Bundesliga
Attacking Zones: 2020/21 summary
In Simon Rolfes, the Bundesliga and its partner AWS have an expert who knows the Bundesliga from A to Z. Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Sporting Director, Rolfes wore Die Werkself's colours 288 times between 2005 and 2015, and represented Germany on 26 occasions. Rolfes is the ideal man to write a regular column for the 'Bundesliga Match Facts Zone' on bundesliga.com, analysing current trends and giving unique insight on the Bundesliga Match Facts.
This week, Simon Rolfes looks at one of the latest Bundesliga Match Facts, Attacking Zones, and explains what we have learned from its data.
By Simon Rolfes
In February, Attacking Zones was introduced as one of three new Bundesliga Match Facts. Anybody who has watched a Bundesliga match over the past few months will have seen the Attacking Zones appearing frequently on the TV. Now would therefore be just the right time for a summary, so what can we learn from this real-time statistic?
Watch: Bundesliga Match Fact Attacking Zones explained
To clarify once again how Attacking Zones works, the data shows only the zone in which the attacking team enters into the final third of the field. If this attack leads to a cross or a shot which finishes up in another zone of the attacking third, but the attack continues, this is not considered as another incursion into an attacking zone.
Perhaps the most important aspect to have emerged from this statistic is that all Bundesliga clubs start their attacks more frequently down the wings than down the centre. The proportion of entries into the final third down the wings is between 63 and 75 per cent for all of the teams. Hertha Berlin's Attacking Zone statistics are a pretty typical example, with the proportion of entries into the two wide zones similar on the left and the right, while the total entries down the two central zones represents around a third.
While 1. FC Köln even made 75 per cent of their attacks down the wings (the highest in the league), Borussia Mönchengladbach and RB Leipzig had the highest number of attacks down the central zones, both with 37 per cent. That's not too surprising, when you consider that they had some of their most key players like Marcel Sabitzer, Kevin Kampl, Florian Neuhaus and Lars Stindl in central midfield positions.
It gets interesting when you look at the teams who have large differences between the two wings. Eintracht Frankfurt have the largest, with 11 per cent between the left and the right wings. The cause for this is quite easy to establish: Filip Kostic. Not only does he spend all of his games racing up and down the left wing, he is also the player who delivered by far the highest number of crosses last season (the only to deliver over 200!), and he provided an outstanding 12 assists. It is therefore no surprise that Frankfurt attacked predominantly through their Serbian left winger.
This phenomenon can also be seen in other teams with large differences between both wings. Leipzig, for example, attack far more down the left wing (seven per cent more than the right wing), because they had Angelino who was particularly dangerous there, especially in the first half of the season. It is a similar story at VfB Stuttgart (five per cent more down the left), where their left full-back Borna Sosa was very often delivering crosses for the aerially-dangerous Sasa Kalajdzic to head at goal. Gladbach, on the other hand, attacked more often down the right wing (seven per cent more), and this is because they had Stefan Lainer – one of the league's top deliverers of corners.
In summary, then, one should not expect to see all four Attacking Zones used evenly, since Bundesliga clubs use the wings much more often than they use the central channels to enter into the final third of the field. There are naturally more gaps on the wings. While most teams split their attacks rather evenly over both wings, others exploit the individual strength of their key players by focusing more on the Attacking Zone they can be found in.