His 4-1-4-1 formation is really interesting. Thing is I haven't watched bayerns matches. How is the three central midfielders made up? Is the dm a pure dm or a deep lying playmaker? Are the two in front box to box or does one stay back more while the other runs forward and turns into a number ten?
Do the wingers Come inside or stay wide? Does the team use High pressure or stay back?
It's difficult to answer all this and explain what Pep is thinking, largely because of the following reasons:
A) The midfield trio has been changed (in terms of personnel) quite a bit
B) Not all of the players are healthy, namely Javi Martinez who is really their only 'pure dm' at the moment.
C) They've been presented with a variety of challenges in terms of lineup/system of opposing team
D) The whole project is still developing, and doubtless there remains a good deal that is up in the air for the time being and will be sorted in the coming weeks/months
It's also worth noting that they tend to line up in a 3-4-3 or 3-3-4 in possession and switch to a 4-1-4-1 when the other side have the ball.
Generally the DM has been a deep lying playmaker (Originally this was Thiago when Schweinsteiger wasn't playing, then Schweinsteiger took over this role after the Dortmund match while he returned to fitness and Thiago had a try higher up before his injury, and Kroos/Lahm have both had a go at it as well for short spells against Chelsea when Schweinsteiger was out) though Pep was happy to put Martinez in that position the moment he was ready to play. So far the DM has tended to come deep and split the CB pair quite wide with the fullbacks pushing up when the back unit is under pressure (which is common, teams are happy to test them in that regard) very much like Busquets does at Barcelona.
The other two midfield positions have been filled by a good handful of combinations, but often Kroos is one of them and plays box to box while one of Muller or Gotze play higher up and regularly move around combining or exchanging positions with the other advanced players.
The wingers play also definitely depends on the circumstances, sometimes he asks them to stretch the opposition very very wide and sometimes they take up more central positions. Ribery is a little more inclined toward the latter than Robben and Shaqiri.
As far as pressure goes, they're happy to press high up the pitch at times, but mostly it's just enough so that nobody just sits in their half with the ball all day and they seem to look to get a good number of bodies back and they're comfortable dealing with attacks from within their own third and with a solid defensive unit, certainly moreso than Barcelona. That seems to be another area which is still being sussed out though.
It is an incredibly deep/talented/flexible squad, I think they'll be able to boss possession against just about any team other than an in-form Barcelona, and they're quite competent at playing combinations through the center (and with plenty of room for improvement) and of course quite brilliant in terms of wing play and providing danger with crosses. It'll be very interesting to follow their progress this year.
