Really loving the idea that I ' m a caveman , go on 😁 <| sep |> This is from Igor and Yevgeny ' s good adventure . The guy who played Yevgeny went on the star in a movie about a Russian train that couldn ' t slow below 50 Kmph and another movie that involved answering a pay phone and having dudes who looked like KGB agents chase him while sleeping . <| sep |> BBut my infiltrator <| sep |> Oh wow . That is the detailed response I ' ve been looking for ! Thanks ! It never did strike me that you ' re right how Bayern wingers drift even further wide than RM ' s wingers . I ' m guess that ' s why Pep played a lot of that 4141 formation , because with Robben and Ribery you had two wingers who could draw out the defence so that a striker MandzukicLewandowski could take advantage of the space while a 2 nd striker Mueller could make sure the opposing defence gets punished even harder . And as you mentioned , having the back fourNeuerAlonso ' s distribution range the attack recycles . The result was that Bayern never got attacked normally . Anything that actually got through was either sheer luck or some magical moment and usually the result of a counter attack . A few high pressing teams could actually create insecurities but they often tired out around the 60 minute mark and Bayern just took them apart a bit later . This pressing behaviour is probably also partly responsible for the weaker counter attack transition . If you sit back a bit more and defend deep then you can have a recovery period and then transition to quick sprints while Bayern ' s press makes it harder for the front three to recover they can sometimes be found running back to their own penalty area after having pressed up front . So I am guessing the style of pressing that Bayern has displayed from the days of Pep doesn ' t exactly fit the type of pressing that a more direct Ancelotti side needs , and if anything it ' s outright counterintuitive made worse by the fact that the strict positional play was replaced with more freedom , but this freedom has been incoherent in teamwork which , like Leverkusen , generally can ' t generate the right pressure and succumbs to having undisciplined space for others to exploit ? I think Thiago is a bit more useful further forward . While he may not be quick he can wiggle out of tight situations really well . He has fewer problems when surrounded by many opponents and can find a good pass in a chaotic situation . He works well as regista but I think that ' s more something for him in a few years . I would actually want to see Kimmich as regista and I think he can do it even if he doesn ' t have Alonso ' s passing range yet . He quicker but it ' s also about me thinking they should press morehigher because then he would rely less on the long balls which can also be provided by Boateng when the CBs push forward more . Kimmich as a RB works well in the NT and I think he could do it for Bayern too although I would prefer a real RB to replace LahmRafinha . He ' s more useful in the middle . Given Ancelotti ' s preferential treatment to a regista and how Xabi Alonso is basically done after this season as a player wouldn ' t be surprised if he worked on his license to become an understudy under Ancelotti or Zidane or even Klopp since he loves Liverpool , would a future combination of KimmichThiago as registas work ? I would also agree that it would be a waste to see Kimmich as RB when he can do so much more up front . I think Bayern ' s versatility is more useful for them than a fixed formation or player selection like the link shows . A looser interpretation , something in the spirit of total football , that they can use to abuse opponents would be my preference . Instead of explosive attacks they just suffocate you in so many variations that the defending teams gets no reference point to latch onto to get into the game . Would it simplify more things if Ancelotti just decided to go back to the tactics of a 4141 in the 1314 season where Bayern was transitioning to the monster that Pep build and while have many of those basic concepts that Pep installed still have that direct attacking edge in the treble season ? I didn ' t watch that season of Bayern ' s play , but I ' m guessing that was the good middle ground that many people watch between the directness not seen since the Heynckes days and the intensity of the Pep days ?