Borussia Dortmund’s Niko Kovac talks tactics and Niklas Süle after Bundesliga draw at Bayern Munich | OneFootball

The point secured in Saturday’s 2-2 Bundesliga draw with Bayern Munich left Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac largely satisfied. After expressing his contentment with the result, Kovac talked some tactics at the post match press conference. The latest version of Kovac’s 3-3-2-2 didn’t exactly sparkle, but did get the job done. This was at the very least the case insofar as the scoresheet was concerned.

Kovac opted to allow Maximilian Beier to retain his new role as a lead striker up front. For the first time under Kovac’s watch, Beier was paired with Serhou Guirassy in a double striker set. Beier scored the game’s opening goal on the first semi-BVB-chance of the evening in the 48th minute. Guirassy would later record an assist on Waldemar Anton’s equalizer in the 75th minute.

Kovac also spoke on the decision to move Julian Ryerson up to a wingback position opposite Daniel Svensson. Anton, Emré Can, and Niklas Süle formed the back-three. Kovac praised Süle for compensating more than adequately for the loss of central defender Nico Schlotterbeck. Süle himself didn’t have the greatest night, but still earned praise from his  coach.

“As you can imagine, I wasn’t satisfied with the first half even though things were in order,” Kovac noted at the press conference. “In the second half, we came out strong and scored the opening goal. After that, we witnessed a good football game from both sides. It went back and forth with chances here and there.

“I spoke with my squad leaders and gained their sense of the situation,” Kovac said of his tactical and personnel choices. “We came to the unanimous decision that we would deploy a back-three based on what didn’t work so well in Barcelona.It [the formation] generally works well if the players are convinced of it.”

“Niki [Süle] is returning from back-to-back injuries,” Kovac said of the back-three. “He had some time to prepare for today. One saw that he doesn’t quite have the fitness to play a full 90 minutes, but he’s a great footballer and earned the chance to start against his former club. He’ll help us more in the coming weeks.“

GGFN | Peter Weis