Bayern Munich appoint Jupp Heynckes: What does this mean for the club?

2. Back to the basics

Dove-tailing off my previous point, another reason for Jupp’s past success and current appointment has to be his straight-forward tactics. In fact, much of his getting the best from his players can even be attributed to this.

Unlike managers such as Pep Guardiola or Thomas Tuchel, Heynckes is not known for consistently switching up his tactics or formations match after match. Jupp’s Bayern played a direct style of soccer, almost always lined up in the wildly successful 4-2-3-1.

While he allows for some positional freedom — especially within the attacking quartet — each player on the pitch has a clearly defined role. If every player fulfills his role, then the team will be successful nine times out of ten.

That’s not to say, however, that Heynckes is not adaptive. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. A hallmark of Bayern’s ’12-13 season was their ability to adapt depending on their opponent.

Playing a more possession-focused style of play in the Bundesliga, they switched to a more direct, counter-attacking style of play when facing tougher European competition. Take for example their Champions League semi-final clash against Barcelona that season.

At home in the first leg, Bayern allowed Barcelona a massive 63% possession. However, the Bavarians out-shot the Catalans 13 to 4, eventually winning the match 4-0. Giving up that much possession at home is nearly unheard of, not to mention emerging victorious with a massive 4-0 scoreline. That, however, is exactly what Bayern Munich did. And almost all the credit must go to Jupp Heynckes, their subtle tactical genius.