Bayern Munich drew 2-2 with Arsenal in a tightly contested game, as two of the Champions League favourites went head to head.
Arsenal opened the scoring after an even start to the game from both sides, with Eberechi Eze staying onside with a run in behind, hitting it on the bounce across Manuel Neuer to make it 1-0 after 25 minutes.
But Bayern fought back with one of their own before half-time, as Alphonso Davies ran in behind, picked out by Harry Kane dropping deep, making it 1-1 in the 35th minute.
After playing provider for Bayern’s opener, Kane had a chance to score himself from the spot, which he slotted home nicely after a small stutter step to make it 2-1 in the 61st minute.
But Mikel Arteta‘s side didn’t give up, grabbing an equaliser in the 82nd minute, as Viktor Gyokeres coming from the bench provided a lovely bounce pass for Declan Rice powering through, who smashed it across the face of Neuer’s goal to make it 2-2.
A game of high quality from two of the Champions League favourites, where Arteta and Vincent Kompany had a bit of a tactical chess match.
In this article, we’ll cover
Arsenal rotations vs Bayern press
This game was always going to be a battle for control, utilising rotations to destabilise the opposition press and obtain control of the game.
Bayern were looking to lock on in their press with Ismael Saibari jumping onto the midfielder dropping between the central defenders, which was often Rice.
Kane would then occupy Ezri Konsa, with Serge Gnabry stepping up to press Gabriel and Konrad Laimer then coming across to follow Eberechi Eze on the left.
While there were clear references for the Bayern players to jump in the press, those references can change based on rotations, with players sometimes passing on their marker, leading to a switch in references. The main principle is that everybody has a man, even if they swap references, each player has to retain a reference in order to keep their man to man active across the pitch.
Arteta knew that Bayern look to press in this way under Kompany, setting out his Arsenal side to utilise a constant set of rotations to manipulate and destabilise their press.
These rotations consisted of midfielders taking turns to drop into the last line between centre-backs, Kai Havertz dropping from high to low in order to drag the Bayern defenders out and both Jurrien Timber and Ricardo Calafiori dragging the Bayern wingers deeper.
Arsenal were able to have periods of possession control due to these rotations, however, with Bayern following their markers tightly, it was often more sterile possession without penetration, with the best opportunities coming from direct balls forward once the Bayern press had been lured forwards.
Bayern pinning Arsenal
Bayern Munich had a similar idea to manipulate the Arsenal press to gain some control of their own and create opportunities for accelerations through the middle third.
Both Laimer and Josip Stanisic advanced early, dragging both Eze and Noni Madueke away from the front press, pinning them closer to the defensive line.
This often gave Bayern a 4v3 in their build-up phase, with Dayot Upamecano, Kim Min-jae, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Tom Bischof, while Havertz and Martin Odegaard pressed as a front two, with Rice jumping to press the pivot.
Bayern’s moments for acceleration through the middle third came once they had Arsenal pinned in these areas, where they could then look to bait Bruno Guimaraes into jumps to open space in the middle.
It was these spaces that Kane was able to access, dropping from high to low and testing whether one of Konsa or Gabriel would follow him, often meaning he could receive as a spare man or bounce it off for others to acclerate.
With one of Saibari or Kane dropping, Bayern were able to overload Rice and Guimaraes in the middle of the park, giving them their best chances for success.
Both sides threaten beyond
Arsenal showed their ability to threaten in behind Bayern’s press with their first goal of the game. As previously mentioned, Arteta’s side were looking to use rotations to destabilise Bayern’s pressing shape and either obtain control or create opportunities for direct attacks.
For Eze’s goal, Bayern ended up with a pressing structure which had Saibari marking Timber in a centre-forward position, Min-jae jumping out to press Havertz in a full-back zone and Davies pressing centrally onto Odegaard.
The pressure from Davies wasn’t intense enough on Odegaard, who had time to get on the ball centrally, pick his head up and look for a direct ball forward, looking to exploit a 2v2 on the left.
With Stanisic sitting slightly deeper to mark Madueke on the right, Eze was kept onside as he made a clever run in behind, finishing nicely on the bounce into the far corner.
Bayern were also able to threaten Arsenal with their runs into depth, as Kompany’s side were looking to use countermovements to create gaps in the Arsenal backline to exploit.
We saw this for Bayern’s first goal, as from a throw, Kane starts by moving slightly towards Konsa, before gradually dropping further and further away from him, forcing him to make a decision on how far he would follow the England captain.
Konsa then tries to pass Kane on as he drops below the midfield line, but nobody picks him up. Instead, Konsa has no strayed away from his natural position, leaving a big gap between Timber and Gabriel to be exploited.
As the ball comes back into play and Bayern play foot tennis for a few touches near the touchline, Kane then begins to drift back forward, now unmarked, allowing him to receive the ball and play an inch perfect pass through the gate of space left by Konsa, into Davies running into depth.