How Xabi Alonso is setting himself up as the new Klopp

Sam McGuire

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:09 CDT
• 5 min read

Sometimes, you can just tell a player has what it takes to be a top-tier manager. Xabi Alonso fell into that category. The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich playmaker wasn’t ever the quickest but few players could match his guile on the pitch. Mentally, he was always a couple of steps ahead of opponents and even team-mates.

Following Alonso’s retirement in 2017, Pep Guardiola was emphatic in his response to his former midfielder’s future.

He said: “Xabi will come back soon as a manager. I bet, wherever he wants, he will become a manager and he will be good. He understands the game and has the curiosity to understand the game. He knew during the weeks what we would have to do to win the next games, to beat them. He already had the curiosity to know.”

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Jamie Carragher, Alonso’s former team-mate at Anfield, even floated the idea that the Basque-born maestro could return to Merseyside in the future, saying: “He will be a great manager, I think. People always talk about Stevie at Liverpool but I think there’s a chance Xabi can become manager of Liverpool in the future.”

So it will come as no surprise to either Guardiola or Carragher to see Alonso making a splash with Bayer Leverkusen.

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Xabi already turning heads

Appointed in October following a successful spell with Real Sociedad’s B team, the 41-year-old has been in the dugout for a total of 12 Bundesliga matches, winning seven of those. Since his arrival, only Bayern Munich (28), Borussia Dortmund (25), RB Leipzig (25) and Union Berlin (25) have picked up more points than Leverkusen (22).

Now, it is too premature for him to be moving on from the BayArena, but Europe’s elite clubs will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the Alonso project. And not just because of the positive results. The performances are backed up by the underlying numbers. For example, Die Werkself have won the Expected Goals battle in four of their last five Bundesliga matches. This period included a loss to Borussia Dortmund. It was an undeserved defeat, with Bayer finishing with almost double the xG of their opponents.

Even when freak results occur, the performances are still dominant and the players remain confident.

This is much more than just a purple patch for B04.

In fact, the most impressive part of all of this is how the tactician has managed to implement a clear style and identity in such a short space of time.

Given Alonso arrived after the season was underway and he didn’t have a pre-season with the players, the level of organisation this group has under their new manager is nothing short of remarkable.

Deployed in a 3-4-2-1 shape, Alonso has made some significant tweaks to the usual back three system. For example, the back three are all fairly narrow. To create passing angles, one of the central midfielders will shuffle over to a wide area on one side of the pitch while a wing-back occupies the other flank. The centre forward, used almost as a false nine then drops deep to support the remaining man in midfield while the rest of the players adopt a fairly fluid approach and take up spaces as opposed to positions.

The idea is to retain the ball centrally while creating space in wide areas that can be exploited by the quicker players such as Moussa Diaby and Callum Hudson-Odoi. It is a highly technical system that relies on players understanding they are responsible for multiple roles. It is based on having interchangeable, intelligent individuals across the entire pitch.

This shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise given Alonso was that type of player. It is clear he has a philosophy and he’s loyal to it. If he’s able to work on multiple variations of this style so that Bayer have a number of ways to win matches, this could be one of the most exciting projects across Europe. If Alonso manages to sustain this level and gets B04 into the Champions League, his stock will only rise and the interest in him will only increase.

A good, long spell here could set Alonso up for life. After all, the last manager Liverpool appointed had a seven-year stint with BVB having captured the attention of on-lookers with a unique, bespoke style. Sounds familiar, right?