Austria split Baumgartner’s four jobs across Laimer, Sabitzer, Schmid and Posch and beat Jordan 2-1. It worked because all three already run those patterns at Bayern and Dortmund; without existing club-level overlap, redistribution fails.

Rangnick kept his 26-man squad intact after Baumgartner’s June 1 Tunisia warm-up injury rather than call in a replacement.¹ Laimer said Baumgartner “cannot be replaced on a one-to-one basis”.²

Against Jordan, Austria divided Baumgartner’s runs, pressing and box arrivals among teammates, and the three club-level precedents mark when that division works. City had Foden, Alvarez and Bernardo, Madrid had Bellingham, and Austria had Laimer, Sabitzer and Schmid already doing parts of the absent attacker’s job at club level. If teammates do not already know the half-space runs, pressing jumps and box arrivals, the coach loses the absent attacker’s job rather than dividing it.

What the missing player actually does

Baumgartner recorded 16 goal involvements in 15 Austria caps between November 2023 and November 2024, driving the run to the Euro 2024 knockout rounds.⁴ At RB Leipzig in 2025-26, he finished with eight Bundesliga goals and seven assists in 20 appearances.⁵ He runs beyond the defensive line from the half-spaces, presses the opponent’s first pass out of goal kicks, links midfield to the striker with lay-offs, and arrives late at the far post on set pieces.

A replacement can take Baumgartner’s position without matching his runs, pressing and box arrivals. Rangnick had to decide whether any single Austria player could cover all four jobs. None could, so he split them.

Redistribution in practice: Austria vs Jordan

Against Jordan, the tracking data showed how Rangnick divided Baumgartner’s work.³

Laimer led the team in offers to receive and runs in behind the defensive line – work that Baumgartner would typically own. Sabitzer took on the counter-press, forcing 13 turnovers. Schmid, the nominal ten, scored the opener from a long-range strike but made fewer offers than either Laimer or Sabitzer. Austria built attacks through the wide midfielders more than through the central ten. Even Posch, a centre-back, generated 0.34 xG from two shots, picking up box arrivals that would normally belong to the attacking midfielder.

Austria’s total threat score (15.32) and 197 attempted linebreaks show the attacking volume held up. Austria completed 85% of passes, below their typical Rangnick-era rate, and took only ten shots from 1.93 xG. The chances were decent quality but fewer than expected from a side normally built around a specialist creator.

Rangnick also used the bench to test different replacements after half-time. Chukwuemeka (0.49 xG from one shot in 45 minutes) attacked the box directly. Wanner (six linebreaks, 29 offers to receive) dropped deeper and circulated. A World Cup squad with five bench slots gave Rangnick room to try both approaches in one match, something a league side with three substitutions cannot replicate as easily.

Historical cases

Manchester City, 2023-24. Kevin De Bruyne tore his hamstring 23 minutes into the season opener and missed roughly five months.⁶ City won 72.6% of matches with De Bruyne starting over the preceding eight seasons, yet their win rate without him sat at 71.9% over the same period.⁷ Phil Foden took over much of the chance creation and finished with 19 Premier League goals and eight assists, winning Player of the Season.⁸ Julian Alvarez contributed 32 goal involvements across all competitions, and Bernardo Silva added six goals and nine assists from deeper positions.⁹ City won a fourth consecutive title.

Foden, Alvarez and Bernardo already created chances from multiple positions before De Bruyne’s injury. The absence increased their share of final-third touches rather than asking anyone to learn a new movement. De Bruyne’s 16 assists had led the Premier League the previous season, but Foden, Alvarez and Silva combined for more.

Real Madrid, 2023-24. Karim Benzema departed after scoring at a rate that accounted for a large share of Madrid’s 75 La Liga goals in 2022-23.¹⁰ Rather than sign a like-for-like centre-forward, Carlo Ancelotti paired Vinicius Junior with Bellingham, who operated as an attacking midfielder arriving late in the box from deeper positions. Bellingham scored 19 La Liga goals, Vinicius Junior added 15, and Madrid’s total rose to 87 league goals – twelve more than the final Benzema season.¹¹¹² Bellingham could run into Benzema’s old spaces from midfield, so the role change worked without requiring a new signing.

Borussia Dortmund, 2022-23. After losing Erling Haaland to Manchester City, Dortmund spread goals across Julian Brandt (9), Donyell Malen (9) and Sebastien Haller (9) in the Bundesliga, while Marco Reus dropped deeper into midfield to free attacking slots.¹³ Nine goals each was enough for second place but far below Haaland’s penalty-box output. Dortmund still created chances at a similar rate but lost his finishing from inside the six-yard box.

Guardiola already had Foden, Alvarez and Bernardo creating from several positions, so De Bruyne’s absence barely changed the rotation. Ancelotti changed shape because Bellingham could run into Benzema’s old spaces. Dortmund stayed in the title race but lost Haaland’s 25-goal threat. Foden, Alvarez and Bernardo shared De Bruyne’s creation, Bellingham attacked Benzema’s zones, and Dortmund spread Haaland’s work across several forwards. City, Madrid and Dortmund each gave pieces of the absent player’s work to two or three teammates and lived with the trade-off in peak output.

When redistribution works vs when it fails

Guardiola’s positional play already shared De Bruyne’s tasks among Foden, Alvarez and Bernardo. Guardiola’s positional play already gave Foden, Alvarez and Bernardo chances to create. De Bruyne’s absence meant they took more final-third touches, not that they learned new movements. Rangnick’s pressing system similarly asks every midfielder to contribute in the final third. If one ten takes every final-third touch, the next midfielder has no rehearsed half-space run to repeat.

The remaining players already make the same movements at club level. Bellingham could occupy Benzema’s zones because he arrived late in the box from deep at Borussia Dortmund. Laimer and Sabitzer already run half-space patterns at Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively. Against Jordan, Laimer made the most offers in behind (25), picking up one of Baumgartner’s primary tasks precisely because he already does it at Bayern.

The team can absorb lower peak output. Splitting one attacker’s work across three or four players preserves volume but typically reduces the best individual chance. Austria generated 1.93 xG against Jordan from ten shots – functional but not dominant. Dortmund’s three nine-goal scorers never produced a 25-goal season the way Haaland did. Austria stayed organised and competitive while missing Baumgartner’s best shot quality.

Sabitzer and Schmid took Baumgartner’s counter-pressing work against Jordan. Baumgartner typically initiates Austria’s counter-press. Against Jordan, Sabitzer took on that burden with 13 forced turnovers and Schmid added seven. Pressing triggers and high recoveries spread across a squad because defensive effort depends on willingness and fitness, not individual technique under pressure. Finishing and chance creation are harder to share. Haaland’s penalty-box composure could not be divided among Brandt, Malen and Haller the way Baumgartner’s pressing could be divided among Sabitzer and Schmid.

Decision checklist for coaches

Rangnick could split Baumgartner’s four jobs because Laimer, Sabitzer and Schmid already made those runs and pressed in those zones at club level. He used the Tunisia friendly to rehearse the split before the Jordan opener, and the tracking data from that match shows the volume held up even if precision dipped. Rangnick’s case leaves the same question for any squad preparing for a tournament or absorbing a mid-season injury.