The Week That Was: Vincent Kompany snags important first win at Bayern Munich; Thomas Müller is inevitable; Joshua Zirkzee is Manchester United’s future

Hello! I’ve had the itch to write about Bayern Munich lately, and I’m glad to be back. I recently reached out to Chuck with an idea, and he graciously let me figure out what I wanted to do.

You may remember me. If you do remember me, hi, hello, how are you? If you don’t remember me, well… I’m Phil who used to run Bavarian Football Works way back in the day.

Honestly, I think half of the current staff were in grade school for at least the beginning of my run here. That’s scary. Am I getting that old?

So, welcome to the first edition of The Week That Was. Let’s get into it. What are we even doing here?

I’m going to be coming to you in Mondays with three big thoughts coming out of the previous week. We will always touch on Bayern first; however, there’s a lot out there they I want to talk about.

Nice debut for Kompany, Müller surges

For the first time in what feels like forever, Bayern Munich got to open the season in the DFB-Pokal against a lower-level side instead of the DFL-Supercup. Sure, maybe that’s because Bayern won ZERO trophies under Thomas Tuchel last season, but we’re all working to block the last 12-18 months from our memories. However, like I said, it was nice to get the season officially started against a lower level side, especially when the club is working at getting a brand new coach and his squad comfortable with the club still.

A 4-0 victory over SSV Ulm (props to Chuck on the outstanding prediction) isn’t the spectacle that we’ve seen at this stage of the Pokal in the past, but it was a fine introduction to most fans of the Vincent Kompany Era. You can spend all day nitpicking the performance if you want, but I think it’s great that the club managed a sizable win while working multiple injured players back into the fold. There’s certainly work to be done, and that begins in earnest this coming Sunday against Wolfsburg.

And, golly, that Thomas Müller guy sure looked great. As I’ve talked about in recent seasons, I’m not against a coach being strict with Müller regarding his minutes. He’s about to turn the ancient age of 35, and I’d rather have him healthy and relatively fresh in March, April, and May than burnt out and not able to do *those* Müller things.

Few players in the history of the game have optimized “right place at the right time” and “work smarter not harder” than Müller, and I would love for the club to figure out the best way to utilize him so he’s effective now and in in the quarterfinals and semifinals of Champions League later in the season.

Don’t let the Pokal be boring!

One thing that everybody loves about the DFB-Pokal is the possibility of upsets, but the big clubs have dominated the first round of the competition so far.

Through the first three days of the first round (The first round stretches out until Wednesday this week.), only two teams from the 3.Liga have advanced while nobody from the Regionalliga or below survived.

Sure, on paper, this is a fantastic scenario. This is what you want. You want the best teams getting far into the competition to provide the best viewing experience for fans. But, deep down, we know this isn’t what we want. If Bayern were to be eliminated early again this season, fans like having an underdog to root for. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t want to have to choose between Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen to win a trophy.

Come on, Kickers Offenbach! Win one for your old pal Phil. We want some Regionalliga representation.

Zirkzee shines in English debut

If I’m honest with you, I’m a professional hater of two teams: Liverpool (Sorry, Tom.) and Manchester United. So when Joshua Zirkzee moved to the Mancunian club, there were two thoughts going through my head.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

The first was that I was very excited for him. Towards the end of my time regularly writing for Bavarian Football Works, I was focused on the Frauen and the youth teams, and he was one of many who were coming through that I thought, “Man, he is good, but I’m not sure if he’s Bayern good.” He worked hard and earned every bit of that transfer.

The second was, obviously, that I hate this sh*t. I hate when players that I have some fondness for go to terrible clubs that I hate like Manchester United. There are so many teams in this world, and that’s where you end up?

So, talk about mixed emotions this weekend when he scored an 87th minute winner for United in their Premier League opener. Is it possible for Zirkzee to score 20 goals while they do terribly? Is that bad for him? Ugh.

My big hope is that this continues to open people’s eyes to the fact that Bayern’s academy has been churning out good talent for years. Just because players aren’t Bayern quality doesn’t mean they aren’t damn good players.

Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s upcoming start to the Bundesliga season, the club’s treatment of Kingsley Coman and Leon Goretzka, plus some thoughts on why Paul Wanner’s development at Heidenheim will be a story you should follow this season? Great, then check out the show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:

Be sure to stay tuned to Bavarian Podcast Works for all of your up to date coverage on Bayern Munich and Germany. Check us out on Patreon and follow us on Twitter @BavarianFBWorks, @BavarianPodcast @TheBarrelBlog, @BFWCyler, @bfwinnn, @IredahlMarcus, @2012nonexistent, @TommyAdams71 and more.