Sport
Jamal Musiala becoming the main man for Bayern Munich and set for big World Cup with Germany
Julian Nagelsmann has earned a reputation as one of European football’s sharpest tactical minds and so it was always likely that he would remould Bayern Munich in his own image at some point. Indeed, the 35-year-old has given the German champions a new identity over the summer and has achieved instant results.
Bayern Munich have won all of their opening three Bundesliga fixtures this season with an aggregate scoreline of 15-1. The summer signing of Sadio Mane from Liverpool, coupled with the departure of Robert Lewandowski, signalled Nagelsmann’s intention to play a more fluid, mobile style of football, but another player best embodies this new approach.
Jamal Musiala has been made a central figure of Nagelsmann’s new-look team. The 19-year-old has scored three goals in just two Bundesliga appearances this season and has facilitated a lot of the changes made to Bayern Munich’s tactical set up. Without Musiala, Nagelsmann wouldn’t have been able to switch formation.
Having spent much of the last 10 years operating in a 4-2-3-1 shape, Bayern Munich are now using a 4-2-2-2 formation similar to the one utilised by Nagelsmann at RB Leipzig. Mane has been signed to form a partnership with Serge Gnabry up front with Musiala favoured in one of the roles behind the frontline. The teenager is perfect for this position.
This position requires a great deal of mobility, but Musiala is able to cover huge swathes of the pitch. Thomas Muller is asked to push up in behind Gnabry and Mane which allows Musiala to dictate games through his strong use of the ball. Last season, Muller and Musiala frequently got in each other’s way. Now, both players have space to play their best football. Leroy Sane has also impressed in a more expansive role.
Nagelsmann has kept the double pivot that has worked so well for Bayern Munich for a number of years, although Marcel Sabitzer has been favoured alongside Joshua Kimmich with Leon Goretzka still sidelined through injury. Ryan Gravenberch has been eased into the team following his summer switch from Ajax.
If deployed in the wrong way, Muller and Musiala’s natural tendency to play inside could result in Bayern Munich lacking width. However, Musiala has shown a good understanding of when to occupy a position on the flank and when to create space for the full back on the overlap. When it needs to be, Nagelsmann’s 4-2-2-2 can become a 4-4-2, and Musiala is comfortable enough in this shape too.
“We’re all technically strong so we’re all trying to combine with each other up front,” Musiala said when asked to explain Nagelsmann’s approach and how it has affected his role and position for Bayern Munich this season. “We did the same with Robert Lewandowski, but now we just have to find other ways.”
10 straight titles illustrates Bayern Munich’s dominance of the Bundesliga in recent times. No other German team can get close to the Bavarians, so it won’t be until the Champions League starts that the true measure of Nagelsmann’s team, and his new set-up, will be taken. This will be the ultimate test of Musiala’s quality.
The same could be said of the 2022 World Cup, during which Musiala is expected to be an important player for Germany. The 19-year-old is an excellent technical specimen in that he is strong in most areas of the game as an attacker and this makes him very useful for club and country. Musiala is part of the new breed of German players.
