Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany watched his team play an electric, attacking style in a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in South Korea, but it was not just the team’s offense that earned rave reviews.
Kompany like his squad’s defensive effort as well.
“The guys fought hard and created chances. I think it was a sign of mentality to come here and work hard in a game like this,” said Kompany (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “There are a lot of clips of 11 players running back to prevent the goal from happening. I think that’s good. But in some situations it wasn’t the case, and that’s what we still need to improve. In a game like today with players still just coming back, you can’t expect a perfect performance. But you can put in the effort and show the right attitude. We did that.”
Aside of a few breakdowns, the defense was, indeed, solid. It was the Bayern Munich attack, however, that might have caught the eyes of fans. Interestingly, Kompany deployed a formation without a true No. 9, which the coach said was driven by the opponent and the available players on the roster.
“It was purely tactical based on the spaces we could create. We have players flexible enough to execute that. Tottenham are one of the highest pressing teams in England. They were number two after Liverpool. And second highest in possession after Man City. They don’t really allow any controlled possession,” Kompany said. “ So for us it was important to create danger from the moment we had the ball. I think we did that really well. If you play with two No. 10s and two wingers on the top line, it’s about how many people finish in the box. When we finished in the box, we always had numbers — that’s why we created chances. For this game, it was this tactic. Maybe another game it will be something else. It depends on the opponent.”
And maybe Harry Kane will be back soon enough to help fill the striker void as well.
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s fun 2-1 friendly victory over Tottenham Hotspur? Good, then we have you covered with our Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show. You can get the show on Patreon, Spotify, or below: