Interesting analysis on the Death of the Pure 10 and the Evolution of the Advanced 8. Reason behind the unsuccessful spells of James and Coutinho at Bayern

In the early to late 2000s, we used to play with an attacking midfielder. Mehmet Scholl was our key player in the attacking midfield. He played here from 1992 to 2007 and was a key player in our CL Campaigns in 1999 and 2001.

In par with Bayern, many teams in Europe adapted an attacking midfielder into their team during 2000s.
Eg:

1. Kaka (AC Milan) in the famous Christmas tree formation.
   Milan played several Champion league finals during his prime.
2. Sneijder (Inter and Netherland) was a key player in their champions league victory and domination in the league.
3. Özil (Germany and Real Madrid) was a key player for Löw and Mourinho as an attacking midfielder who was clutch in a lot of games during his prime.

But in late 2000s this trend started to change with the influence of Pep’s Barcelona. It affected every top team. And many managers started trying the 4-3-3. In this time Louis Van Gaal as the Bayern coach introduced Thomas Müller as an attacking midfielder.

This helped Bayern to keep the 4-2-3-1 formation. Müller was not a typical number 10. But he could do most of the things a number 10 can do. Most importantly, he is more physical and does defensive duties far better than a typical number 10.

So in 2011-2013 Bayern were dominant with 4-2-3-1 formation using Müller in the number 10 position, outclassing many top teams.

As time passed we had several managers trying the 4-3-3. Pep, Carlo and Jupp tried the 4-3-3 but we couldn’t get significant results.

With the arrival of Kovac, Bayern tried the 4-2-3-1 again, but Müller was not used as a number 10. James was playing the number 10 in a era where the game became quicker and more physical and the team couldn’t afford any players to be lacking in defense.

Then came Coutinho. Kovač started playing Coutinho as a number 10 and same thing happened. In UCL games Kovač defended with the 4-4-2 formation mainly because Coutinho’s non-existent defensive contribution. This invariably caused imbalance in attack and defense. And Kovač got fired.

James and Coutinho were registered as failed experiments in Bayern. Not entirely because of them. They are amazing players with great attacking qualities. Unfortunately the game evolved around them and creative number 10 was outdated.

This is the perfect explanation why Flick has introduced Müller back to the CAM position. What we see now is the vintage Müller performance we saw in 2011-2013 era. Main reason for the balance between our attack and defense.

What is the future of the number 10 position? Unpredictable, to say the least.

For Bayern we must find a permanent solution for Müller or we must change our style of play completely.

By -Kavin- through The Bayern Times-BM.DNA

Image via Bayern Munich Times