This conversation started in the comments to the last article (of which there are now over a hundred! Thanks, guys). I wanted to give a more formal airing of the various line-up options that will be presented to new coach Jupp Heynckes at the start of the season. What follows are 15 different formation/personnel combinations that Bayern could utilize. Manchester City is apparently playing hard-ball, so there’s no guarantee that Jerome Boateng will arrive, and evidently Bayern is now looking at Chelsea’s Alex (WTF?) as well. For the defensive parts of the formation, I have "Boateng" followed by a question mark, indicating this could be Boateng, Alex, Simon Kjaer, some other newcomer, or van Buyten if no one else arrives.
Some ground rules:
- Needless to say, this would be cooler if I actually had a Poll plug-in that would tally votes. I haven't figured out how to do that yet. So, either cast your vote in the comments, or e-mail it to us at bayern.offside@yahoo.com. I will tally all the votes and determine which formation is best-liked. Which means nothing in the long run, of course.
- Other than Boateng/other new defender, this only involves guys we currently have on our roster. If you really think that it’s imperative that we get Vidal, Hazard, or someone else, then cast your vote as “#6, except with Vidal in for Kroos” or whatever. BUT, keep in mind that a move for Hazard would cost € 30 million or more, and a move for Vidal would cost € 15 million and leave Gustavo or Tymoschuk demanding a trade, so tread lightly there. Personally, I think we don’t need Vidal (who basically plays the same way as Bastian), but consider that option available if you want to try to justify it in the comments.
- Similarly, if you’re a big fan of Olic, Petersen, or someone else not mentioned here, then feel free to cast your vote as “#2, except with Olic in for Gomez” or whatever. I already had 15 different options, and these take a while to load.
- And, of course, if there’s an entirely different formation that isn’t presented here at all, let us hear what you have in mind. These 15 options are all based around only 4 formational groupings. The last two (#14 and #15) are my own favorites, although I imagine very few people will agree with me that this kind of formation would work. All the rest (#1 through #13) are variations on pretty standard personnel groupings. But none of my options involve Gomez + Olic up top, and this could end up being a deadly combination, so feel free to cast your vote for “None of the Above” - as long as you’re willing to explain in the comments what the proper line-up should be, and why.
Off we go.
Option 1:
Same as end of last year, but with Boateng and Rafinha in
Option 2:
Same as above, but with Gustavo in for Tymo
Option 3:
Same as above, but with Kroos in next to Bastian (I believe we tried this and it sucked?)
Option 4:
4-3-3 - Tymo-Gus-Bastian, then R-G-R up top
Option 5:
4-3-3 - Tymo-Kroos-Bastian, then R-G-R up top
Option 6:
4-3-3 - Gus-Kroos-Bastian, then R-G-R up top
Option 7:
4-3-3 - Tymo-Gus-Bastian, then R-M-R up top
Option 8:
4-3-3 - Tymo-Kroos-Bastian, then R-M-R up top
Option 9:
4-3-3 - Gus-Kroos-Bastian, then R-M-R up top
Option 10:
5-2-3 - Tymo plus Bastian, then R-G-R up top
Option 11:
5-2-3 - Kroos plus Bastian, then R-G-R up top
Option 12:
5-2-3 - Tymo plus Bastian, then R-M-R up top
Option 13:
5-2-3 - Kroos plus Bastian, then R-M-R up top
Option 14:
3-2-1-3-1 - Lahm-Boateng-Raf in the back, then Tymo and Bastian as very deep-lying middies, then Kroos as the string-pulling center, then the R-M-R attack line, then Gomez at the very top.
Option 15:
) 3-2-1-3-1 - same as above, except Gustavo comes on to add some tackling power (he and Tymo are the very deep-lying middies) and Bastian moves up one spot to the center of the field, Kroos hits the bench
This last pair are my idea - a 3-2-1-3-1 formation. At first glance, it would seem to be suicide to go down to 3 defenders after our defensive struggles of last year. But the idea is that, with an extra layer to the formation, the central middies (the line of 2) would be playing pretty deep, almost in a defensive set of their own. There would essentially be 2 guys who are mainly defenders but who can creep forward if there's a chance, and 3 guys who are all-out defense - they never cross mifdield, no matter what. Then, above these 5, we have 1 guy building the attack and controlling the middle of the field (alternately Kroos or Bastian, depending on whether we like 14 or 15), then the classic 3-man attack line of Ribery-Muller-Robben, then Gomez as all-out attack.
Needless to say, as head coach, I would probably get fired in a hurry. Thanks for reading.