Hello, all.. My analysis on der klassiker. Posted by bundesligafanatic.com last Monday. Der Klassiker ended with the hosts, Borussia Dortmund, managing to secure the maximum three points. BVB took the lead after eleven minutes through Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s tricky goal and protected it with a resilient defensive display throughout the entire match. The starting formations: BVB’s 3-5-2/5-3-2 vs Bayern’s asymmetrical 4-3-3/4-4-2. Dortmund’s Possession against Bayern’s Press For Dortmund, a common issue this season has been build-up play. Earlier, we’ve seen BVB struggle when the club faces a highly-structured pressing side, like RB Leipzig. On Saturday, the conditions were in place for BVB to repeat this struggle against Bayern, given the visitor’s high-press, which created a problem for the host’s build-up play. Initially, Bayern displayed an asymmetrical pressing-shape with Franck Ribéry joining the first-line, which formed a 4-3-3 pressing-formation. With three forwards pressing, Bayern handled the 3+1 of Dortmund’s build-up shape well. For example, the far-side and central forward blocked BVB’s center-half (Marc Bartra) and the ball-far half-back from the switching the ball around. When Bayern applied such a press with proper intensity, Dortmund were forced to play many uncomfortable long-balls forward. Marc Bartra for example ended up playing TEN long balls, well above his average of 7.1 per match and succeeded on four of them. Dortmund didn’t seem ready for this situation, as they lost many of the second-ball battles in the opening stages. However, despite creating difficulties for Dortmund’s build-up play, there was a gap within Bayern’s pressing-system, which allowed small chances for Dortmund to get through. The gap itself was the natural consequence of Bayern’s flat midfield-shape. Such a flat shape had, in turn, reduced the intensity by which Bayern could press BVB’s half-backs and the wing-backs, leading to chances for Dortmund’s first-line of play to access the ball-side wing-back. By contrast, RB Leipzig’s pressing system, for instance, made it hard for Dortmund to progress to the flank as the wide-10 in the 4-2-2-2 constantly blocked the diagonal-lane from the half-back to the nearest wing-back, resulting in many turnovers and counter-chances for Leipzig. As the match progressed, Ribéry’s zone should've been an avenue for Dortmund to escape Bayern’s pressing-system. For example, when Bayern pressed in a 4-3-3 asymmetrical shape, Ribéry moved up to press the opponent’s ball-side half-back. When this occurred, Dortmund switched the ball to the underloaded-side and progressed through there, thanks to the space opening up behind Ribéry. Such space appeared seemed to be generated by Ribéry’s lack of intensity in backward-pressing movement, covering vulnerable space. Vulnerable space behind Ribéry light-red ellipsis) and the potential overload when Piszczek moved up to the orange-rectangle zone. Anatomy of the game winner! In the final third, the use of wing-backs as the diagonal passers to the on-rushing 8 could still be found. The only goal by Aubameyang was triggered by such tactic. Marc Bartra played the ball to Marcel Schmelzer on the left touchline. Schürrle responded it by running forward to the wide-channel to open the space through the flank. But, the intensity of Bayern’s press had held the attack. Thanks to the mini-overload to the half-space and the flank, Dortmund re-arranged the attack by playing it back to the first-line before switching it to the underloaded-side, to Matthias Ginter. From Ginter the ball was played to the right touchline, to Piszczek. Having received the ball, the Polish played a one-touch diagonal pass to Mario Götze. This playing sequence ended-up with Aubameyang slotted the ball into Manuel Neuer’s goal, 11 seconds after Götze received Piszczek’s pass. For full read, you're welcome to visit this link http://bundesligafanatic.com/tactical-analysis-tuchels-borussia-dortmund-finally-beat-bayern/ Again, thanks for reading this and visiting the site.. You can find me on Twitter @ryantank100