FM21 Bayer Leverkusen tactic for download with accompanied team guide. Find out more about the club culture, board requirements and squad depth.
Football Manager 2021 Bayer Leverkusen tactic and team guide. Club culture
and board requirements, tactics, key players, youth prospects and potential
transfers in FM21
About the club
Bayer Leverkusen are a professional football club that ply their trade in the Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1904 by employees of the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, whose headquarters are in Leverkusen and from which the club draws its unique name.
Leverkusen have won 1 DFB Pokal & 1 UEFA Cup. The team were called
the nearly men
for their continuous 2nd place finishes from 1997-2002 (4 times). Their 2002
season was also called the treble horror as they lost out on 3 finals,
including the UEFA Champion’s league final.
Recently, Leverkusen have done relatively consistently with them finishing a respectable 5th place in the 2019-2020 season.
Leverkusen are in the Europa League this season; the minimum board requirements, once you take over, will be,
1. Make the top 4 of the Bundesliga (Automatic Qualification into the UCL)
2. Make the QF of the DFB Pokal.
3. Make the quarter-finals of the Europa League
Additionally, you will be required to play entertaining football with an emphasis in signing young German players or players who are based out of Germany.
Leverkusen have good training facilities and a very good youth system. However, you will need to work on improving these after you stabilize your position at the club.
RELATED: Football Manager 2021 Starting Transfer Budgets
Leverkusen are a team that generally like to play on the counter. They like playing a fast tempo game and release their wide midfielders/wing-backs into attacking positions. So a Fluid counter-attacking style of football is best suited to go with their strengths.
A 4-2-3-1 is probably the best-suited formation to the available squad of players. This also helps them maintain the width and releasing the ball quickly to counter opponents.
A rough example of what your line-up would look like in a 4-2-3-1 formation is as follows,
Lukas Hradecky as a sweeper keeper.
Jonathan Tah & Sven Bender as the 2 centre backs playing as Ball Playing Defenders.
Santiago Arias & Wendell as the 2 full-backs. Increased crossing instructions are recommended.
Julian Baumgartlinger & Charles Aranguiz as the 2 central midfielders, with the former being played as a holding midfielder and the latter as a playmaker or box to box midfielder.
Karim Bellarabi & Leon Bailey as the 2 wingers/wide midfielders. Bailey to be given free roaming instructions.
Nadiem Amiri to be played as a number 10 as an attacking midfielder.
Patrik Schick as the lone striker up front in an Advanced Forward role.
Alternatively, you can go with a 3-4-1-2 with Lucas Alario joining Schick up front and making Bailey & Bellarabi as wide midfielders instead of wingers.
RELATED: Football Manager 2021 Tactics
The Chilean is the club captain and is the engine in midfield. His industry and work rate are crucial in driving the team forward.
Tah, though young, is a high-quality centre back with high consistency. His performances are crucial to securing good results.
Bailey is an enterprising young winger with bags of potential. His pace, trickery will cause a lot of problems to opposition defenders.
The experienced winger is a bundle of energy, and his pace will cause real problems to opposing defenders.
RELATED: Football Manager 2021 Best Players Shortlist
1. The quality of backups in the squad may not be up to the quality and could prove fatal if your squad is affected by injuries.
2. You run the risk of some talents being poached by other clubs, especially in search of higher wages.
3. This is a very young squad, and the inexperience will show in big matches.
Leverkusen are not the best squad in the league with respect to squad depth. These players could be welcome additions to the side.
· Armel Bella-Kotchap
· Andrej Kramaric
These players may be surplus to requirements at the club or may not be of the expected quality.
· Aleksander Dragovic
· Daley Sinkgraven
There are a few exciting young prospects in the ranks who have the potential to be some of the best players in the league. A few examples are,
Palacios is a new singing who can drive the Leverkusen midfield in the future. He is already good enough to be starting games and will only improve in the future.
The French youngster is extremely pacy and will develop into a fearsome winger in the future.
Wirtz, who is very similar in profile to Havertz, can easily reach similar levels in the future, given the right opportunity to grow.
RELATED: Best Football Manager 2021 Wonderkids
To summarize, Leverkusen are a very exciting club to manage for many FM
Managers. However, dethroning the usual suspects is quite difficult and a
real challenge to even the most seasoned managers. Are you up for it?
Recently, Leverkusen have done relatively consistently with them finishing a respectable 5th place in the 2019-2020 season.
Board Requirements
Leverkusen are in the Europa League this season; the minimum board requirements, once you take over, will be,
1. Make the top 4 of the Bundesliga (Automatic Qualification into the UCL)
2. Make the QF of the DFB Pokal.
3. Make the quarter-finals of the Europa League
Additionally, you will be required to play entertaining football with an emphasis in signing young German players or players who are based out of Germany.
Leverkusen have good training facilities and a very good youth system. However, you will need to work on improving these after you stabilize your position at the club.
RELATED: Football Manager 2021 Starting Transfer Budgets
Squad, Formation and Tactical Style
Leverkusen are a team that generally like to play on the counter. They like playing a fast tempo game and release their wide midfielders/wing-backs into attacking positions. So a Fluid counter-attacking style of football is best suited to go with their strengths.
A 4-2-3-1 is probably the best-suited formation to the available squad of players. This also helps them maintain the width and releasing the ball quickly to counter opponents.
A rough example of what your line-up would look like in a 4-2-3-1 formation is as follows,
Lukas Hradecky as a sweeper keeper.
Jonathan Tah & Sven Bender as the 2 centre backs playing as Ball Playing Defenders.
Santiago Arias & Wendell as the 2 full-backs. Increased crossing instructions are recommended.
Julian Baumgartlinger & Charles Aranguiz as the 2 central midfielders, with the former being played as a holding midfielder and the latter as a playmaker or box to box midfielder.
Karim Bellarabi & Leon Bailey as the 2 wingers/wide midfielders. Bailey to be given free roaming instructions.
Nadiem Amiri to be played as a number 10 as an attacking midfielder.
Patrik Schick as the lone striker up front in an Advanced Forward role.
Alternatively, you can go with a 3-4-1-2 with Lucas Alario joining Schick up front and making Bailey & Bellarabi as wide midfielders instead of wingers.
RELATED: Football Manager 2021 Tactics
Key Players
1. Charles Aranguiz
The Chilean is the club captain and is the engine in midfield. His industry and work rate are crucial in driving the team forward.
2. Jonathan Tah
Tah, though young, is a high-quality centre back with high consistency. His performances are crucial to securing good results.
3. Leon Bailey
Bailey is an enterprising young winger with bags of potential. His pace, trickery will cause a lot of problems to opposition defenders.
4. Karim Bellarabi
The experienced winger is a bundle of energy, and his pace will cause real problems to opposing defenders.
RELATED: Football Manager 2021 Best Players Shortlist
Weaknesses
1. The quality of backups in the squad may not be up to the quality and could prove fatal if your squad is affected by injuries.
2. You run the risk of some talents being poached by other clubs, especially in search of higher wages.
3. This is a very young squad, and the inexperience will show in big matches.
Potential Transfers (in)
Leverkusen are not the best squad in the league with respect to squad depth. These players could be welcome additions to the side.
· Armel Bella-Kotchap
· Andrej Kramaric
Potential Transfers (Out)
These players may be surplus to requirements at the club or may not be of the expected quality.
· Aleksander Dragovic
· Daley Sinkgraven
Youth Prospects
There are a few exciting young prospects in the ranks who have the potential to be some of the best players in the league. A few examples are,
1. Exequiel Palacios
Palacios is a new singing who can drive the Leverkusen midfield in the future. He is already good enough to be starting games and will only improve in the future.
2. Moussa Diaby
The French youngster is extremely pacy and will develop into a fearsome winger in the future.
3. Florian Wirtz
Wirtz, who is very similar in profile to Havertz, can easily reach similar levels in the future, given the right opportunity to grow.
RELATED: Best Football Manager 2021 Wonderkids
