Diagonal Leipzig overcome Hoffenheim's compact 5-3-2

Title chasing RB Leipzig hosted Champions League hopefuls Hoffenheim in the clash of the Bundesliga high flyers on Saturday afternoon. Whilst the hosts knew victory was necessary to keep the pressure on Bayern, they came up against Nagelsmann's side who were Europe's last remaining unbeaten outfit.

Hoffenheim's defensive control through 5-3-2

For much of the first half Hoffenheim displayed strong defensive control in their 5-3-2 shape against the ball. Against Leipzig's build-up the away side were able to control the 6 space and thus reduce Leipzig's ability to progress through the centre of the pitch. The defensive work from the forwards was particularly important in this.

The two forwards were largely not active in pressing Leipzig's first line of defence. Instead they focused on holding central positions allowing them to prevent passes into the midfield space behind them. Whilst Wagner and Kramaric were not always in the passing line between the ball and the Leipzig midfielder behind them, they maintained a small distance between each other. This meant they could quickly move to intercept any attempted passes into the 6 space, and generally acted as a deterrent to Leipzig attempting to progress through the centre.

Leipzig often created a back three in their first line of build-up either through dropping one of the central midfielders between the centre backs or using Bernardo (right back) deep whilst Halstenburg (left back) pushed higher. When the central player in the back 3 had the ball, Hoffenheim's forwards were positioned very narrow mostly with no pressure on the ball carrier. When the play moved to one of the wider centre backs Hoffenheim's ball-near forward would move diagonally out to press the ball using their cover shadow to prevent the pass into midfield. The ball-far forward would follow across in a deeper position allowing them to keep the home side's build-up on the same side if Leipzig were able to access Demme or Ilsanker through the full-backs.

With the two forwards focused heavily on blocking central midfield, the wide midfielders in the 3-chain were responsible for pressing when Leipzig played the ball out to a full-back. By approaching the Leipzig full-back diagonally from the centre they could use their cover shadow to block passes from the full-back into the 10 space which are key to Leipzig's game.

If the home side managed to recycle the ball from one flank through to the other the dynamics of Hoffenheim's press changed slightly due to the differing distances. Since the two forwards would have shifted over to the ball, the ball-far wide midfielder would be responsible for pressing the receiving centre back, whilst the wing-back would now move forward to press the opposing full-back.

This defensive control meant the away side could prevent dangerous situations and the 5 defenders gave Nagelsmann's side a general last line security against Leipzig's attempts to break through.

Leipzig's combinations

The most distinctive characteristic of Leipzig's game with the ball is their approach based on quick vertical progressions and moving into dynamic combinations between the forward players to advance towards goal with 3rd man runs. This was again a big feature in this encounter.

Since their opponents were so strong at blocking the centre, Hasenhüttl's men had to find alternative ways to access the 10 space and set up their combination game. This was often done by playing wide to the full-backs and then passing diagonally into the space behind the Hoffenheim midfield.

On a couple of occasions this pass was open on the left side due to Amiri starting from a higher position, from where he approached Halstenburg backwards meaning he was unable to cut the diagonal pass infield. On other occasions it was due to the effect switches had on Hoffenheim's pressing mechanisms, with the diagonal pass infield being open since Zuber or Kaderabek approached from a vertical position on the wing.

Of course these passes were met with high resistance from the Hoffenheim defence and this is where Leipzig's structure was particularly useful and well tailored to their game. Since the receiver of such passes will be subjected to heavy pressure lay off passes are valuable for retaining the ball in advanced areas and escaping the pressure. With Leipzig's high presence in central areas between the lines, their receivers often had options to lay the ball off.

Furthermore, these lay off passes meant the receiver would have a forwards facing field of vision, thus allowing them to spot and execute through ball options to break past Hoffenheim's back line. These processes allow them to not only maintain the ball in high pressure areas but also to create goal scoring opportunities. In Leipzig's attack, the Werner and Poulsen often move diagonally