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Winning in the middle of the park
WHY DANIEL THIOUNE TINKERED WITH HIS TACTICS AT HALF TIME IN BERLIN
09/03/26
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Many of those watching Werder’s game away at Union Berlin would have been rather surprised to see the Green-Whites stride out for the second half with a couple of changes to their line-up. Despite heading into the break 2-1 up and with their hosts being down to ten men, SVW head coach Daniel Thioune brought on some fresh legs for round two against FCU, with Julian Malatini and Leonardo Bittencourt replacing Niklas Stark and Keke Topp, both of whom had seen a yellow card in the first 45. There was more to the substitutions than just an effort to avoid losing their man advantage, though, as the head coach explained in a media round on Monday.
It wasn’t just the XI that Thioune tinkered with after the restart – he also shook up Werder’s shape at the halfway point. Despite starting with a flat back-four, the side switched it up and played with three central defenders for the remainder of the game. Senne Lynen dropped deeper to operate as a right-sided centre-back, Leo Bittencourt took the Belgian’s spot in the middle of the park, and Marco Grüll took over the striker role. “I’ve previously emphasised that it’s less about what system we run out in, and more about what kind of football we play. Playing with a three-back in the second half worked well for us. I wanted us to be set up well to defend against counter-attacks, because Union were concentrating on hitting us hard and fast on the break.” Thioune’s plan worked a treat – Union hardly posed any threat to Werder in the second 45.
Thioune also explained another advantage of modifying Werder’s formation on the day: “Union sat very deep, but then when they did come out and try to get at us, they were outnumbered in those central positions. It worked out almost exactly as I had envisioned in terms of our positional play in those zones.”
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The boss also proved to have got it right with his personnel changes. Leonardo Bittencourt played a good game in the middle of the park, a crucial battleground on the night, as Thioune explained before. He did his defensive duties well and helped cap off the 4-1 win by assisting Patrice Čović’s strike in added time. Thioune heaped praise on the veteran midfielder, saying: “That game was just a brilliant opportunity to overload the centre with quality players. I won’t hear any arguments that Leo isn’t one of the best players around in that role.”
The flexible nature of Werder’s structure was something the Green-Whites had been working on in the training sessions leading up to the game: “I’ve now got the ability to be able to start working gradually to change certain aspects of our game. That’s something we’re able to do, given the quality we have here. Right now, we’re managing to get the best out of our squad by setting the team up to play to the lads’ strengths. We did that very well last night. Looking ahead, I think it can develop much more in the direction of the kind of football I want to play, so that you can see the mark I’ve made on this team.”
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