Bayern Munich made hard work of it and succumbed to a fair share of drama, but they got off to a winning start with their Bundesliga season by virtue of a 3-2 win at VfL Wolfsburg. After taking a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute through Jamal Musiala, they gave up two goals to start the second half and had to come from behind to get the vital three points. An own goal from Jakub Kaminski and a late strike from Serge Gnabry sealed the comeback for the Rekordmeister.
It was far from Bayern’s best, but new manager Vincent Kompany will be pleased to have come away from home with maximum points in his first league match in charge of the club.
Defensively, Kompany opted to start with a back four of Alphonso Davies, Dayot Upamecano, Kim min-Jae, and Sacha Boey from left to right with Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović just ahead of them as the midfield anchors. Even with Bayern’s half first half dominance, most of the chances that fell Wolfsburg’s way were a result of Bayern’s own do, taking too many risks in the defensive third — risks that showed reminiscent of where they gave up a lot of goals last season under Thomas Tuchel.
Of course, Kompany is without both new signing Hiroki Ito and loan returnee Josip Stanišić, the latter of whom might very well have started against Wolfsburg had he been fit. Eric Dier was the only defensive subbed used from the bench by Kompany, leaving question marks of what Bayern’s best back line will be this season.
After the match, sporting director Christoph Freund was asked whether or not Bayern will make any more defensive signings given the current injuries to that area of the pitch. His response was far from conclusive, leaving the door open to the potential for more business before the transfer window officially closes. “We’re actually very happy with the squad, but we now have two injured players and we have to take note of that. It’s not our plan [to make another signing], but the transfer window is still open for 5 days,” the sporting director explained to BILD’s Nico Linner (via @iMiaSanMia).
Photo by Swen Pförtner/picture alliance via Getty Images
It was only the first league match of the season, so Kompany has plenty of time to get a feel for what his best back line will be, but he will certainly want to be keeping clean sheets in front of Manuel Neuer’s goal. The manner in which Wolfsburg scored their two goals highlights the need to cut out needless mistakes at the back, and there could yet be some reinforcements brought in to help that become a reality.
Looking for more analysis of Kompany’s Bundesliga debut? We’ve got you covered — INNN and Samrin go in-depth with a discussion of the lineups, tactics, substitutions, individual performances. PLUS we also compare and contrast Vincent Kompany’s start at Bayern Munich to what Hansi Flick has done at FC Barcelona thus far. Listen to it below or on Patreon or Spotify.
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