain this drop is Timo Werner’s departure. With 34 goals scored in all competitions last season, he scored a third of RB Leipzig’s goals and we can’t say he’s been replaced by a player of the same impact. Their top goal scorer this season is Yussuf Poulsen with 9 across all competitions, followed by Angelino with 8. Having a key goal scorer in a team to rely on isn’t a necessity though, the below chart illustrating the contribution of each team’s top 2 scorers to the team’s total goals, with high scoring teams like Manchester City and AC Milan also not heavily relying on 1 or 2 players.

In terms of shots per game, they are only slightly behind compared to last season in the Bundesliga (15.10 vs 15.85). It’s unlikely therefore that they score less just because they create less chances. Judging purely by the data, it simply looks like they highly overperformed in front of the goal last season, with a goal minus expected goals difference of +10.1 goals. In comparison, the difference this season is -3.4. Werner was very much outperforming his xG last season with a +5.7 difference, and so was Schick with a +4 difference. Both players having left the club during the summer while most attacking players this season are underperforming could be the beginning of an explanation to RB Leipzig’s lower goal scoring rate. The general impression is that the team slightly lack individual quality among its attacking players, and even if collectively they are well drilled and able to create chances, they would definitely benefit from a top level attacker, whether a centre or a wide forward.

It will be interesting to see how they act on the transfer market this summer, but also whether Julian Nagelsmann will still be their head coach, with a number of top European teams presumably interested in hiring him. He is known for being ambitious and not settling for second place, and although his RB Leipzig team seems very well drilled and on the right track to keep improving, he might recognise the club’s difficulty to compete with Bayern Munich in terms of the quality of players they can attract as a major barrier to his race for titles. The recent confirmation that Dayot Upamecano will leave to Bayern at the end of the season is another clear message that the Bavarian club remains ahead of everyone in the Bundesliga, and might influence Nagelsmann if he has a choice to make this summer.

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¹ Football hackers, Christoph Biermann
² https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/julian-nagelsmann-interview-winning-titles-rb-leipzig-dreaming-klopp-rangnick-14127