Stegmann Xabi Campeón

Tactical perspectives on Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen
2. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-8192-5642-4
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 312 Seiten

October 2022: Things look bleak for Bayer Leverkusen. The team struggles in the Bundesliga relegation zone, when a new coach, Xabi Alonso, takes over their fate. June 2024: Bayer Leverkusen concludes the 2023 / 2024 Bundesliga season as German champions and DFB-Pokal winners, securing the domestic double while losing only one game allseason. Shortly afterwards, Spain claims victory at the UEFA European Championship in Germany. What led to this remarkable transformation? What tactical innovations are behind Alonso's dynamic and dominant style? What influential methodologies from Spanish football form the foundation of his philosophy? And why do coaches from the Basque Country? In his book, Tim Stegmann weaves these influences into an engaging tactical portrait of Bayer 04 Leverkusen's championship-winning team and the exceptional leadership of their coach: Xabi Campeón!

Tim Stegmann (*1989 in Hamburg) currently works as a football coach and coach educator in the Regional Football Federation of Hamburg. He also gained experience in professional football as assistant coach at FC Würzburger Kickers. Tim Stegmann stands out as the only coach in Germany holding three master's degrees in football. He was the first German to complete the Master in Tactical Periodization by Vítor Frade, focusing on the Portuguese methodology of tactical periodization. Driven by his passion for Spanish football, Tim Stegmann decided to study two additional master's programs conducted in Spanish: In 2022, he graduated at the top of his course from the Master en Dirección de Fútbol, a program jointly offered by Universidad Europea and Real Madrid in the Spanish capital. This course focuses on successful models in youth football. As part of this program, Tim Stegmann also spent six months working within Real Madrid's youth development department. In 2023, he completed the Master en Fútbol Profesional, offered by FC Barcelona. During this course, he acquired in-depth knowledge of the content, methodology and philosophy of FC Barcelona.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stegmann, Tim

Leseproben

Prologue

On October 5, 2022, the world of football in Germany was about to change forever: Xabi Alonso was appointed as the new head coach of Bayer 04 Leverkusen and introduced one day later at a press conference before the 9th matchday against Schalke 04. Almost a year earlier, there had been rumors about a move to Germany to join Borussia Mönchengladbach. Now, the Basque actually decided to gain his first coaching experience in Germany's top division. The fact that Xabi Alonso, after a very successful playing career, would now also make history as a coach, was something that José Mourinho, his former coach at Real Madrid, had already expressed little doubt about in 2019: "His father was a coach, he grew up similarly to me. Then he became a player – much better than me, of course.”1 Xabi has outstanding positioning and knowledge of the game and was trained by the best coaches of his time, so Mourinho concluded: "If you put all that together, Xabi has the best prerequisites to be a very good coach!"2 The Portuguese was not alone in this assessment: Carlo Ancelotti also shared his confidence: "If I had to bet on a player back then who would become a coach, it would have undoubtedly been Xabi. Someone who has played in midfield has more advantages on the bench. A midfielder (...) must have the quality, be tactically clever, have a good view of the game… And Xabi Alonso was one of the best midfielders I ever coached, very intelligent, with fantastic feet and extraordinary professionalism."3

For me, having spent a lot of time in Spain since 2021, particularly in Barcelona and Madrid, it was clear that a new level of coaching was likely to arrive in the Bundesliga. After the first rumors about a move to Germany in spring 2021, I had already taken a closer look at coach Xabi Alonso. At that time, Alonso was coach of the second team of his hometown club Real Sociedad San Sebastián and had gained his first “professional experience” as a coach. The young coach Xabi Alonso quickly achieved something special with his team: In the 2021/2022 season, Sanse, the second team of Real Sociedad San Sebastián, was the only second team in LaLiga2, the second Spanish division. For me it was obvious: I didn't just want to use video to analyze the team's goals and playing style, but also to experience the game alive. Once it was in my mind, I have started making it happen: During my master's degree in Madrid and my internship at the youth academy of Real Madrid, a window of opportunity arose for a visit to a second division game between Fuenlabrada (a suburb of Madrid) and Sanse. So on May 7, 2022, I was sitting with my friend from the course on the regional train from Madrid to Fuenlabrada to watch LaLiga2 bottom table duel (21st against 19th) enjoying the best afternoon sunshine. Alonso's team showed a lot of energy, dynamism and passion right from the start, but also demonstrated why they had not collected many points up to that moment: As with many second teams, the issues of experience, maturity (one would call it "ruthlessness") and efficiency played a big role. It almost seemed that Xabi Alonso's team, which still had a realistic chance of staying in the league, would (again) not be rewarded for a good performance, because at halftime the score was 1:0 for the home side of Fuenlabrada, even though they had not contributed much to the game until then. In the second half, Sanse finally equalized – but it was clear that Real Sociedad would need a win to maintain a realistic chance of staying in the league. Long before the myth of “Laterkusen” was born, Xabi Alonso’s team managed to score the much-celebrated winning goal with a lot of heart and increasing pressure in the 95th minute. In fact, it was this moment, which I captured in a photo (see chapter image), in which all the energy and joy culminated in the jubilation of finally being rewarded for the effort and the good, proactive play.

So when Xabi Alonso was introduced as the new coach at Bayer Leverkusen at the beginning of October 2022, my interest and curiosity were reignited. I was eager to see how a Spanish coach, who had played under so many outstanding coaches during his playing career, would enrich the Bundesliga outside the context of Bayern Munich. When I spoke about Pep Guardiola with some of my Spanish coaching colleagues, for example, they were relatively quick to say: "Yes, but you also have to see: Pep has always had good players. Now at City he even has the best…“. While none of them intended to downplay the achievements and in particular the coaching quality of the outstanding Catalan, there was always a certain doubt as to whether a similar performance would have been possible with other players. A coach heavily influenced by Guardiola, among others, arrived in the Bundesliga, taking charge of a struggling team. From that moment on, I followed the games with increasing intensity and attention - an interest whose findings now flow into this book. This is not about declaring Xabi Alonso as a coach or of filtering out the unique influences of the many successful coaches in his career (starting with his father, Periko Alonso, and including Rafael Benítez, José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti). Rather, it is about explaining my point of view to the tactical concepts and details his team has mastered and I have studied and deepened through my Master courses and visits, my exchanges and conversations with dozens of Spanish coaches. These concepts not only have a high recognition factor within Spanish football but can also serve as a source of inspiration for any other coach. At the same time, many things are based on those perspectives that have not only shaped Spanish football to a considerable extent but also world football: We are, of course, talking about FC Barcelona's methodology, its view and its interpretation of the game.

So at no point is it about an absolute “truth claim” in the analysis (if such a claim can even exist in football, especially from an external perspective), but rather about enriching our understanding of tactics and shared intentions to help our teams and players in reaching even higher level and offering the coaches a new perspective to football game. The aim is not always that the situations shown will reveal a wealth of previously unknown information, nor will they provide maximally innovative new knowledge. Rather, it is often the fundamental details, the skills that are nowadays overused under the term “basics”, to execute simple actions and principles successfully and effectively (and efficient), that are a quality feature that can make the difference in any game.

All of the situations analyzed were interpreted and implemented exceptionally well by the players themselves, guided by their own intuition and feelings and in response to the specific game situation. But as with all things that are "interpreted", these are existing concepts or ideas that, when paired with a special talent (like all the players in the Leverkusen squad) or even a specific genius (think of Florian Wirtz or the free-kick skills of Grimaldo, among others), can become something wonderful and create special moments in football. Some of the concepts or tactical situations may be new to the viewer, while others may feel more “old school”. Ultimately this just goes to show that this highly successful Leverkusen team can cover the full spectrum of outstanding behaviors on the pitch - and, as always, in this game where chance plays a significant role - they were also able to rely on the necessary luck in the 2023/2024 season (or rather, earned it through hard work).

Xabi Alonso's career has been shaped by four key influences. First, his upbringing in San Sebastián, where being Basque and playing for his boyhood club was central to his development. Second, the meticulous approach of Rafael Benítez. Third, the relentless winning mentality of José Mourinho. Finally, in the later years of his career, the influence of Pep Guardiola, the leading figure in positional play, alongside the composed leadership of Carlo Ancelotti—whose impact extends far beyond just man-management. To understand Alonso's football philosophy, one must consider both the Spanish perspective on the game and, more specifically, the methodology of FC Barcelona. No other club has had a greater influence on Spain’s playing and training approach, the style of the Spanish national team, and, ultimately, football worldwide. This chapter is therefore about the origins and the specific concepts which, as already mentioned, recur in Spanish football (as well as in world football), even if they may be expressed in different ways. What helps us is that Spanish is a very lively language where it is possible to convey a particular intention or feeling just by choosing a particular word or term.

A particularly good example of this is the wide range of descriptive words that are now used for the word “pass” in football within the Spanish language:

jugar

?

to play

"hacer" un pase

?

"to make" a pass

"dar" un pase

?

"to give" a pass

connectar

?

to connect

entregar

?

to deliver (like the post office), ensuring that the ball arrives (in optimal...