Attacking Zones: what we learnt from Matchday 21
In Simon Rolfes, the Bundesliga and its partner AWS have an expert who knows the Bundesliga from A to Z. Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Sporting Director, Rolfes wore Die Werkself's colours 288 times between 2005 and 2015, and represented Germany on 26 occasions. Rolfes is the ideal man to write a weekly column for the 'Bundesliga Match Facts Zone' on bundesliga.com, analysing current trends and giving unique insight on the Bundesliga Match Facts.
Here, Simon Rolfes analyses what the new Match Fact Attacking Zones taught us on its debut on Matchday 21.
By Simon Rolfes
Many armchair spectators will have seen for the very first time on Matchday 21 the new Bundesliga Match Fact Attacking Zones. This new dimension to analysing the on-field action shows which of four zones the Bundesliga clubs tend to use more often when launching their attacks into the' final third of their opponents' field. Based on the data analysed last weekend, we can already see a tendency: around two thirds of attacks started on either the left or the right wing, with only around a third coming through the inside channels.
Exceptions are there to confirm the rules, though, and it was particularly interesting to see where these occurred last weekend, with regards to Attacking Zones. Two clubs caught the eye in particular: Borussia Dortmund and Hertha BSC. They were the only two clubs who favoured one particular Attacking Zone for at least 50 per cent of their attacks, and for both clubs, that was the left wing.
It's hardly surprising when it comes to Dortmund, considering that in Raphael Guerreiro and Jadon Sancho, two of their key players were charging up and down the left wing. Sancho's individual quality, particularly in one-v-one situations, is no secret, while Guerreiro is one of those wing-backs who loves to get forward and act almost as an advanced, wide playmaker. In Dortmund's 2-2 draw with Hoffenheim, only Mats Hummels saw more of the ball than Guerreiro, who teed up the opening goal for Sancho – with a pass from the left wing.
As can be seen below, Dortmund's route to goal on Matchday 21 came almost exclusively down the wings, with only 14 per cent of their attacks initiated in the inside channels. That is by far and away the lowest value of all clubs in this area.
Hertha also initiated 50 per cent – exactly half – of their attacks down the left wing against VfB Stuttgart. By comparison, only 22 per cent of the capital club's attacks started down the right wing. That's quite a clear preference for one side of the field, with Maximilian Mittelstädt at the forefront of their forays.
The left full-back had more phases of possession (71) than any of his teammates, even though he was only on the field for 79 minutes. He was subsequently replaced by youngster Luca Netz, who scored the equalising goal.
While you can easily imagine that Dortmund coach Edin Terzic instructed his team to play predominantly down the left, in view of the players he had at his disposal, we will have to wait and see over the coming weeks whether Pal Dardai's team will confirm their approach from last weekend.
Only when we have enough data on Attacking Zones, will we be able to see even clearer what the Bundesliga teams' preferred attacking approaches are.
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