The stats behind the breathtaking rush of Bayer Leverkusen

Why is this game so slow? Can't we watch something more exciting? To most football fans, these complaints are so cliched we barely even notice them anymore. But somewhere in our souls, sometimes, we hear that voice too and we worry it might just be right. Then we forget about it, of course.

Bayer Leverkusen's Roger Schmidt listened to that voice, and he has built a bracingly new football philosophy based on the idea that maybe this game should be much, much faster.

The attack is structured to create shots as quickly as possible. Bayer Leverkusen have attempted 27 shots where the strike was the first action in the attacking move. That is, 27 times a Leverkusen player has recovered or won the ball and immediately looked to goal and taken his chance. On top of that, Schmidt's men have attempted 62 shots from attacking moves of seven seconds or less. (To calculate these statistics, I have removed shots from set plays and shots off rebounds.) This is how those rates compare in the Bundesliga:

If you're looking for a Premier League analogue, you can stop. There isn't one. The side with the most shots to start an action this year is Sunderland, with 18. Arsenal lead in the seven seconds or less category with 42 fast shots. But Arsenal have fired off only 10 shots from the start of an attacking move, and Sunderland have just 21 attempts in the seven seconds or less bucket. If you want to see this style of football, you have to watch the Bundesliga. (Jürgen Klopp's Dortmund run closest, but they are still not nearly as quick to shoot as Leverkusen.)

But wait. Isn't playing fast and shooting early the most English of ideologies? Maybe Schmidt is merely the newest inheritor of Charles Reep's preferred ugly longballing style. But while Leverkusen are direct, and are looking to shoot from the moment they get into range, they do not just lump it forward. Bayer in fact have attempted the second fewest long passes in the Bundesliga. The key to Schmidt's attack is that the moment possession is won, or even sometimes in anticipation of winning the ball, players are making runs into dangerous areas to receive the next forward pass. They create shots quickly not with speculative fifty-fifty balls but with quick, aggressive passing and running.

There is one area of Schmidt's game which resembles the mad English style. In order to get all these shots off, his players are willing to shoot from just about anywhere. With 124 shots attempted from outside the 18-yard-box, Leverkusen lead the Bundesliga by a 25 percent margin. In contrast, the chance-quality-obsessed Pep Guardiola has his Bayern Munich shooting less overall but far more often from the most dangerous areas.

So far, the positive effects of Leverkusen's "Just Shoot!" philosophy of chance quality are not obvious in the numbers. Of those 27 shots to start an action, only one has been scored. They are doing much better on the fast shots with six goals scored, but those goals are almost entirely from shots inside the box. Rushing to get 25 yard attempts off has not resulted in goals, at least not directly.

The following charts show the locations of these quick shots attempted by Bayer Leverkusen. The black boxes mark goals scored. The size of each marker is relative to the "expected goals" estimate of chance quality. The club's quick shooting from outside the box has yet to result directly in goals.

That one goal, from long distance on the right, was scored by Heung Min Son in his club's early 3-3 draw with Stuttgart. Son collected a poor clearance by keeper Thorsten Kirschbaum with a simple chest control, then launched a stinging half-volley over Kirschbaum as he raced back into position. The goal exemplified Schmidt's style. Keep high pressure on, then when the ball is won, strike before the opposition can get into their defensive shape. (It's obviously best when the defender out of position is the goalkeeper.)

Of course, Son's goal is pretty much the only one of its kind for Leverkusen. Even those six goals scored on moves of seven seconds or less were all attempted from inside the 18-yard box. It's possible, then, that Schmidt's tactics are pushing his club to shoot too early and too speculatively. On the other hand, it's notable that Bayer have outperformed expected goals on those quickly taken shots. It is possible that Leverkusen's quick trigger helps to unsettle the opposition defense. If a defense has to challenge players quickly even in deep positions, they may be less effective at blocking passing lanes for better shots. The long shots, then, may not be scoring tons of goals themselves, but they may be a part of Schmidt's strategy for opening up opposition defenses.

Further, these shots are not taken exactly willy-nilly. Of 89 quickly taken shots, 49 were attempted by Son, Karim Bellarabi or Hakan Çalhanoğlu. These attacking midfielders, who also account for 15 of the 27 snap shots, are all dangerous from long range. Stefan Kießling, despite playing nearly 1000 minutes in an advanced role, has only attempted seven quick shots. So Schmidt's system is also disciplined, with certain players seeing more freedom to shoot early in a move than others. Again, this has not resulted directly in goals, but there are at least indications the tactic is effective within a larger attacking system. At the same time, those 28 quick shots and 12 snap shots not attempted by the attacking trio may mark some wasted possessions.

Now, attacking at speed is only one aspect of Schmidt's system. His team is perhaps best known for its high pressing style. In this more than anything Leverkusen are reminiscent of Klopp's Dortmund. Bayer have conceded the lowest opposition pass completion percentage in the Bundesliga. About 35 percent of passes attempted against Leverkusen do not find their target. Bayern Munich stand second with 33 percent of opposition passes incomplete. (In this statistic again there are no EPL analogues. Arsenal lead the league with a 24 percent opposition incomplete pass rate.)

But a simple total of incomplete passes does not tell a full story. A press creates turnovers with aggressive attempting tackles and stepping into passing lanes for interceptions. And the most dangerous turnovers are those won in the attacking half of the pitch. A comparison of Bayer's defensive actions attempted in the past two seasons shows, first, the clear effect of Schmidt's aggressive tactics getting his players to engage higher up the field.

There are more defensive actions attempted in the attacking half, and in particular these maps show a focal point on the right side of the pitch. Here is where personnel plays a key role. Son, the left-sided attacker, has a silkier game more suited to scoring and setting up goals. His counterpart on the right, Bellarabi, is a bulldog who has said he does not mind being known as a "street footballer." Bellarabi leads the Bundesliga with 20 tackles or interceptions in the attacking half. He is supported on that side primarily by Lars Bender and Roberto Hilbert, who have tallied 21 defensive actions in the attacking half between them as well. Leverkusen funnel opposition players to wide areas and then, especially on the right, they pounce with three skilled ball-winners all ready to take back possession.

These statistics show how Schmidt has imposed a more combative, pressing style on his new team. Once again, the underlying logic of his tactics is all about speed. It is not merely that Leverkusen press or tackle, but that they move very quickly to prevent opposition possession and win the ball back when it has been lost. The moment when a team has just gained possession is when they are most vulnerable to an aggressive defense. Players have yet to find their positions in the attack and easy outlet passes may not be available as defenders converge.

To measure speed of defense, I created a new statistic for counter-pressing. This statistic measures how often, when a team gains possession in the middle third of the pitch, they are able to keep that possession for more than seven seconds. And no team is more adept at breaking up opposition possession in seven seconds or less than Bayer Leverkusen.

Nearly 60 percent of the time, when the opposition gains possession in midfield against Leverkusen they will have lost that possession or had to take a throw-in within seven seconds. Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich unsurprisingly follow closely behind Schmidt's side.

Leverkusen were among the trailing pack in this statistic last year, with about 44 percent of new opposition possessions broken up. Schmidt has rebuilt the team in his image, and they are now even more aggressive than Guardiola's or Klopp's sides at pressing on the turnover of possession. Further, the press has been highly effective. Bayer have created 31 shots and 6 goals directly from these midfield pressing turnovers, both of which marks lead the Bundesliga.

Playing at this kind of speed does have a downside, however. As great as it is when you win the ball back, an aggressive high press can be a chance-conceding machine when it fails. Schmidt's press is impressively structured, but no press is unbreakable. And when opposing teams have found a way through, they have often been able to get to goal at great speed.

Of 64 shots conceded by open play by Leverkusen, a full 20 have been on attacks of speed greater than five yards per second. A solid majority (39) have come from attacks at speeds over three yards per second. Both marks lead the Bundesliga by a good margin. Speed, it seems, begets speed. By playing the game at a possibly unprecedently high tempo, Leverkusen enable their opponents to play and attack quickly as well. This has led to some crazy scorelines (the 3-3 draw at Stuttgart stands out), and these defensive holes created by the hyperspeed press will probably prevent Schmidt's side from meaningfully challenging Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title.

Currently, Leverkusen are in third, ten points back of leaders Bayern, and have conceded 17 goals in 13 matches. But despite some minor flaws, Schmidt deserves immense credit for implementing a radical vision at a major club and seeing it succeed. Bayer Leverkusen play a brand of football that not only wins matches, but it demands to be seen.