Bayern Munich: How would a 3-5-2 field under Niko Kovac?

Bayern Munich have seen a fair share of managerial shake up in the last season. Now with Niko Kovac taking the reigns from Jupp Heynckes, there are bound to be tactical changes.

Bayern Munich had an admittedly shocking opening to their 2017-18 campaign under Carlo Ancelotti. This is by Bayern Munich standards, at least. After the shock 3-0 upset at the hands of PSG, it was the final straw for Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness.

Treble-winning manager Jupp Heynckes was then brought back into the fold to help right the ship for Bayern Munich for the rest of the season. However, this still didn’t prove to be the cure-all solution for the German giants. Bayern routinely took the Bundesliga title, but lost UEFA Champions League contention once again to Real Madrid and lost the DFB Cup final to an inspired Eintracht Frankfurt, led by Niko Kovac himself.

Now with a title under his belt and his confidence raised, the Croatian boss will take a new challenge. Kovac will now try his hand at managing his first top European club. Niko Kovac has claimed he is looking to make Bayern Munich more flexible in terms of formations, including introducing a three-in-the-back formation.

With that in mind, how would a potential 3-5-2 formation look like under Niko Kovac?

Defense

This will be one of the most crucial areas for this formation. Niko Kovac has been seen as a more defensive-minded coach, and that could be to the benefit of Bayern Munich. One of the problems the club has seen last season was holding clean sheets, despite having some of the best defensive pieces in Europe.

Even in some victories, the three points were somewhat tainted by the fact that Bayern Munich cheaply gave away a goal or two (in best-case scenarios) in lazy fashion. With that in mind, Kovac will need to have a solid defensive structure be among the top priorities for the squad. This is especially so if the Croatian plans to field three center-backs.

Here, the line up is fairly straight forward. The three center-backs featuring in the XI will be veteran German defenders Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, and the up-and-coming Niklas Sule. On their day, Boateng and Hummels are two of the best center-backs in Europe, with stalwart defending talents. As with most German defenders, one of their best attributes is they’re comfortably capable on the ball. This helps with building attacking plays out of the back line and even distributing long balls.

In addition, Niklas Sule has proved with Hoffenheim, Germany and his first season at Bayern Munich that he is more than capable of showing his worth in a starting XI. Sule has displayed fantastic strength to win back the ball from opposition. With Boateng, and particularly Hummels in partnership, the young German should feel comfortable in the starting line up.

The only issue here is with depth. Javi Martinez is the only realistic backup, and he is more comfortable as a defensive-midfielder anyway. With Benjamin Pavard likely ruled out in arriving at Bayern to at least 2019, the club lack in center-back depth. Both David Alaba and Joshua Kimmich can be makeshift center-backs if need be, but this is not ideal if it can be helped.

Wing-backs

The two players for this part of the line up are at least just as simple as with the center-backs. David Alaba and Philipp Lahm successor and rising star Joshua Kimmich will be fielded as left and right wing-backs respectively. Both players are versatile enough to fill these positions.

Alaba and Kimmich both display a tendency to bomb forward in attack. This has become a prominent feature among full-backs and wing-backs in the modern game. Kimmich is strong in providing width to the attack and delivering lethal-looking crosses.

In the past, Alaba has shown to be rather erratic in his crossing game. However, under the leadership of Jupp Heynckes again last season, he has shown improvement. Since a 3-5-2 formation with wing-backs will lack true wingers, their endurance and crosses will need to be in top shape.

Midfield

Next is the three central-midfield roles providing the bulk of Bayern Munich possession-based play. This area of the field is where the German club have a true embarrassment of riches. This is made even more complicated with the arrival of Leon Goretzka and Renato Sanches from loan.

For the two deeper lying midfield positions, Thiago could provide both the distributive and defensive talents to contribute to attack and shield the defense. His partner in crime could be Leon Goretzka in a more box-to-box midfield role, helping drive the attack forward and tracking back to help Thiago ward off counters.

For the more advanced attacking-midfielder, Thomas Muller, the raumdeuter, could occupy this position just behind the forwards. Ideally, he’ll have a dynamic relationship with the forwards in front of him and also receive lethal passes from Thiago in particular behind him. The Bayern vice-captain has seen trouble in form recently, but on his day, he is vital to the XI.

Attack

What’s left is the two forward positions in the attacking side of the formation. Robert Lewandowski here is a shoe-in for the XI. While occasionally having the issue of going missing in big matches, the Polish striker is too talented to leave out. If need be, Sandro Wagner could provide some additional depth and motivation for Lewandowski.

The other position is a bit of a bold and experimental decision. Serge Gnabry could give the attack extra dynamism and creative play. While traditionally a winger, Gnabry did see success in playing in a more central role in the offensive.

The youngster possesses the pace and attacking prowess to compliment not just his Polish striking partner, but the formation and XI as a whole. As mentioned, Sandro Wagner could provide a useful depth piece in this formation. Wagner can provide the extra danger by being a prominent target-man in the air for crosses.