When Gladbach played Dortmund on Matchday 18, it was a tactical chess match for the two coaches. - © Lukas Schulze/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images

Average Position: Gladbach against Dortmund under the tactical microscope

26.01.2021

In Simon Rolfes, the Bundesliga and its partner AWS have an expert who knows the Bundesliga from A to Z. Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Sporting Director, Rolfes wore Die Werkself's colours 288 times between 2005 and 2015, and represented Germany on 26 occasions. Rolfes is the ideal man to write a weekly column for the 'Bundesliga Match Facts Zone' on bundesliga.com, analysing current trends and giving unique insight on the Bundesliga Match Facts.

Matchday 18's battle of the Borussias is analysed from a tactical perspective in this latest edition.

By Simon Rolfes

Last Friday, the battle of the Borussias between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund was without any doubt one of the most entertaining fixtures of the season, and not just because it had six goals in it. The game's high tempo and the way the two teams openly attacked each other helped make it such compelling viewing.

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Both coaches responded to the goals with tactical corrections. An analysis of Average Position enables an impressive reconstruction of the game's events.

Gladbach start with an unusual 3-4-1-2

Gladbach sprang the first surprise of the evening with what was, for them, a rather unusual starting formation. While Marco Rose's team have almost always played with a back four this season, they started with a back three, pivoting around the deep-lying Denis Zakaria (No8). The Swiss defender, who was clocked as the fastest player on the field at 32.63 km/h (20.3mph), provided on the one hand enough pace to be able to deal with Dortmund's quick centre forward Erling Haaland, while on the other hand he gave enough security to allow the wing backs Ramy Bensebaini (No25) and Stefan Lainer (No18) to adopt more advanced positions than usual.

It was a successful move, as the Average Position after 18 minutes, illustrated below, shows quite clearly: Gladbach had succeeded in pressing Dortmund deep into their own half. While only Gladbach's back three spent most of their time in their own half, Haaland (No9) was the only Dortmund player predominantly positioned inside Gladbach territory. Almost inevitably, Gladbach's enormous early pressure was rewarded with the opening goal through Nico Elvedi in the 11th minute.

While most of the Gladbach players were in the opposition half, Dortmund had only Haaland in enemy territory early on. - DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga

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The hosts could not subsequently sustain such a high tempo, and Dortmund crept back into the game. Haaland escaped Zakaria at the right moments to score twice and turn the game on its head. At this stage, Gladbach had to rely on their dead-ball strength to level, with Elvedi converting one of three goals from set-piece situations for the hosts to equalise before the break.

After the lead had changed hands once again, through Gladbach's left full-back Bensebaini, the tactics were duly adjusted. Rose shifted Zakaria out of the centre of the defence and into a defensive midfield role, packing him in alongside Florian Neuhaus (No32) and Christoph Kramer (No6) as three holding midfielders. With their deep-lying formation, Gladbach sat on their lead and waited for chances on the counterattack. Dortmund, meanwhile, struggled to adjust to the hosts' manoeuvres while sticking religiously to their own 4-2-3-1 system, as can be seen here:

With Zakaria moved forward, Gladbach bolstered the centre field, while Dortmund did not make any clear changes to their 4-2-3-1 system. - DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga

Only after Marcus Thuram made it 4-2, also from a corner, did Dortmund take things tactically onto a radical new level. Coach Erdin Terzic fielded three centre forwards in Steffen Tigges, Youssoufa Moukoko and Haaland (No27, No18 and No9) and three attacking midfielders in support with Jadon Sancho (No7), Gio Reyna (No32) and Julian Brandt (No19) in a bid to get back into the game.

By doing this, Terzic sacrificed both his right full-back and a second holding midfielder. It was all in vain, though, as Gladbach stuck to their 4-2-3-1 formation and defended resolutely.

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Dortmund threw caution to the wind late on, with a right full-back sacrificed for more attacking options, while Gladbach covered all bases. - DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga

The example of this highly entertaining Friday night fixture shows quite clearly, then, to what extent goals can change a game, but also how the coaches have to be make constant changes to their tactics throughout games, to react and adapt to every situation.

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