Bayern Munich did collect maximum points in Vincent Kompany’s first Bundesliga match as manager with their 3-2 win over VfL Wolfsburg, but it took a late comeback for the Rekordmeister to secure the victory. Serge Gnabry’s late goal completed Kompany’s side coming from 2-1 down after having conceded two goals that were from mistakes of their own creation in the beginning of the second half. Those two instances erased what had seemed to be somewhat of a level of control in the match from the first half after Jamal Musiala had made it 1-0 to Bayern in the 20th minute.
For the two Wolfsburg goals, Bayern made defensive mistakes that lead to the opportunities coming about. For the first goal, Sacha Boey conceded a penalty that he really did not need to, and for the second goal, Kim Min-jae took far too long in possession in his own half of the field, lost possession, and Bayern did not recover in time to block Lovro Majer’s shot. Once again, as had often been the case under Thomas Tuchel last season, it mas mistakes of Bayern’s own doing that allowed Wolfsburg right back into the match.
For current pundit and former Bayern and Germany midfielder Lothar Matthäus, enough is enough with the defensive mistakes in the back line. In his column for Sky Sport after the Wolfsburg win, he did not hold back in his critical assessment of the current situation of the club’s back line.
“The defense is and remains FC Bayern’s Achilles heel. Matthijs de Ligt was sold, even though he was the most stable defender over the past two years. He was the leader of the backline. Now Bayern are again looking for a successor to David Alaba. For me, it’s pathetic that this leader is missing. After all, we are talking about FC Bayern. All the center backs currently in the Bayern squad have to be clear with themselves first. A leader has to be clear about himself and has to be recognized by the team. Of course, the mistakes made by Min-jae Kim and Dayot Upamecano are also a topic of discussion in the dressing room. The club has big plans and now things are going back to where they left off last season,” Matthäus ranted in his column (via @iMiaSanMia).
There is certainly a sentiment shared with large portions of Bayern fans with not agreeing with the club letting Matthijs de Ligt go, but there have been issues in Bayern’s defensive unit even before he joined the club from AFC Ajax. Losing characters like Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, David Alaba, Javi Martinez, and De Ligt in not too long of a period of time will definitely take its toll on the squad, but it is up to Kompany to work to find the right balance and structure with the players he currently has in the squad.
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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