Mathys Tel.
Words on the Frenchman's impressive performance vs Liverpool.
As I watched Liverpool FC and Bayern Munich battle it out in Singapore, one particular performance caught my eye — that of Mathys Tel. This piece will take a look at his performance, with a focus on on-ball behaviours, out of possession mannerisms and some pointers to improve upon.
Leading the line…
His role as a CF in this side encompasses a lot more than your average penalty box poacher type profile. 2 examples in the clip below typify his role in this side, which is (a) profiled to his style of play and (b) what is required for this Bayern side.
The 2 clips in the video below show 2 sequences from different scenarios - (1) As Bayern looked to build out from the back (through/past Liverpool’s high press) and (2) As Bayern turned the ball over (transition).
What’s clear is that Tel’s role is not your archetypal on the last line CF. He can do this (as I will detail shortly) but also likes playing with the ball to feet.
This stylistic approach was favourable against a side like Liverpool who played with a single pivot (Curtis Jones) out of possession. Why? The duality of Tel and Jamal Musiala and their ability to exploit spaces. In the first of 2 clips, you see this exploitation of the spaces (in some cases it was the half-spaces):
This was favourable because of Liverpool’s 6’s inability to cover 2 spots at once (which is completely normal) — thereby affording Bayern a 2v1 numerical superiority every time they were able to conjure such a scenario. The first clip in the video below, further highlights this superiority…
… where Bayern had a 2v1 vs Jones. Now what is the advantage and what does this have to do with Tel’s performance?
Both these questions are linked — Tel’s positioning on the blind-side of Jones, causes hesitancy in the Englishman’s next steps — push out onto Musiala to condemn the oncoming threat and risk being bypassed with either a drop of a shoulder or a pass, or hold position and natural cut across and narrow Musiala’s path:
Jones’ chosen actions of delaying for as long as possible and then jumping on to Musiala ends up fruitless with the German wrestling past the Scouser — but here is where Tel’s awareness/decision making comes to the fore. As Musiala advances into narrowing space ahead, rather than letting the move materialise with no final effect/action, Tel makes a very well-timed run from deep, in behind, as Virgil Van Dijk ‘engages’ with Musiala’s advance on goal. The defender does exceptionally well to clear the threat.
In the second clip, we see a scenario of Bayern building out from the back. In this case, personally, the off-the-ball shape adopted by Liverpool is near enough flawless — emphasis on near.
The structure:
Passing lane to near side pivot player is cut out by Jota’s cover shadow.
Passing lane to CB partner (Kim Min-Jae) is cut out due to Salah’s positioning.
Passing lane to far side pivot is cut out due to Gakpo’s positioning.
Liverpool’s off-the-ball structure forces Upamecano to try ‘something’. Upamecano slows the play down, baits Jota into advancing and getting tighter and Tel is the out-ball, breaking Liverpool’s press. The Frenchman, stationed in the right half-space area, allows the ball to drift across his body, sucking in Jones and leaving him in his path.
Foul magnet?
Tel draws fouls well. How? In the clip below, as he brings down the aerial ball — a small touch to keep the ball close to him, followed by larger touch to spring forward but also utilises his body well to cut across the opposition’s path and draw a foul.
In the next clip below, Tel receives the ball on the right side of the pitch again, following a first time forward pass (by Laimer?). He carries the ball using his weaker left foot, aware of the oncoming Liverpool pressure — followed by a nifty ‘chop’ inside from his repetoire to create the separation he needs from the closing Liverpool players — but also gets his body across his man again, drawing and winning the foul.
Awareness
Yes he likes to or can receive to feet but when those moments are not there, he will still look to hurt the opposition — in this case, by stretching the compact Liverpool block by running in behind. And while the pass was not played, the awareness/decision making by not throwing his arms in the air etc, but getting back onside and ‘flicking’ the oncoming pass into a forward’s path (albeit slightly misplaced).
Tenacity
How good is his off-the-ball work? 1 moment stood out from the game in this regard and that was his tenacity to win the ball back — quick, sharp, closing down of Liverpool players, with support from colleagues allows for a turnover high up the pitch:
Improvements
“Nothing is 100% positive or negative and there is the opposite for everything”.
(Clip 1) An excellent first time pass from Laimer to the player inside cuts open Liverpool centrally — where Van Dijk steps out as a result. Why? If he backs off the Bayern attacker can easily advance on goal and could use the decoy runs by teammates to get a shot off on goal. As a result of Van Dijk coming out of his defensive line, Tel identifies this and, again, from the right half-space ‘attacks’ that pocket of space — but has a poor first touch, else using Gnabry as a decoy could have a chance on goal.
(Clip 2) Choices. Van Dijk, as he has done for a long time, does not commit to opposition players but forces them to take the ‘lesser of two evils’ option and in this case, it is allowing Tel to shoot with his weaker left foot, However, the youngster shuffles the ball to his right, allowing Van Dijk to close down the angle/space for the shot. An improvement to his game here would be to ‘trust’ his left foot in such scenarios — this adds unpredictability and complicates the decision making of centre-backs in such scenarios:
Upon further digging, what surprised me was to see 3 left-footed finishes in the penalty area, with 1 in the D in the Bundesliga 22/23 season:
Upon further look, the finishes (seen as stills below):
Context matters — 2/4 of the finishes above were under little pressure. But image #4 is the one that intrigues me — showing a capability of finishing well under pressure with his weaker left foot. Consistency? Perhaps. Nerves? Maybe.
Thank you for reading.
— H23Football
brilliant