How will Bayern line up in 2019/20?

bundesliga.com peers over the shoulder of Niko Kovac to see the many options on the Bayern coach’s tactics board going into the new campaign.

Firstly, let’s cast our minds back to the last season’s early exchanges, when Kovac entered the Allianz Arena dugout for the first time and the reigning Bundesliga champions found themselves playing catch up as Dortmund flew out the traps.

Watch: How the 2018/19 title race went down to the wire

Initially, Bayern began life under the Croatian with a 4-3-3 formation which evolved into 4-1-4-1 for the majority of the Hinrunde. During that time, Bayern slipped to fifth after 12 matchdays of the season.

Robbery tended to flank Robert Lewandowski, with both Thomas Müller and new boy Leon Goretzka operating as No.10s behind the Pole. It left Thiago vulnerable as the single pivot in Bayern’s midfield, exposing a back four largely consisting of Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Süle, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba, in front of Manuel Neuer.

A top-heavy Bayern suffered three defeats in their first 12 games and kept just two clean sheets. It was no coincidence that Kovac’s change in approach to 4-2-3-1 subsequently resulted in just one more league defeat and FCB shutting out the opposition 10 times over the course of the remaining campaign.

Central to Bayern’s turnaround was the record champions adding greater balance to their midfield, moving to a double pivot that sparked a change in fortunes both in defence and attack.

Goretzka dropped deeper, aligning with Thiago and supporting Bayern transitions that aimed to release the front four as swiftly and regularly as possible. And it benefited Goretzka as an individual, the former Schalke man hitting six and laying on three Rückrunde goals, compared to two strikes and one assist further forward during the first half of the campaign.

Javi Martinez ended the season as the preferred partner to compatriot Thiago, while Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman stepped into the shoes of the now retired Robben and club legend Ribery. It improved Lewandowski’s output also, the league’s record foreign goalscorer taking his goals-to-game ratio of 0.58 in the first half of the season to 0.68 in the home stretch.

Those five are likely to retain their starting berths come Bayern’s Bundesliga season opener at home to Hertha Berlin on 16 August, but they will be put under pressure by a bulging squad of enormous talent. Fiete Arp will play understudy to Lewandowski after joining from Hamburg; Alphonso Davies provides quality competition out wide; Renato Sanches is in search of increased playing time in midfield; and Corentin Tolisso will feel like a new signing altogether after returning from the knee injury that saw the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner play just 52 minutes of Bundesliga football last term.

Watch: How Kovac's Bayern pick apart defences

And then there are the fully fledged new signings. Benjamin Pavard is another member of that French World Cup-winning side to join, making the switch from VfB Stuttgart; as is Lucas Hernandez who moves from Atletico Madrid. Both players strengthen a defence that has lost Mats Hummels to Dortmund in the off-season.

Hernandez is more likely to be Hummels’ immediate replacement but the 70-time capped Germany international leaves big boots to fill, considering the 30-year-old’s haul of six Bundesliga trophies. But his 23-year-old replacement moves to Bavaria having established himself as a central figure in what is widely regarded as the continent’s best defence. In fact, Atletico kept eight clean sheets and conceded just eight La Liga goals in Hernandez’s 14 league outings last season before injury curtailed his campaign.

Those two recruits also further a growing trend in the squad by being immensely versatile. Hernandez and Pavard may both prefer central defensive roles, but they are similarly comfortable at left and right-back respectively. With current full-backs Kimmich and Alaba equally adept at playing in central midfield, this hands Kovac even greater flexibility across both defensive and midfield lines.

Kimmich, in particular, could see himself pushed into midfield, something Joachim Löw has done to great effect with the national team. The Philipp Lahm prophecy suggests Kimmich will eventually do just that long-term for both club and country and Bayern have, in Pavard, a world-class right-back ready to facilitate that move when the time is right.

The arrival of 2018 FIFA World Cup finalist Ivan Perisic, on loan from Inter Milan, offers more flexibility in attack. The 30-year-old Croatian winger – who won the double with Dortmund in 2011/12 – brings a wealth of experience as well as a goal threat. He netted eight times in Serie A, and hit double figures in two of his four years in Italy.

Crucially, all this versatility means Kovac can reshuffle his deck in all many of ways even before he looks to his star-studded bench, has to juggle the demands of competing across domestic and continental fronts, or has to deal with inevitable injuries and suspensions.

With the transfer window yet to close, Bayern may look in even stronger shape when the season kicks off. For now, they already seem to have more than enough quality to launch their assault on claiming yet another Bundesliga title.