Applause: David Alaba from FC Bayern Munich is playing better than in a long time. This is also due to his new role in defense. Image: www.imago-images.de / Frank Hoermann / SVEN SIMON
–
analysis
David Alaba blooms in a new position – to the disadvantage of a world champion
David Alaba was 17 years, seven months and 17 days young when Louis van Gaal used him for the first time on a snowy winter evening in February 2010 in the professional team of FC Bayern Munich. The Dutch coach replaced him in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup against Greuther Fürth.
Alaba came on for Anatoly Tymoshchuk 2-2 in the 59th minute and was allowed to take on his favorite position in central midfield on his debut. And just a minute later, the Austrian promptly prepared the opening goal by Franck Ribéry for 3: 2.
Once again, Louis van Gaal had helped a talented soccer player onto the big soccer stage. Just like he did before when he was a football teacher at Ajax Amsterdam and FC Barcelona. In Catalonia it was Xavi, Iniesta or Puyol, in Amsterdam Seedorf, Kluivert or Davids that van Gaal had discovered and promoted.
Starting debut in the Champions League against Florence in March 2010
Alaba then made his debut for Bayern in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against AC Florenz in March 2010, this time as a left-back. “I do this because I have a lot of trust in the players,” said youth sponsor van Gaal about his decision. By that time he meant not only Alaba, but also the later (now ex-national team) Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber.
Cheers! In his first professional appearance against Fürth, David Alaba is happy about the goal of his future congenial partner on the left wing Franck Ribéry. null / imago images
–
The versatile Alaba made a good impression in the back four in the left-back position. But the teenager was still too green for a regular place at the record champions. In the winter of 2011, the Bavarians loaned him to TSG Hoffenheim for six months, where he collected practical experience that paid off: Alaba flourished under the then Hoffenheim coach Marco Pezzaiuoli. He played all 17 second-round games for the Kraichgauer and contributed two goals.
Ten years later: Alaba is world class and can finally play centrally again
Almost ten years have passed. It is May 2020 and David Alaba, now 27 in his best football age, has developed into a world-class player and has won several titles. And now he can even play at the headquarters. However, not in his favorite position in midfield, but in central defense.
David Alaba made his debut debut in the Champions League. null / imago images
–
The position is not new for him. Already under Pep Guardiola, Alaba regularly played as a central defender in the chain of three between 2014 and 2016. After the Guardiola era, however, he moved back to the left side in the back four. The position where he became a star. Only then did you get the feeling that Alaba’s development had stagnated a bit. But under Hansi Flick he now provides the opposite evidence in a new old position.
When Flick replaced Niko Kovac at FC Bayern in November 2019, the 27-year-old smelled permanently inside again. Mainly due to a lack of alternatives in the defense center and because youngster Alphonso Davies, actually a winger, does an excellent job as a defending left-back.
Youngsters Alphonso Davies (l.) And David Alaba. Image: www.imago-images.de / Frank Hoermann / SVEN SIMON
–
Ex-right-back Kimmich plays again in midfield under Flick; Benjamin Pavard, actually brought in as a central defender, moved to Kimmich’s position on the right in the back four; the designated center-back duo Niklas Süle and Lucas Hernández are injured.
Meanwhile, Alaba is much more than the player who is only a central defender because there is no one else who can play there.
Luxury problem Lucas Hernández – Bavaria is said to have already offered it
World champion Hernández has long been fit again, but is on the bench. Since the Bundesliga restart, he has only been substituted twice. This should not please the 80 million euro man who came from Atlético Madrid last summer.
Many dream of it: 80 million in the bank. Image: Peter Schatz / Pool / imago images
–
The record champion is said to have even offered the record transfer to several top European clubs for sale. The Munich daily newspapers “Merkur” and “tz” report. “At the moment there is confidence in the back four,” said Hansi Flick, who prefers to play a left foot on the left and a right foot on the right in the chain.
For left-footed Hernández, who can play both left-back and center-back, this means that there is no getting past shooting star Davies (left-footed) on the left defense as well as David Alaba (left-footed) or the revived Jérôme Boateng (right-footed) in the center of the back four .
Praise from all sides for Alaba: “Excellent” and “a benchmark”
Alaba is doing a good job. So good that the Frenchman currently has no chance of winning the position of a left center-back. For Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich, Alaba is even one of the “best in the world” as a central defender.
Before the top game against Borussia Dortmund last Tuesday, Hansi Flick praised Alaba’s development as “excellent”, that he had become “a benchmark”. Alaba is suddenly head of defense: “How he holds the defense together is simply great,” said his coach, who attested “a very good opening for the game”: “He starts our offensive game with good passes.”
Hansi Flick (left) shoves his new defense boss David Alaba over the training ground. Image: www.imago-images.de / LakoPress
–
The numbers prove this: Alaba has a pass rate of 92 percent, making it one of the best players in the Bundesliga in this regard. And it is not just alibi or cross passes, as is often said of central defenders, but also many in the attack third.
Born in Vienna, he is technically strong, football-wise and has a great overview. He thinks forward and aggressively, as teammate Leon Goretzka says. The international is full of praise: “He talks to us a lot and pushes the chain up. He is extremely tackled and gives us good stability.”
Alaba matures into a central player and a fixed point in central defense
To clarify: Alaba has a duel rate of around 60 percent, against Eintracht Frankfurt (5: 2) even 80 percent, and he has only played six fouls in this Bundesliga season and has not yet received a single card.
Alaba also matures to the leading player in the central position in the defense. This also benefits his legacy on the left-back position, 19-year-old Davies, whom Alaba often corrects in the game. He knows what it’s like to be thrown into the cold water as a teenager in an unfamiliar position.
Fair duel: David Alaba strikes off Dortmund’s Achraf Hakimi. image: imago images / Passion2Press / markus fischer
–
The attentive observer can currently hear that the Austrian communicates a lot, as Goretzka noted, for reasons of ghost play on the TV screen. And Hansi Flick also knows that: “He leads the team and gives commands about what you can see even more in the silence of the stadium. These are things that I also demand from players that they support and push. “
A little more than ten years after his Bayern debut under Louis van Gaal, David Alaba has come a little closer to his favorite role at headquarters. Even if it is not the central midfield position that he has always dreamed of and on which he also plays in Austria’s national team.
In a good mood: David Alaba is enjoying football at the moment. Image: www.imago-images.de / Frank Hoermann / SVEN SIMON
–
But Alaba has fun as a central defender: “The way we play it at the moment is a lot of fun, even in the indoor position,” he said before the Bundesliga game against Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday evening: “I have more responsibility, but I am happy to accept it because it is also my aim.”
David Alaba: contract extension just a matter of time?
Bayern want to take the next big step towards the 30th Bundesliga title against Düsseldorf. For Alaba that would be the ninth championship as a Bayern professional. How many trophies to come with the Munich team is still in the stars. Alaba’s contract expires in the summer of 2021. There had already been talks about an extension, but there was also interest from Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
Hansi Flick has a clear opinion: “Everyone knows how I feel about it. I hope that such a player, who was also trained at Bayern and has played here for a few years, will continue to be part of FC Bayern Munich.“
Perhaps the new central position is also a key argument for an early contract extension.
