After a year of possession-based play under Thomas Tuchel that left the Bayern Munich faithful frustrated, new manager Vincent Kompany has brought an ambitious mindset to the club. The attack has started scoring in droves and even forced the defending Bundesliga champions, Bayer Leverkusen, to park the bus for 90 minutes just to survive.
While Bayern has become an easy target for pundits since winning the sextuple under Hansi Flick, this year’s squad has received praise from a variety of sources.
In a recent interview with Sky 90 (via @iMiaSanMia), Lothar Matthäus said, “This Bayern is the strongest I’ve seen so far. In my opinion even better than under Pep Guardiola, because they also play forward. Not only sideways and back passes, but they try to play forward. Of course it was more often against weaker opponents like Zagreb and Kiel – but yesterday [against Leverkusen], this dominance, this togetherness, this compactness. Both centre-backs were rightly criticized in the past 7-8 months, Kompany put them back on the right track. It’s fun to watch Bayern again.”
Given Matthäus’ illustrious career, this is high praise for both the coach and the players.
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen? Then check out our Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show where we cover everything from the starting XI selections, a rundown of the scoring and substitutions, observations from the match, and where things go from here. You can get the show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
