🇩🇪 Tuchel's tactical tweak saved Bayern but they face title trouble | OneFootball

No pair of words has been more used in German football over the past few months than “holding six”.

The land of the “Doppelsechs” (double six, or double pivot) has become obsessed with the search for a true holding midfielder, one who patrols the space between midfield and defence alone, allowing the rest of the midfield to make a difference in the final third.

There is no obvious candidate for the role for the national team and there is nobody for the role at Bayern Munich, much to the dismay of Thomas Tuchel, and both teams are struggling.

It is down to Julian Nagelsmann to solve the puzzle before Germany host next summer’s Euros — he has nine months or so to do just that — but Tuchel is stuck with the players he has for now and needs to find a way to get Bayern controlling games like the best teams around.

Manchester City have Rodri and his importance is so obvious when they are without him. Since the Spaniard made his Premier League debut, City have lost five of 67 Premier League games with Rodri and five of 15 without him. Tuchel knew the position was a priority this summer and Bayern were beaten to the signing of Declan Rice by Arsenal before eventually failing to finalise a deadline day deal for João Palhinha.

The issue reared its head again in Leipzig on Saturday before, finally, a potential solution did the same.

Tuchel stuck with his usual 4-2-3-1 to start the game, pairing Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka in midfield as he has in five of the other six Bundesliga games so far this season. But, like in the DFL-Supercup defeat to RB Leipzig and the Bundesliga draw with Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern struggled against strong opposition.

“We were slow, we made too many errors in build up,” Tuchel said after the match.

“We weren’t brave enough, we didn’t find the areas we wanted to take the game into, we didn’t have the control we wanted and then we defended with too many errors as well.”

But he altered things at half-time and the performance was much improved.

Goretzka was subbed, Raphaël Guerreiro was introduced for his first Bundesliga appearance for the club, and Kimmich was shifted into that “holding six” role as a 4-2-3-1 became a 4-3-3.

With two number eights in Guerreiro and Musiala, Harry Kane remained further upfield instead of dropping deep and looking for the ball. And Bayern looked like a completely different team.

Between minutes 48 and 74, the champions had six shots to Leipzig’s zero.

Bayern’s three form players of the season so far — Leroy Sané, Mathys Tel and Harry Kane — pinned Leipzig back as the front three. Two of those got on the scoresheet as Tuchel’s side turned a fortunate 2-0 scoreline into a deserved 2-2 draw.

The question now, with Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen both impressing and Borussia Dortmund still unbeaten, is whether Tuchel will stick with Saturday’s solution. And if he does, will it be enough to return Bayern to their position as heavy favourites for the title?

Now more than ever, it seems Bayern are vulnerable and there is no shortage of teams looking to take advantage.