Bundesliga matchday 6 has come and gone, with Bayern Munich only managing a 3-3 draw against a high-flying Eintracht Frankfurt side. Coming off the back of a midweek defeat to Aston Villa in the Champions League and a draw to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, Bayern has gone three consecutive games without a win.
Hoping to bounce out of their recent slump, the Bundesliga record champions approached the match in Frankfurt with an attacking mindset, sending a barrage of quality attempts toward the opposition goal. After Kim Min-jae’s strike hit the back of the net on fifteen minutes, one would be forgiven for thinking that Bayern was on the road to an easy victory.
Speaking to DAZN after the match (captured via @iMiaSanMia), Thomas Müller touched on Bayern’s promise in the early phases of the game, saying, “I thought the first 20 minutes were even better than on Wednesday [against Aston Villa]. In my opinion, we have to win this game. We would probably win 13 out of 15 such games and I think we showed a good way of playing. It was a pleasure to see how we tied down the opponent because we had a lot of chances to score.”
Müller isn’t just coping with the result by sharing these thoughts, as the underlying data corroborates the narrative Müller is pushing. Bayern maintained possession 74% of the time and created 2.06 expected goals across 24 shots compared to Frankfurt’s 1.24 expected goals from six shots (FotMob).
Not one to overlook a good performance, Müller complimented his opponents, highlighting their key performers, explaining, “Frankfurt had an outstanding goalkeeper at the back. Ekitiké [and] Marmoush put their chances away with no problems. Crisis? I’m very happy to be in a crisis where we haven’t won three games. The feeling is still outstanding, but the results were not what we wanted.”
Despite a discrepancy between the expected result and the final score, Frankfurt deserved their point, and Bayern has to improve when it comes to defending counter-attacks. Frankfurt knew Bayern’s weaknesses, stuck to their game plan, and it worked.
Under Vincent Kompany, Bayern play an exciting and in some cases volatile brand of football. Bayern might have “won” on expected goals, but looking at the number of big chances created, Bayern fashioned four to Frankfurt’s three (FotMob). When a team pushes so many players forward, is constantly on the front foot, there is a risk that these sort of opportunities arise. Even if Dayot Upamecano and Eric Dier could’ve, perhaps should’ve, done better against Frankfurt’s attackers, no center-back in world football won’t at some point look bad when constantly being put under such a large amount of difficult, high-pressure situations.
Bayern may have dropped points here, but over the course of the season, this is a playstyle that (with some minor tweaks) will not only allow Bayern to regain its Bundesliga crown, but go far in the Champions League.
Has Vincent Kompany been exposed? Why has Harry Kane stopped scoring? Does Manuel Neuer need a replacement? If you’re asking those questions, we discuss all that and more in the newest edition of our podcast! Listen to it below or on Spotify.
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