RB Leipzig principles of play under Julian Nagelsmann – Defensive organisation and attacking transition

Nagelsmann’s brand of football is based on 31 principles. ‘The players probably can’t list them all. But once I stop training and ask them what we are currently working on, they can name that particular principle,’ he said. Those 31 principles are Nagelsmann’s trade secret.

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The young German coach has attracted lots of attention from the media in the last 5-6 years, first because of his age (born in 1987), then thanks to his results and the style of football he has had both Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig playing. He is often recognised for his flexibility, regularly changing his team’s formations and line-ups between but also during matches. However, what we will focus on here are the principles of play his team follows, independently of its shape or line-up.

This is part 1 of 2. Follow this link for part 2 looking at the attacking organisation and the defensive transition: https://tacticandtechnique.com/rb-leipzig-principles-of-play-under-julian-nagelsmann-attacking-organisation-and-defensive-transition/

What is a principle of play?

First and foremost, we need to define the term ‘principle of play’. It has become a common expression in the coaching and analysis world, alongside ‘game model’. However, it might mean something different from one person to another. Personally, I use the below definition from Xavier Tamarit’s book, ‘What is tactical periodization?’:

The principles are general behaviours that the coach wants to achieve in his game. To Oliveira (mentioned by Gomes, M. in 2006) “the principle is the beginning of a behaviour that a coach wants the team to assume, in collective terms, and the players in individual ones.” In other words, it would never be an aim by itself. For instance, a coach wants, when the team wins possession of the ball, to play long passes looking for the head of the striker, so he can deflect the ball towards one of the wingers. This would be a principle of the game. However, what happens next is not determined.

What is tactical periodization?, Xavier Tamarit

Principles of play are therefore a set of actions given by the coach to the players to simplify the game, and to guide them in making decisions in the 4 moments of the game.

The Red Bull philosophy

Red Bull have a very clear idea of how they want their teams to play. Although head coaches are obviously free to implement their own playing model, they are selected on the criteria that this model is very close to the Red Bull philosophy. In the case of Nagelsmann, he was already wanted by the club during the 2017/18 season while he was at Hoffenheim. Although he couldn’t join RB Leipzig at the end of that season, they were ready to wait another season, but didn’t want to commit to another coach during this period. Ralf Rangnick, then sporting director, therefore decided to take the head coach role in the interim while waiting for Nagelsmann.

Without going into Rangnick’s biography, he had an immense influence over German football and coaches, notably for introducing gegenpressing and ball-oriented zonal marking. As the sporting director from 2012 to 2020 (with spells as head coach), Rangnick has also had a very big influence over the Red Bull football teams’ philosophy and style of play. In a nutshell, their teams are looking to press the opponent high up the pitch, with an emphasis on fast forward play in possession, and quick and aggressive transitions.

In terms of defensive organisation and transition management, Nagelsmann has a similar approach to Rangnick. He wants his teams to attack the opponent as early as possible to regain possession with a chance to score and react quickly in both defensive and attacking transition moments to restart an attack.

In possession however, Nagelsmann is more possession-oriented and put more emphasis on his team circulating the ball to prepare safer forward passing options, whereas Rangnick would want his team to play forward as much and as quick as possible. The results of both approaches translates into the stats below, with Rangnick’s RB Leipzig playing a more important ratio of their passes forward and into the final third, with obviously more misplaced passes than Nagelsmann’s team.

We’ll now go into more details, looking at each moment of the game and what principles Julian Nagelsmann has implemented. In this article, I will focus on the defensive organisation and the attacking transition phases. In another article, I will go through the attacking phase and the defensive transitions.

We press to score goals

In a recent webinar with The Coaches’ Voice, Jesse Marsch (RB Salzburg head coach) talked about ‘pressing to score goals’ as opposed to ‘pressing to regain possession’.

Julian Nagelsmann adopts the same defensive strategy at RB Leipzig, executed through several principles of play that I have tried to identify (in bold below).

The starting point is that they press as high as possible to regain possession as close as possible from the opposition’s goal. Different researches have been done on attacking transitions in Elite football, concluding that chances to create goal scoring opportunities, and scoring goals were much higher when possession was regained in the opposition’s half ^1,2, implying that the best approach to score goals after regaining possession is to press with a high line.

The risk with the high press is to be played through, or over in the depth behind the high defensive line. In terms of personnel, RB Leipzig are well equipped to maintain a high line with a player like Upamecano who has recorded the second fastest sprint in the Bundesliga this season with a peak at 35.34 km/h.

To prevent being played through, they maintain a compact shape with the main reference point being the ball, and covering players defending on the front foot, meaning that whenever a pass is played through a line, a player from the line behind should be ready to step up to attack the receiver between the lines to deny him to turn.

Although they are aggressive and keen on attacking the opponent as early as possible, Leipzig are also well disciplined when it comes to initiating the press. When the opposition is in balance and under control of the ball, they would maintain their high line while waiting for specific triggers to start the press.

The main trigger they are looking for is a square pass between 2 centre-backs. This type of pass allows the pressing team to isolate the receiver from his teammate, making it easier to force the play into a specific direction.

Another trigger is a forward touch from the player on the ball (typically is a CB). As the player takes a forward touch into space, it is more difficult for him to then play a back pass because of the momentum of the play. Therefore, he is more often forced to keep playing forward a more difficult pass.

Lastly, a back pass to the goalkeeper would typically trigger a press as well, as most high pressing team would.

Once the press is initiated, it is crucial that the whole team moves forward and towards the ball to maintain the compactness. The intensity and the speed are very important as Marsch also explains in the webinar. From the point they start pressing, RB Leipzig’s objective is then to reduce the opponent’s options on the ball so they can overload the ball-near area. We can then identify 3 different roles in the press. I use a car mechanic analogy to illustrate these roles:

• The starter: very simply, he is the player initiating the press, the one reacting to the trigger. His role is to attack the ball carrier (preferably with a diagonal run) in a way that he can’t play the ball to the initial passer, but instead has to play towards a specific direction. Generally, RB Leipzig would try to force the play towards a wide area where they can use the touchline as an extra defender, but the actual principle of play here should be to force the play where they have an advantage. It can therefore be towards the central channel if they have a numerical advantage there for example
• The turbo: he’s also called the second wave. He’s typically the closest player to the starter. His role is to increase the pressure initiated by the starter, either by teaming up against the ball carrier to create a 2v1, or by pressing the second pass. His action should force the opposition to play quicker, with less time to make decision, and therefore more chance to misplace a pass or lose a challenge
• The pistons: they are the players in the cover. Their role is to compress the area around the ball to create a numerical advantage and increase their chances to regain possession. By forcing the opponent into a specific area of the pitch, the players in the cover are able to empty (or underload) the ball-far areas to instead overload the ball-near area before the opponent had time to move in numbers to support the ball carrier

On an individual level, a very important skill for the success of the press is the ability to press and screen the opponent. As the first line of pressure would typically be outnumbered by the team in possession, they need to press while blocking passing lines between 2 players so a 2v1 becomes a 1v1. In this clip, we see how Leipzig turn a 2v4 into a 3v2 with Forsberg and Poulsen both blocking the pass to the pivot player while pressing the ball.

As the ball has been forced into a specific area, it needs to be locked into this area and prevent any switch of play into underloaded areas of the pitch. Typically, the main danger for a ball-oriented pressing team is a long diagonal switch which could find the opposite winger in a 1v1 or even 1v0 situation. The image often used here is the creation of a net that the opponent can’t escape. Not only the pressing team needs to attack the ball in numbers, they also need to constantly aggress the ball carrier so he has no time to prepare an accurate long pass. Another important principle here is to press the ball with as many players as possible to increase the chances to win the ball. In this clip against Dortmund, we can see both Meunier and Sancho being pressed by 2 Leipzig players.

Winning the ball can then be done through different actions, typically a tackle, an interception, or recovering a loose ball or a misplaced pass. Nagelsmann prefers to win the ball via an interception.

Nagelsmann prefers to force the opponent into playing a poor pass rather than win the ball in one-vs-one situations, which are subject to too many random outcomes for his liking. ‘Our goal is to always use an interception to have an advantage of pace over an opponent that’s fanned out and positioned widely,’ Nagelsmann declared.

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The main advantage of an interception is that the player winning the ball has no direct opposition ahead of him and can therefore run into space to initiate a counterattack. To create situations where they can intercept a pass, RB Leipzig try to always have at least one spare player in the net around the ball lurking for a potential interception. In this clip, Laimer is the spare player. Screening here is again an important skill as we can first see him getting between Saul (on the ball) and Carrasco (left of the front 3). His first intention might well be to block a penetrative pass before thinking about intercepting, but his positioning in Olmo’s (pressing the ball) shadow could have led to Saul not seeing him and trying to play that pass to Carrasco. As Lodi takes a poor first touch and the ball bounces in the air, he understands he can step up to intercept a soft header. Intercepting skills therefore come with a player’s ability to read the game and opponents’ intentions: identifying passing lines, anticipating the next move based on the ball carrier’s body shape and field of vision, hiding behind teammates/opponents to jump in and intercept a pass.

Lastly, the role of the first line of pressure is not limited to initiating the press. More often than not, the ball won’t be regained directly by the first line, but instead by a covering player. The role of the first line then becomes to support a potential counter attack should possession be regained. Leipzig would try to keep as many players as possible ahead of the ball to do so, with advanced players looking to position themselves in gaps between opponents and between the lines to be open targets for a penetrative pass as the ball is recovered. This concept is often called rest attack.

The below clip offers a great camera angle (for once!) to see most of the principles discussed above in action against Dortmund. I have left the video unannotated so readers can make their own analysis.

Gone in 10 seconds

If it takes Nicolas Cage 60 seconds to steal a car, Ralf Rangnick and his disciples believe that it takes 10 seconds to score a goal after regaining possession of the ball.

Jokes aside, other studies have demonstrated that performing a penetrative action within 3 seconds after regaining possession increased the chances to create goal scoring opportunities ³, and that successful counter attacks lasted between 10 and 15 seconds and consisted of 4 to 8 actions ⁴.

The first of Nagelsmann’s principles to transition from defense to attack is therefore to play forward as soon as the ball is recovered, whether by a pass or a carry. RB Leipzig’s priority seems to be to play a forward pass rather than running with the ball or dribbling. An obvious reason could be that the ball travels faster with a pass than a run, therefore they can penetrate and put pressure on the defensive line quicker. Another reason is that their whole defensive system is built around the objective of regaining possession to score, so when they win the ball, they have numbers around it, players are at passing distances to each other, and they have support ahead of the ball to play forward. A player would generally run with the ball because he is either isolated, or because his teammates are all marked. But RB Leipzig’s defensive system should prevent these type of scenarios to happen on a regular basis.

Independently from where the ball is recovered, their first objective is to play through the central channel as early as possible. It is again very logical to play through the centre, as playing in a wide area would considerably restrict the ball carrier’s options.

The next objective is to get at least 3 players ahead of the ball as quickly as possible. Most teams nowadays keep 4 or 5 field players behind the ball when in possession, with a 3-1, 2-2, 3-2 or 2-3 structure. The countering team can therefore maximise its chances to create a goal scoring opportunity by quickly breaking through the opposition’s midfield line and attacking the back line with 3 players in an attempt to create an even numbers situation, or at least a slight underload. Having players running forward as soon as the ball is recovered also forces the opposition’s defensive line to drop, increasing the distances between the lines.

Another reason for getting 3 players ahead of the ball is to quickly occupy the 3 central channels. When counter attacking, players should remain relatively close to each other to stay connected and facilitate a quick ball circulation. Having players 25-30 metres apart would considerably slow down the attack due to the time for the ball to travel, the risk of inaccurate passes, and the low chances of creating overloads against a defender. By attacking down the 3 central channels, RB Leipzig (and any team counter attacking really) are able to combine quickly and arrive in the opposition’s box to attack the 3 crucial zones (front post, penalty spot area and back post).

Finally, players should try to take as few touches as possible to increase the speed of the attack.

In this clip, we can see all these principles in action against Atletico:

And below are some unannotated clips again for the reader to make his own analysis.

How are RB Leipzig performing?

Defensively, they are the best defense in the Bundesliga, with 18 goals conceded in 21 games so far this season, 0.86 goals conceded per game. Last season, this ratio was up to 1.09 after 34 league games. They are also the team with the lowest number of shots conceded per 90 minutes with 7.2, well below Leverkusen in the 2nd place with 8.52.

In the Champions League though, this ratio climbs to 2 goals conceded per game this season, with 8 goals conceded against Manchester Untied alone over 2 games. It is hard to give a definitive answer as to why there is such difference between the 2 competitions. We can only agree that above all, the quality of the opponents is clearly higher than the average Bundesliga team, making it more difficult to defend against them, and mistakes are more easily punished than in their domestic league. They have also conceded 4 penalties in the Champions League in only 6 matches, whereas they have conceded only 2 in their 21 Bundesliga matches.

In an interview with the Independent last year, he also talked about the need to have more defensive-minded players on the pitch when playing in the Champions League compared to the Bundesliga ⁵. However, in the first match against Manchester United lost 5-0, Nagelsmann lined-up a rather attacking midfield 3 of Kampl, Olmo and Nkunku to start the game. He then added more attacking players, bringing on Sorloth and Kluivert to try to come back in the game. They instead conceded 4 goals in the last 15 minutes. The youth of his squad (24.4 years old on average), and of himself (only 33 years old) certainly also have an impact at the European level.

Attacking transitions are more difficult to accurately evaluate. In terms of goals scored on the counter, they tally only 2 so far in the Bundesliga where Bayern have scored 8 and Leverkusen 9 for example. However, in terms of counters leading to a shot, they have a better rate than Bayern (Leverkusen are in their own league there).

Last season, they averaged 4.24 counter attacks per 90 minutes. Moreover, they scored 7 times through counters (Source: Whoscored). It’s likely that they are underperforming this season due to Werner leaving the squad as he was one of their main attacking threat last season and a very efficient counter attacking player. We will have the occasion to discuss the impact of Werner’s absence compared to last season in the next article where I will look into the attacking phase and the defensive transitions.

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¹ Hughes, M., & Lovell, T. (2019): Transition to attack in elite soccer
² Daniel Cooper & Craig Pulling (2020): The impact of ball recovery type, location of ball recovery and duration of possession on the outcomes of possessions in the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga
³ Gonzalez-Rodenas et al. (2015): The effects of playing tactics on creating scoring opportunities in random matches from US Major League Soccer
⁴ Fleig & Hughes (2004): Counter attacks in the 2002 World Cup for association football
⁵ https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/julian-nagelsmann-interview-rb-leipzig-jose-mourinho-real-madrid-tottenham-champions-league-a9335101.html