How Bayern Munich Can Accommodate Defensive Woes Against Bayer Leverkusen

On Saturday evening, Bayern Munich will welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Allianz Arena—and with them the side's first genuine test of the new Bundesliga season.

No team pushed Pep Guardiola’s men last season quite like the Factory Squad, with Roger Schmidt’s own team picking up a 2-0 win against the German champions in May of this year and pushing them all the way to penalties in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals.

As such, fans of the Bavarian club should quite rightfully be wary of a Leverkusen side that have done nothing but improve over the summer months. Not only have the club kept hold of talents such as Bernd Leno, Lars Bender and Hakan Calhanoglu, but they’ve also added new players like Jonathan Tah, Admir Mehmedi and Charles Aranguiz (although the latter is now injured).

Yet something else bothers Guardiola ahead of this Bundesliga clash.

Bayern may have ultimately left last weekend’s hellish clash with Hoffenheim with all three points intact, but that wasn’t before Jerome Boateng was sent off and Mehdi Benatia was taken off with an injury. Add to this the long-term mystery surrounding Javi Martinez’s own fitness state and Bayern have a problem. Essentially, Guardiola has just one central defender in Dante for this weekend’s game.

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Assuming, for the time being, that Bayern will play with a traditional back four, we can make another solid assumption that Philipp Lahm will remain at right back and Juan Bernat will probably be on the left side of any defensive setup.

Guardiola’s first port of call whenever he needs another central defender is in fact David Alaba—the full-back-turned-midfielder—who has at times played as a ball-playing central defender when needed and would be a fine addition alongside Dante.

Dante—the slower, more physical defender—does indeed complement Alaba quite well and would be allowed to combat the aerial ability of Stefan Kiessling, while Alaba either sweeps up the second ball or takes the ball out of defence.

Aside from moving Alaba into the middle of defence, Guardiola would be forced to move to a back three system against Leverkusen. Although the former Barcelona coach has never shied away from such a defensive formation, he has rarely used it in high-pressure games against some of the Bundesliga’s best defences.

Alas, we may indeed see Dante come in for Boateng or Benatia while Alaba and Lahm sit either side of him as the more light-weight defenders at either side. Guardiola may add to this with wing-backs flanking Lahm and Alaba (Bernat and Rafinha), but it will be in the centre that Bayern will need some genuine reinforcement.

This would then allow Guardiola to deploy Xabi Alonso in the defensive midfield role he enjoys so much–a role the Spaniard often adds to by slotting into defence alongside the one holding central defender.

This would—in theory—allow Lahm and Alaba to push further out wide while Alonso and Dante sit in the central roles. However, the latter two players are both routinely pulled up for their lack of pace–and pace is something that Leverkusen’s attack have in abundance.

Ultimately, Leverkusen face a fantastic opportunity to put some goals behind the elusive Manuel Neuer, but they’ll have to be sure they can cope with Bayern’s own attack before they worry about scoring themselves.

Despite the woes Guardiola faces with his defence, the Catalan coach will surely hope to bombard Leverkusen’s goalmouth from the first to the last minute of the game in the hope that Schmidt’s side are simply too pinned back to offer any bite themselves.

It will be interesting to see how such a showdown plays out.