Bayern Munich scarcely put a foot wrong and TSG Hoffenheim could do nothing right on a beautiful, softly snowing night in Munich. Bayern runs away with this one, 5-0.
Statement of intent
Up 2-0 early on relegation candidates in a midweek game with the return of the Champions League upcoming? It might be a time for some teams to sit back, settle in, and enjoy a spell of patient possession and domination.
Not the Bavarians though, who kept their foot pressed firmly on their opponents’ throats. At times, one could say it was a risk: a long ball or two offered the beginnings of a threat from Hoffenheim to make a game of it again, and Bayern fumbled a few good opportunities before a penalty — awarded after video review — put them in command for good.
But this was a Bayern team out for blood, and on the other side, a hopelessly hapless Hoffenheim that could not even muster a shot by half-time. There have been enough times this season where Bayern settled for collecting a tidy and professional three points. With Hoffenheim looking ripe for the plucking, every Bayern attacker streamed forward with intent, eager to grab his own share of the spoils.
After a long Winterpause, this was just the sort of energy Bayern needed. Let no one think this is a Bayern team that still needs to wake up from slumber.
Bayern never stopped believing in Leroy Sané
Pressure has been mounting on Leroy Sané, who ran himself ragged in the first half of last season only to spend so much time out of the setup this year that his future with both club and country now looks far from assured. Michael Olise has been a revelation as another creative left-footed winger cutting in from the right, and Sané — often in cameo opportunities — has looked positively rattled, at times so eager to score that he ends up skying his chances.
But Vincent Kompany did not waver in his support from Sané, not even after, as a birthday boy starter, the 29-year-old whiffed against an empty net last weekend vs. Gladbach.
And Sané, for the day at least, rewarded his coach for his patience.
In just the sixth minute Sané was presented with an opportunity he took without blinking, unleashing a howitzer of a shot as he ran onto a Thomas Müller layoff from the right flank. With the goal, Sané seemed instantly revitalized — uncorking several more dangerous shots in the same vein (the later attempts were blocked) and wreaking havoc with his runs and carries down the flank. By the time he collected his brace in the second half — slotting home coolly and calmly from a cross from Mathys Tel — he didn’t look like a player under any sort of pressure at all.
Sané is reported to be the least likely to extend of Bayern’s veterans on expiring contracts, and that may still prove true. But he remains a supreme talent and it is a joy to watch him enjoying his football.
Crunch time for the youngsters
In different ways, Aleksandar Pavlović and Mathys Tel are facing important periods in their Bayern Munich careers.
Pavlović has suddenly given way to Leon Goretzka, at least for a run of games. In the youngster’s absence the veteran has shown much of his former strength. Who will get the call now in the big games? The youngster, starting in this one, was a steady partner for Joshua Kimmich in a game where he was rarely called on to be anything more than anonymous. Once or twice he might have kept the pace going faster, but given the overall score, he can hardly be faulted.
While Pavlović has to re-establish himself in the Bayern hierarchy, Tel still has to push into it. Bayern is notoriously overloaded in the attack, as usual, but even when the Bavarians have needed a spark this year, Tel has rarely provided it, or even had the opportunity to do so.
Now that multiple clubs are inquiring and alternate attacking reinforcements may be incoming — Chelsea FC’s Christopher Nkunku, for one — there is a flavor of urgency to every one of Tel’s appearances.
The 19-year-old got the entire second half after fellow Frenchman Kingsley Coman was given a rest.
Tel has a striker’s nose for ball but has had to ply his trade on the wings for Bayern, and that was once again his lot today. And he filled it with aplomb: supplying the looping cross for Sané’s brace, firing a low ball in to Thomas Müller and generally showing that he can create and provide width as well as he can score.
But Tel has to score, too, and he flubbed one of his best opportunities — in the 60th minute, as Bayern broke with numbers and Kane played him in down the left — dallying too long until he ran out of both angles to shoot and teammates to pass to. Another opportunity not long after that resulted in a tame mis-hit, again with Tel cutting in onto his strong foot.
When Kane was hooked early for Serge Gnabry, it was Gnabry who inherited the role of center-forward instead of Tel; Gnabry who later enjoyed the fruits of a delightful combo play and walked the ball into an empty net for Bayern’s fifth. If the youngster is stuck on Bayern’s crowded wings, it will do little to deter the front office from dipping into the transfer market to search for central goal-scoring reinforcements.
Hoffenheim in serious trouble
As impressive as Bayern was on the day, Hoffenheim was positively abysmal.
No matter how high Bayern pushed up, Hofffenheim could not muster any threat in behind. So bereft of opportunities was Hoffenheim that the visitors started the second half with a shot straight from the kickoff — their first of the night. By the time Manuel Neuer was finally called into action to make a significant save, the score was 5-0.
“It’s a big [expletive],” an emotional and furious Andrej Kramarić lamented after the match.
Can TSG stay up? That is fast becoming the question of the hour. Holstein Kiel — Hoffenheim’s next opponent — showed signs of life this week by smashing Borussia Dortmund, and two Bayern youngsters are helping provide fellow bottom-dwellers FC Heidenheim — who scraped a draw against Werder Bremen today after a 90+5’ equalizer through Léo Scienza — with at some additional offensive firepower.
Hoffenheim is going to need to scrounge deep in the costume closet to find a new look after this one. And with Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen following Holstein Kiel on the match calendar, they’ll need to turn it around fast.
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