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Analysing the suitability of Jesse Marsch’s tactics for the squad at RB Leipzig

After impressing at New York Red Bulls and then at RB Salzburg for two seasons, it was always likely that the next step in Jesse Marsch’s promising coaching career would be at RB Leipzig. This week, that move was confirmed, as RB Leipzig announced that Marsch will replace Bayern Munich bound Julian Nagelsmann this summer. As such, it is high time we look at how Marsch’s tactics will suit the squad he will inherit in Leipzig. This tactical analysis details the core principles of Marsch’s tactics in Salzburg and then how the current RB Leipzig squad might fit into his tactical plans.

Of course, Marsch will not arrive in Leipzig with the place being completely alient for him since he spent 2018/19 there as Ralf Rangnick’s assistant. Therefore, he knows the training ground, he knows the staff and he has worked with most of the players. Given how connected the RB clubs are, Marsch is a perfect fit. What is interesting, though, is which players will fit into his setup.

Let’s begin by looking at some of Marsch’s tactical ideas. I have decided to pick out three tactical details to discuss: pressing, verticality and counter-pressing. For more insight into Marsch’s tactics, I would suggest going to youtube to watch some of the excellent interviews he has given. He is refreshingly open and honest about his style of play and ideas about the game.

Pressing to score goals

The main thing to note in regards to Marsch’s tactics is his devotion to energetic, aggressive pressing. By his own account, his pressing is ball-orientated, meaning that Marsch’s side are guided by where the ball is and press aggressively in those areas. Furthermore, they try to overload these spaces and do not pay attention to opponents in other areas. The important thing is the ball, not opponents, and having players around the ball to create numerical superiorities which he believes will help the team regain possession.

All teams press in some way or another, but what is special about Marsch’s pressing schemes is that he uses pressing as an attacking method to score goals. Repeatedly, Marsch has said that his teams do not press to win back possession; rather, they press to score goals. In interviews and webinars, I have listened to Marsch talk about “attacking the ball” and about his players “hunting” the ball, highlighting the very proactive thinking that permeates Marsch’s pressing beliefs. In essence, the pressing his teams perform looks to create advantageous goalscoring situations as soon as the ball has been won.

The sequence below is a case in point that demonstrates the fundamental ideas of how Marsch’s Red Bull Salzburg press. This situation occurred in a game versus Rapid Wien in 2020. Rapid have a goalkick and prepare to play it short. Salzburg are positioned in a very narrow 4-2-2-2 and are ready to press as soon as the goalkeeper starts the play. In regards to the positioning, it’s worth noting the narrow positioning of the two wide players (or “tens”, as Marsch calls them). Their positioning highlights a core principle of Marsch’s: central compactness. He wants to be strong centrally and, as we’ll see, narrow positioning is crucial in the overloads Salzburg create and in preparation for attacking transitions.

Salzburg’s starting positions against Rapid Wien in a 4-2-2-2.

As the ball is played to the left-sided centre-back, Salzburg sprint to press. The ball-near striker leads the ‘hunt’ while the two central midfielders and the ball-far ten move across towards the ball to increase Salzburg’s compactness in the area around the ball. The ball-near ten maintains a narrow position but is prepared to press Rapid’s left-back. As Salzburg move across, they pay no attention to Rapid’s right-back and right-winger, as we can see. This is an example of their ball-orientated pressing.

Salzburg initiate their press and move in unison towards the ball.

As the ball has now reached the left-back, Salzburg have compressed the space so much that all passing options have been cut off for the ball-carrier. The striker who just pressed the centre-back has continued his run to back-press the left-back to create a 2 vs 1 with the right-sided ten (numerical superiorities, remember?). In midfield, Salzburg’s central midfielders have moved across and up so much that they are both closer to the ball than any of Rapid’s midfielders. The ball-far striker blocks a switch to the goalkeeper or the right-sided centre-back so the left-back has no options. This will result in the ten winning the ball here.

This is a very good example of Marsch’s ball-orientated pressing. Salzburg have overloaded around the ball to remove all passing options for Rapid’s left-back, resulting in Salzburg winning the ball. Due to the central midfielders suppoting the press, there is a lot of space behind them and if the left-back could have gotten out of the press, Rapid could attack Salzburg’s back-four in a numerical advantage, but Marsch counts on his team winning balls in these situations.

After winning the ball, the right-sided wide player turns and then lifts a pass across to the left-sided wide player who receives and scores. Five seconds after winning the ball, Salzburg have scored.

A tale of two tens: the right-sided ten switches the ball to his left-sided partner who scores.

I mentioned earlier that Marsch wants his pressing to generate goals and advantageous situations due to the numbers he commits around the ball. If we stay with the goal against Rapid, we can see that the ball-orientated pressing has generated a 6 vs 4 advantage for Salzburg in Rapid’s defensive third.

Thanks to the ball-orientated pressing of Salzburg, they create a 6 vs 4 situation when the ball has been regained.

In essence, this situation encapsulates Jesse Marsch’s ideas out of possession: aggressive ball-orientated pressing, supporting positions and runs around the pressing player, central compactness, numerical overloads around the ball and then quick transitions to hurt the opposition.

If the press fails, Marsch wants his team to drop a few metres to recover their shape and then “re-press” the ball.

Verticality

Speaking of quick transitions, let’s discuss the core principle of Marsch’s possession idea: verticality. When Salzburg recover the ball, Marsch wants them to immediately look to play the ball forward. Thus, the American does not instruct his players to play a few safe passes to stabilize possession. No, Marsch wants to instantly attack the opponent since they are disorganised defensively having just lost possession when spreading out and trying to play.

The perfect example of this idea is the third goal of Salzburg’s 6-2 win against Genk in September 2019. The striker Hee-chan Hwang pressed Genk’s left-sided centre-back while right-sided ten Takumi Minamino also moved towards the Genk defender. The centre-back then played a hopeful pass into midfield that Salzburg midfielder Zlatko Junuzović got in the way of. Junuzović only needed one touch to instantly play the ball into the space behind the centre-back which Hwang, reacting quickest, ran into and scored. With one touch on the ball, Salzburg turned defence into a goal.

We can again note the narrow and compact shape of Salzburg here. With one touch, Junuzović won the ball and assisted Hwang to score. Ruthless!

In general, verticality is a huge part of Marsch’s philosophy. He demands that his strikers and two tens constantly make runs behind the defence and, if an opponent is high, Salzburg will often look to play long passes from their centre-backs straight into the space behind the opponent’s defensive line.

If facing a low defensive block, Marsch’s team make use of combination play in central areas, which is natural given their four central attackers. One specific movement and space Marsch wants to attack is the space behind the ball-far centre-back, which Salzburg will look to exploit with chipped, diagonal passes from the opposite side (for example, from the right-sided half-space to the left-sided striker or ten running into depth). Apart from combination play and these diagonal chips, Marsch also instructs his teams to play early crosses to force defenders running towards their own goal in the hope that this might, if not one of his strikers get on the end of the crosses, lead to own goals.

Counter-pressing

Like Jürgen Klopp, Marsch also considers counter-pressing to be an attacking strategy. In fact, Marsch has mentioned that one way of breaking down a low-block is to actually lose the ball in their half and then counter-press aggressively. Upon recovering the ball, the opponent might be disorganised and then Marsch wants to attack them in depth straight away. By nature, the narrowness of Marsch’s preferred 4-2-2-2 means his side have a lot of players in central areas who can counter-press when their combination play does not come off.

Of course, this is part of the plan. Marsch speaks of having a notion of an attacking “net” where his players are connected to each other in the aim that this will facilitate quick passing through the lines of the opponent but also, crucially, that the players are connected to allow them to counter-press effectively in numbers. In the image below, we can see an example of what Marsch’s 4-2-2-2 attacking net might look like.

Jesse Marsch’s attacking net when using a 4-2-2-2.

Marsch’s players do not counter-press individually nor do they mark opponents. Instead, the players closest to the ball-carrier will all look to put him under pressure and then chances are that at least one of them will win the ball. If the ball is won, those players are then connected to counter-attack. Those players that are not directly engaged in the counter-pressing action pick up supporting positions to stop the opponent if they manage to get through the immediate pressure.

Comparison with Nagelsmann

As Marsch himself has recognised, he and Nagelsmann interpret the Red Bull philosophy of play differently. We can make a quick comparison between the two by looking at their performances in the Champions League this season. For instance, Salzburg averaged more passes into the attacking third, more passes into the penalty area, and had more attempts in their six games than Leipzig had in their eight. In addition, Salzburg created twice as many clear chances in six games than Leipzig did in eight. These stats highlight Marsch’s emphasis on direct attacks where his players get the ball forward quickly.

Nagelsmann’s Leipzig have been more patient in their play. In terms of possession, Leipzig averaged 52% possession to Salzburg’s 48%. Also, Leipzig attempted 535 passes per game to Salzburg’s 481 and had a higher pass accuracy (81% vs 77%), highlighting their more measured, patient approach to attacking play. Defensively, Salzburg averaged more recoveries, which just demonstrates their focus on pressing. As predicted, these stats highlight the more patient approach of Leipzig and the fact that Nagelsmann seems to prefer a more stable style of possession compared to Marsch’s very vertically-focussed attacking game.

Structurally, Marsch will most likely deploy a four-man defence, which would mean a change from the back-three Nagelsmann has mostly made use of. By his own account, Marsch places more emphasis on principles of play than formations, often mentioning that he has used around a dozen formations in two seasons at Salzburg, but we can probably expect a preferred 4-2-2-2 in which he makes use of two central midfielders and two ’10s’.

RB Leipzig’s squad

Now, let’s look at the squad Marsch will inherit in Germany and how the players will fit into his plans.

Defence

While the goalkeeping situation seems in control with Péter Gulácsi the obvious first-choice, things will change in the defensive line. Not only is Marsch almost certain to use a back-four, Dayot Upamecano is leaving for Bayern and Ibrahima Konaté looks set for a move to Liverpool. Willi Orbán and Lukas Klostermann are still there and will be important, and Leipzig have made two very exciting signings in the shape of Strasbourg’s Mohamed Simakan and the Croatian Joško Gvardiol.

Simakan can play right-back but is primarily signed as a centre-back and his ability to read the game to step in and defend proactively will be perfect for Marsch’s defensive style. Gvardiol also looks like a good fit given his proactive nature in possession where he often looks to dribble out of defence to engage forwards and then use his left-foot to play through the lines of the opposition.

In addition, I would not disregard the possibility of Leipzig bringing in Marsch’s former player Aaron Long from NY Red Bulls, either. Long has excelled in the MLS and is the captain of the U.S. national team. He has been moulded in the Red Bull philosophy and is certainly ready for a move to Europe.

At full-back, Marsch knows Nordi Mukiele and Marcel Halstenberg well while Angeliño’s loan has been made permanent. Benjamin Henrichs is also there so this area looks very good and well-suited to Marsch’s tactics with energetic and attacking full-backs.

Central midfield

In central midfield, Marsch is sure to alternate between a double pivot and systems such as 4-Diamond-2 with one pivot. As expected, the central midfield options look perfect too. Kevin Kampl has played under Red Bull coaches such as Roger Schmidt, Rangnick and Ralph Hasenhüttl and will likely remain a key player under Marsch. The same goes for Marcel Sabitzer and Tyler Adams who have both worked with Marsch before.

Amadou Haidara has obviously spent time at both Salzburg and Leipzig and will challenge for a starting spot in midfield too, but can also be used as one of the attacking midfielders. In addition, Konrad Laimer will be back from injury so this looks like an absolutely perfect setup of midfield options for Marsch’s tactics.

Attacking midfielders

If central midfield looks perfect, then the attacking midfield options look excellent as well. Marsch nurtured Dominik Szoboszlai at Salzburg and will now reunite with the Hungarian playmaker. When recovering from his injuries, expect Szoboszlai to flourish in Germany too because he is a lovely player to watch who understands exactly what Marsch will want from him. His main competitor for a starting spot will be the 29-year-old Emil Forsberg who worked with Marsch in 2018/19, of course, and fit the tactics well, but might struggle with the increased intensity of Marsch’s pressing-heavy style at this stage of his career. In terms of central combination play, however, Forsberg remains one of the best players in Germany so he will likely play a big part too.

If Szoboszlai and Forsberg will compete for the spot as the left-sided ten, Dani Olmo and Christopher Nkunku look set to do the same for the right-sided spot. The pair both joined in 2019 after Marsch had left, but their performances since suggest they will adapt to the American’s style straight away.

Strikers

Since Marsch has often favoured quick strikers who run into depth, one could question whether Alexander Sørloth, who joined last summer, fits in. The same would go for Yusuf Poulsen, who has made more appearances for RB Leipzig than any other player. However, Poulsen enjoyed his most prolific season under Ragnick and Marsch in 2018/19, scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga, and a powerful presence like him or Sørloth could be very useful as a target for direct passes from deep. In addition, when all those creative midfield players will look to combine in central areas, having a target man as someone to bounce the ball off of could be very important. Add the threat from crosses and you see why these two strikers might have big roles to play for Marsch.

Marsch will still want at least one quick runner up front though and Hee-chan Hwang will be delighted to welcome his former Salzburg coach to the club. Hwang excelled under Marsch in 2019/20, scoring eleven goals in the Austrian Bundesliga while also impressing in the Champions League, but has been limited to 15 appearances this season with only one goal. We can probably expect him to thrive next year when he reuintes with Marsch.

Still, I think Leipzig should look to add another quick runner to their strike force. We know that Marsch prefers playing with two strikers and Leipzig haven’t really replaced the threat of Timo Werner’s deep runs. The obvious option here is for the club to raid Salzburg for Patson Daka. The Zambian has been fantastic and is destined to move this summer, but no destination would make more sense than following his coach to Germany.

With that said, here is what Marsch’s RB Leipzig could look like without any other players joining the club.

Conclusion

Before finishing, it is important to just leave a word here on mentality. Marsch will bring with him a different style of play to that which Leipzig have just under Nagelsmann, but the main thing Marsch will bring is a huge emphasis on positive thinking and the importance of a proactive, almost aggressive, mentality. Marsch has already played a pivotal role in launching the careers of players like Takumi Minamino, Erling Braut Haaland and Szoboszlai, and will improve players by trusting them and devoting himself to help each player develop and grow.

Therefore, some of the fringe players in Leipzig’s squad might appear as superstars in the next year or two. Additionally, Marsch is a believer in rotation and group processes so all players in the squad will have something to contribute if they work for it.

Once again, the Red Bull network highlight their long-term planning and the pathway is clear. With his exciting style of play and refreshing man-management, Jesse Marsch promises to be an extremely interesting coach to follow in the Bundesliga next season. The squad looks perfect for him (particularly if they add another quick striker) and, with Nagelsmann starting at Bayern and Marco Rose starting at Dortmund, RB Leipzig might even have an outside chance to sneak a first league title.

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