Bundesliga Matchday 6: Mainz and Dortmund’s Winning Philosophy

Since moving to Germany, your humble Bundesliga correspondent has witnessed a number of strange phenomena. Walrus moustaches and sock-plus-sandal combinations immediately spring to mind. But perhaps the strangest thing so far occurred on Saturday during Bundesliga matchday 6: Bayern Munich’s Dutch coach Louis van Gaal was sat on the bench, speechless, looking not quite sure what to do next.

The cause of van Gaal’s momentary paralysis? His much-heralded Bayern team had deservedly gone 2-1 down at home to Thomas Tuchel’s Mainz outfit. Van Gaal’s eventual reaction? Throwing centre-back Daniel van Buyten up front and launching it long – the classic last resort when all else has failed.

In the aftermath of that game, the German media has fixed its glare on Bayern’s slow start. Questions abound as to why van Gaal doesn’t have a ‘plan B’, or why Miroslav Klose can only find the net in a Germany shirt. Mainz’s achievement has taken a back seat. This time however, the media can be forgiven for turning a blind eye, because they have already run out of superlatives to hurl in the direction of Tuchel and his young team as they sit proudly atop the table with a 100% record.

In the summer of 2009, many questioned Mainz manager Christian Heidel’s appointment of Tuchel who, at only 36 years of age, only had experience of coaching at under-19 level. But Heidel knew what he was doing, seeing Tuchel as the embodiment of the Mainz philosophy: aggressive attacking tactics, pure emotion, motivation, passion, communication and playing with a smile. According to Heidel, Tuchel “didn’t pick up this philosophy when he joined the club. He lives it” and he knows exactly how to pass it on to his players.

This is not just reflected in Mainz’s perfectly choreographed ‘rock band’ goal celebrations, but also in the way they play: full of running (they practically run half marathons in every match they play) and never sitting back, always looking to win the game. Most teams visiting the Allianz Arena this season have gone there to shut up shop, park the bus (and any other euphemism you can find for setting the stall out not to concede). Mainz on the other hand, went there full of belief and, despite Bayern’s domination of possession, tried to take the game to them whenever possible.

With Mainz under the cosh and the score standing at 1-1, Tuchel brought on Andre Schürrle, an attacker, for right-back Niko Bungert. The result? Schürrle set up Hungarian forward Adam Szalai for Mainz’s beautiful winner. What Tuchel adds to this ‘Mainz philosophy’ is pure tactical mastery. Recently labelled ‘the German Mourinho’, Tuchel has been studying the art of coaching and tactics since his 20s. The result is that he instinctively knows the right system and personnel for every situation and, more importantly, he can communicate that to his young charges.

Klopp’s Dortmund Challenge Mainz

Mainz is not the only place where the ‘Mainz philosophy’ is at work however. 250km north of the carnival city, something very similar is going on at Borussia Dortmund, currently hot on Mainz’s heels in 2nd place and coached by Juergen Klopp, formerly of Mainz. Following a disappointing opening loss to Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund have won all of their subsequent Bundesliga matches. Like Mainz, Dortmund offer a brand of high-tempo, high-pressing attacking football, with talented young players at the heart of it.

Eight of the Dortmund team that demolished spirited St. Pauli 3-1 are aged 22 or under. In Klopp’s 4-2-3-1 system, Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin has been particularly impressive as the orchestrator in their ‘double pivot’, whilst the 3 attacking midfielders, Kevin Großkreutz, Mario Götze and particularly Shinji Kagawa have been equally excellent, mustering 8 goals and 5 assists between them thus far.

There are of course differences between the two teams, the principle one being Tuchel’s greater inclination to rotate his squad and change formations between and during matches. On the other hand, Klopp sticks to his 4-2-3-1 and has a definite preferred starting eleven. The big question at the moment is whether both sides, with their similar but different approaches, can maintain their title challenges. With youthful but small squads, it may be a tall order. Dortmund are the most likely, with more established quality in their squad, but European places should not be beyond either team.

Other Talking Points

• Raul finally got off the mark for Schalke at the Veltins Arena, grabbing the equaliser in a hard fought 2-2 draw with Borussia Moenchengladbach. Despite not getting the 3 points, there were lots of positives to take from Schalke’s performance. Jose Jurado has settled well into the midfield, allowing the Ruhr outfit to play ‘joined up football’ whilst Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Raul are forging an understanding up front. There are still question marks over the defence though.

• Stuttgart are, once again, in crisis following another slow start to the season. A heavy 4-1 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen has left them rooted to the bottom of the table. 3 points at home to Eintracht Frankfurt next week are a must.

• Things are looking up for Steve McClaren’s Wolfsburg. The Wolves emerged victorious in a hard-fought affair at home to Freiburg, making it 3 wins in a row. The catalyst has been a change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 with a diamond, which allows Grafite and Edin Dzeko to link up in attack and offers a solid bank of 3 defensive midfielders in front of the defence. Wolfsburg are now in a creditable 6th place.

• Werder Bremen won an intense ‘Nordderby’ 3-2 against Hamburger SV. Having fought back from 2-0 down to get back to 2-2, Hamburg will be kicking themselves, or at least kicking Piotr Trochowski, for allowing Bremen to grab the winner late on. Trochowski gave the ball away cheaply to allow Werder to break, and was ticked off by coach Armin Veh on the pitch straight after the final whistle, and then berated again in the post-match analysis. It was not on a par with a Phil Brown half-time team talk, but it will be interesting to see if that outburst has any effect on team morale.

• Mirko Slomka’s Hannover 96 weathered a Kaiserslautern storm to emerge victorious and lift themselves to 3rd in the table. The goal came from Mohamed Abdellaoue, who has formed a fruitful strike partnership with Didier ya Konan which has yielded 8 goals, and it lifts Hannover to 3rd. Somebody not too far from here predicted a long relegation battle for Hannover, but I won’t tell you who that was.

Results: 1.FC Koeln 1-1 Hoffenheim, FC Bayern 1-2 FSV Mainz 05, Schalke 04 2-2 Borussia Moenchengladbach, Vfb Stuttgart 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 1.FC Nuernberg, St. Pauli 1-3 Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen 3-2 Hamburger SV, Vfl Wolfsburg 2-1 SC Freiburg, Kaiserslautern 0-1 Hannover 96

(photo via michael40001 on Flickr)

Adam Szalai, Allianz Arena, Andre Schuerrle, Armin Veh, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Christian Heidel, Daniel van Buyten, Didier ya Konan, Edin Dzeko, Eintracht Frankfurt, FSV Mainz 05, German Bundesliga, German Football, Germany, Grafite, Hamburger SV, Hannover 96, Jose Jurado, Juergen Klopp, Kevin Grosskreutz, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Louis Van Gaal, Mario Goetze, Mirko Somka, Miroslav Klose, Mohamed Abdellaoue, Niko Bungert, Nordderby, Nuri Sahin, Phil Brown, Piotr Trochowski, Raul, Schalke 04, Shinji Kagawa, St. Pauli, Steve McClaren, Thomas Tuchel, Veltins Arena, VfB Stuttgart, Vfl Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen