Bayern Munich: How Vincent Kompany has turned German club into formidable force

Manchester City’s great star, Kompany, played for three seasons under Pep Guardiola’s management towards the end of his career. We can really see a lot of Guardiola in the way the former centre-back and his assistants approach possession of the ball and set up their attacking play. Positional play and rotation within the formation are key to ensuring the ball travels almost effortlessly.

Last season Kompany tried to introduce positional patterns by asking his players to occupy certain areas or lanes, but this year players rotate from area to area more often, making it difficult for defenders to cover the defense towards and into the penalty area without leaving any gaps.

This is not unheard of when it comes to Bayern’s attacking approach. Guardiola implemented similar practices after his arrival in 2013, but despite making real progress the Catalans failed to take them to the Champions League final. During Guardiola’s three-year tenure, he recruited midfielder Joshua Kimmich, one of the most promising German players at the time.

Kimmich is still at Bayern and may have an explanation for why the team looks scarier than it did then.

“When I joined 10 years ago we were equipped with incredible individual quality. We had 23, 24, 25 first-class players,” he said on Saturday.

“But now when I see how we work as a team, how we are happy together and for each other, when I see how we bring these principles to the field, how one runs for the other, then it is a very special situation. This does not happen very often. It was different 10 years ago. There was more egoism within the team then.”