Avoiding the Drop

"Why didn't Real Madrid want me instead of Alvaro Arbeloa?"

“Top teams in the Champions League have first-class players in seven, eight positions – we don’t. Other clubs have a system, a philosophy, and buy the players accordingly. We don’t. It’s not enough to buy good players, one has to develop a team.”

The team this quote references is having a rough go of things this season. They’re about to lose out on the Champions League, where they’ll likely finish third behind a French and an Italian side. They’re stuggling in their domestic league, where they’re currently sitting out of European contention in eighth place; this has been caused, in large part, because they relied too heavily on two players that are now injured. At the moment, there are minor uprisings within the squad, as everyone around them seems to have improved over the last few years while they’ve stayed the same.

Oh, and the team isn’t Liverpool; it’s Bayern Munich, the team that’s been called one of the best run clubs in Europe.

The quote in question came not from a fringe player, or from a disgruntled transfer target; it came from fullback and vice-captain Philipp Lahm. He was frustrated after Bayern’s 1-1 draw with fourth-placed Schalke over the weekend; a win would’ve meant fourth place. And they’re not particularly far from the title in the tight-as-ever Bundesliga, where only six points separate eighth place from first place.

They’re crashing out of the Champions League, though, mostly thanks to some lackluster play against Bordeaux. Injuries to Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben have hampered their progress, but, as Lahm said, that shouldn’t be the case. Actually, that quote’s just a small part of the longer rant:

“If you want to measure yourself with Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United, you, as Bayern Munich, need a philosophy. That must be the aim of the club.

“Clubs like Manchester United or Barcelona have a system, and then you hire personnel who fit this system. We hired Arjen Robben because he is very good and an international player. But we didn’t hire him because we said, ‘We will play 4-3-3 from now on.’ This doesn’t happen here – the club says, ‘We will [change our system] now,’ and everything is built on that.

“On an continental level you need at least eight players who have learned to play their position, who are confident and competitive. I don’t see these eight players here. That has nothing to do with the players, but with a lacking philosophy over the past [few] years.

“The club must tell a new coach, ‘This is the way we play.’ No one in Barcelona would ever play 4-4-2. Barcelona play 4-3-3 – that is a fact.

“I was raised at the club and Munich are dear to me – that’s why I am outspoken. I think I am in a position to make these statements. We want to be successful on an international stage and to win titles.”

On one hand, Lahm is right. Barcelona have been strict advocates of their attacking 4-3-3 formation ever since Johann Cruyff came over in the mid ’70s; the formation is part of the structure of the club. The players are integrated into the formation at a youth level, and are taught the specific skills needed to make the tactic work by the coaching staff from the time they’re very young in a training camp that tries it’s damndest to emulate the Dutch training method. It’s a small part of the overall philosophy that the club adheres to, and it gives Barcelona a unique character and feel; when Joan Laporta famously said “We make Ballon d’Or winners and others have to buy them” earlier this year, he was referring to those methods.

The problem with Lahm’s logic, however, is that Barcelona isn’t even close to being the model used by other teams. Far more teams go about their business the way that Bayern do: buy a player first, then adjust your tactic to suit the new player’s skills. Manchester United, the other example given by Lahm, are well documented tactical shifters; Ferguson might line his players up in a 4-4-2, but until you start playing you won’t really know if they’re going to play as a 4-3-3, a 4-2-3-1, a 4-5-1, or a straight-up 4-4-2. The formation is constant; the tactics within the formation, however, are developed for specifically for the players on the field. Are we defensive? Put Park out there. Are we looking to rip this team apart? Throw Obertan on the left, Valencia on the right, sink Rooney in the hole behind Berbatov, and go to town in a makeshift 4-3-3.

In a roundabout way, Chelsea is the perfect example of this strategy. In the past year, Chelsea have gone out in a 4-3-3, a 4-1-4-1, a 4-1-2-3, a 4-3-1-2, a 4-5-1, a 4-2-3-1, and a plain old 4-4-2; they can accomodate these different tactics because they have good depth and good players that have been purchased not only for their specific skills but also for their versatility.

The thing that Chelsea, Manchester United, and Barcelona all have in common, however, is the versatility of their players. Barcelona’s defenders are versatile enough that they were able to beat Barcelona without their two top right backs and with a defensive midfielder slotted in at centerback because they were versatile. Manchester United’s midfielders and forwards are able to play each other’s positions to a reasonable level. Chelsea fluctuates between positions on a game-by-game basis, seemingly without ill effect.

Bayern Munich doesn’t have that luxury, however. Without two wingers (as Robben and Ribery have both been injured), their targetmen strikers simply aren’t getting decent service from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Muller. Robben, partially brought in to provide a little backup for Ribery, is also hurt, so there’s no creative force in the midfield that can really cover them.

So Bayern is in a little bit of trouble right now. And, like Liverpool’s eerily parallel situation, it’s not one with an easy fix. Unlike Liverpool, however, they have the money to fix it; Bayern Munich’s the fourth richest club in Europe. It’s just a matter of getting the right players in, which is apparently a lot harder than it seems.