Tiki Taka - Borussia Monchengladbach Style!

Think this is just as relevant to Liverpool as it is to general football but I think a thread related to our old friends Borussia Monchengladbach is in order following their stunning rise up the German league, qualifying for next season's Champions League. For those of you who don't know, Monchengladbach were in dire straits at the time we were in the same situation back in January 2011. BM were facing the possiblity of relegation from the top division after playing football that was quite frankly pants. So out goes then manager Michael Frontzek in February 2011 and in comes former Hertha Berlin manager Lucien Favre. With it Favre saved the team from relegation and proceeded to oversee a monumental season which culminated in them finishing in 4th place last month. Now a lot has been made about our new manager Brendan Rodger's emphasis on "tiki taka" style football modelling of the current great Barcelona side. Monchengladbach have replicated that tiki taka style football but in a way that is arguably more breathtaking than Barcelona. The speed of their play is perhaps the most startling thing about their play, not too dissimilar to Arsenal's invincibles from 8 years ago. It's a radical transformation they underwent and certainly is an example of the instant benefits tiki taka can provide if done properly. Have a look at the video below. Fingers crossed they make the group stages and if so I'm sure they will have the whole of Liverpool behind them.


Borussia Barcelona 2012 [720p]

Good video and that is exactly how I was hoping we would apply the tiki-taka philosophy, by combining it with EPL style pace. Rodgers has a higher calibre of players on his hands now so it should be possible to play in that style. I don't expect us to copy Barca exactly, it will be our own interpretation of it and, I hope, similar in style to Monchengladbach's. Would be great to watch.

That's some epic football right there.
Although my favourite part was Robben getting turned and immediately collapsing as if he'd been elbowed.
Looks sped up at times. If it's not then that is some awesome football.

To be honest, that was pretty god damn awesome, and something which i had no idea about, gets you excited for next season and what type of football we might be playing.

I had no idea they were playing that style of football and it was great to watch and it has obviously worked for them as they have gone from a relegation threatened club to qualifying for the Champions League.

Here's hoping that Brendan Rodgers can get us playing a similar style of football. Very exciting times lay ahead once the players begin to adapt.

I would take their right winger in a heartbeat, Patrick Herrmann

That was fantastic, I really enjoyed that. Terrific off-the-ball movement which is something I think we struggle with a bit last season. Excellent one touch passing as well.

My question for the older posters who saw us in the 70s and 80s is: Is Gladbach playing tiki-taka or 70s/80s Liverpool pass and move?

Looks sped up at times. If it's not then that is some awesome football.

I was thinking the same thing about it being sped up.
 
Not a lot of end product in that video but the build up play is fantastic.  Put a good finisher on the end of that play and there'd be loads of goals.

Good video that, the play is brilliant.

Midfield runners, full backs passing inside and running down the wing spreading the play, brilliant to watch.

They have a few decent players too going by that video, Reus, altho he's off to Dortmund isn't it. The blonde lad in midfield too.

That's some epic football right there.
Although my favourite part was Robben getting turned and immediately collapsing as if he'd been elbowed.
Looks sped up at times. If it's not then that is some awesome football.

Clearly there are a few clips sped up but it doesn't take away from the excellence of their football. And yeah, seeing Robben making a tit of himself is always a laugh but to be honest his football of late has given us enough laugh's as it is. Terrible in the Champions League Final, terrible against Denmark. Complete joke.

But yeah no one can deny the brilliance of some of the football played here by BM.

Despite some of the clips being sped you can still see the point. The movement off the ball was beautiful, and the vision for some of those passes great, its the style of football all teams should look to implement

That was fantastic, I really enjoyed that. Terrific off-the-ball movement which is something I think we struggle with a bit last season. Excellent one touch passing as well.

My question for the older posters who saw us in the 70s and 80s is: Is Gladbach playing tiki-taka or 70s/80s Liverpool pass and move?

Our pass and move groove wasn't as fast - but history seems to tell us that it didn't need to be.

I was just thinking about this, and to be fair, it's a bit of a stretch saying we played tiki-taka football way back in the day (I even said it myself). The truth is we played a bit of everything. Yes, even long ball too, because like Bob Paisley once said, "Its not about the long ball or the short ball, its about the right ball."

That's what we played - total football