How Flick’s Tactical Innovations Helped Bayern Win The Sextuple?

Hansi Flick’s tenure at Bayern Munich was nothing short of historic. He took over a struggling Bayern under Niko Kovač. Flick’s innovations transformed the struggling unit into one of the most dominant sides. In less than a year, Flick completely transformed Bayern and made them an unstoppable force, they won the sextuple-only the 2nd club to do it after FC Barcelona. Let’s look at how Flick’s Tactical Innovations Helped Bayern Win The Sextuple.

High-Intensity Pressing

📌Flick implemented high-intensity pressing, inspired by famous German coaches including Jürgen Klopp.

📌The aim of the high-pressing system was to win the ball back quickly after losing it.

📌The team starts the press in an organised manner. The players applied pressure in groups to cut off passing lanes and win the ball.

📌Players like Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich were key in the pressing, ensuring opponents had no chance to build attacks.

Quick Transitions and Vertical Play

📌Flick wanted Bayern to win the ball and transition into an immediate attack with precise passing sequences.

📌The aim was to exploit the opponent’s disorganised shape after winning possession.

📌Players were instructed to move the ball forward as soon as they win possession, moving the ball in a vertical way instead of using the width off the pitch.

📌Players like Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, and Serge Gnabry mastered this tactic and helped the team score much more.

Formation Flexibility

📌One of Bayern’s strongest points was flexibility in formation changes with changing game scenarios.

📌Flick often deployed the 4-2-3-1 at Bayern, but he was never scared to change it with the flow of the game.

Role of Full-Backs

📌Fullbacks were key in Flick’s offensive system, with Alphonso Davies and Joshua Kimmich/Benjamin Pavard playing high up the pitch.

📌Davies’ pace was used to exploit opponents’ disorganised formation during counterattacks.

📌The attacking and defensive roles provided the team with more stability.

Fluid Front Three

📌Flick gave his front three freedom, allowing them to interchange positions fluidly.

📌Lewandowski played as a number 9 but used to drop for link-up play in midfield.

📌Thomas Müller played the role of a second-striker, finding pockets of spaces and helping in attack.

📌Wingers like Coman and Gnabry provided width and also used to cut in to overload the box.

Závěr

Flick’s Bayern is the epitome of how a manager should rebuild a team. His tactical innovations were key for Bayern to win the Sextuple.