Bayern Munich has gotten off to a winning start in the 2024/25 edition of the Bundesliga campaign, however uncomfortable the victory may have been.
After the match, new Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany reflected on the dichotomy between Bayern’s strong first-half performance and underwhelming start to the second half in his first competitive match at his new club.
“I enjoyed my first game as Bundesliga coach,” Kompany said in post-game remarks captured via @iMiaSanMia. “We were dominant in the first half and didn’t concede any chances. The start of the second half wasn’t good. We conceded twice, but in the end the mentality was good and that’s why we won the game. I played football long enough and know that you can lose or draw such a game. The fact we won shows that the mentality was there, even though not everything was perfect. We have to say that honestly.
“You definitely have a plan before coming into a game. But the other team will adapt and make changes to disrupt your plan. I was really happy with the first half other than we should maybe have scored 1-2 more goals. It was something we could build on. The second half, I’ve seen [first-year Wolfsburg head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl] teams for many years, they come out and fight. They score after 20 seconds and then you have to prepare yourself for a battle. At the end of the day I want to highlight the outstanding mentality of the team. It was a tough away game and a very good win.”
To put the gap in quality of the first and second-half performances into perspective, Bayern allowed only 0.02 xG in the first half compared to 2.02 xG allowed in the second (FotMob).
While Bayern displayed some issues in the match against Wolfsburg it also had plenty of positive moments as well. It’s still early days, so hopefully, with more time, Kompany will be able to coach the defensive problems out of this group of players as the season goes on. A strong mentality combined with the quality of Bayern’s attacking and midfield players can only get the team so far.
