maximilli

In 19/20 season Leipzig was 20th in short passes attempted, 25th in medium passes, 80th in long passes. Overall possession lower, 55.3%, but could be down to the team quality. Their passing % wasn't the best. But the overall trend is similar. Pep's City for example is always at the top in short and medium passes, but much lower in long passes. Also the article about him considering Pep's Barcelona as role model is from 2019. Doesn't seem to me that his principals have changed much. I skimmed through Frankfurt - Leipzig full match from Jan 2020 and looks like they're trying to do the same thing as 20/21.

I tried more direct with standard tempo, set highlights to full match. I just don't see it. Looks very different. Yes, Nagelsmann plays a bit more progressive than Pep, but it's still very patient possession oriented buildup compared to most teams. One thing Nagelsmann's Leipzig is one of the lowest out of the top 5 leagues (90th out of 98) is passes that travel 40 yard or more of the width of the pitch. With more direct passing I'm getting a lot of side switches, despite playing very narrow. I'd also be very surprised if you can achieve one of the highest possessions (Leipzig tied to 2nd place with Leverkusen in Bundesliga) with more direct. You don't get that just by gegenpressing.

I checked Leipzig's last season stats under him and if considering the lower quality players compared to Bayern, it's pretty similar. Out of the top 5 leagues (98 teams), Leipzig was 90th in long passes attempted, but 15th in short passes. 59.7% possession. With more direct passing, the passing attempts would be pretty much reversed. Edit: looking at Leizpig 2020 game against PSG and so far I've seen mostly short on the ground passes. Looks more like my tactic with much shorter passing and slightly higher tempo. Maybe shorter passing with standard tempo. The game stats show their goalkeeper was the main one playing long passes (27 out of 66 total attempted), which makes sense because Gulácsi is not good at passing.

Initially I liked the HB role in this match engine, but after a while I noticed an issue. HB drops deeper, the CBs spread wide, but the HB is still a little higher than them oftentimes. Now when opponent striker rushes forward through the center and the ball is played to him, HB is too high up to get to him and CBs are too wide. Led to conceding a lot of goals like that. Don't know if that will be an issue in all styles. I personally play a very high line. But after switching to DM(d), the problem is solved. Defensively very solid now.

Are you trying to replicate older Nagelsmann style? I haven't followed his older teams, but his Bayern has same amount of possession in Bundesliga as City in Prem. Last season Bayern had higher possession in Champions League than City. Based on Fbref data, Bayern's passes are more likely to be progressive, City is more likely to play sideways. But in terms of overall passing length, they're very similar. There's also an article where he says: "Pep Guardiola's Barcelona is my role model" I've watched most Bayern games that he's been in charge of and I see more similarities than difference between the two. So imo, more direct passing would be a very wrong approach to replicate him.

In 20 and 21 I did well with AF being the only attacking duty. In 23 I find my previous approaches to be toothless. Like recent Spanish game against Morocco, 77% possession and only 1 shot on target. Have switched to 3 attacking duties and now my xG has gone up significantly.