Recently there has been increasing criticism of the weak standard situations of FC Bayern Munich. How does the record champions really do in comparison to their own and opposing standards? A statistical approximation.
The statistics come from the data supplier opta. For better comparability, only figures from the national leagues were used.
FC Bayern Munich: Goals from standards
It all started so well: 1st matchday, 5th minute – and FC Bayern Munich scored their first direct free-kick goal of the season against Eintracht Frankfurt. Probably all observers including the opposing keeper Kevin Trapp expected a cross, but Joshua Kimmich sank the ball from a long distance without detours in the goal.
Kimmich completed the celebrations that followed with Julian Nagelsmann’s assistant coach Dino Toppmöller, who was then responsible for training standard situations at Bayern Munich. As Kimmich revealed afterwards, Toppmöller gave him the crucial tip: “We trained lateral free kicks and he said: ‘You can have a look, the Trappo is always a bit higher.’ And I thought: I’ll try it then.”
To date, this goal is the only FC Bayern direct free kick this Bundesliga season. There are also four more goals from free kicks, seven from corners and two from penalties (in four attempts). With a total of 14 goals from standards, FC Bayern is in absolute terms within the league average. SC Freiburg is best at 22.
However, if you look at the relative numbers, a different picture emerges: Only 17 percent of all FC Bayern goals result from standard situations, which is the worst value of all Bundesliga clubs. Title rival Borussia Dortmund is a little better, with SC Freiburg at the top here too with an impressive 48 percent.
club
after corner
after free kick
after penalty
after throw
goals total
Goals by standards
Percent goals by set pieces
Cologne
5
2
3
3
42
13
31%
union
10
5
3
0
44
18
41%
Mainz
8th
4
4
2
51
18
35%
Leverkusen
4
3
4
0
54
11
20%
Dortmund
7
6
3
0
73
16
22%
Gladbach
8th
2
3
0
46
13
28%
Frankfurt
6
4
5
0
51
15
29%
augsburg
7
2
4
0
40
13
32%
FC Bayern
7
5
2
0
83
14
17%
Schalke
1
4
4
2
31
11
35%
Hertha
1
4
7
0
37
12
32%
Leipzig
6
6
4
0
55
16
29%
Freiburg
9
6
6
1
46
22
48%
Werder
3
5
5
0
49
13
27%
Hoffenheim
3
1
6
0
42
10
24%
Stuttgart
3
3
4
0
39
10
26%
Bochum
6
2
3
3
33
14
42%
Wolfsburg
6
9
4
0
54
19
35%
Goals by standards: European comparison
As expected, FC Bayern also performs poorly in a European comparison. In the top five leagues, a total of 31 clubs scored more goals from set pieces than Munich, with Italian champions SSC Napoli the most (25). In percentage terms, only six clubs are worse than FC Bayern with its 17 percent – including AC Milan (16), Manchester United (14) and FC Barcelona (12).
club
Goals by standards
SSC Napoli
25
Brentford FC
23
Manchester City
22
Olympique Marseille
22
Sc freiburg
22
AS Monaco
21
Stade Brest
20
Juventus
20
real Madrid
20
FC Bayern Munich: Goals after corners
As much as Kimmich was celebrated in Frankfurt for his creative free-kick goal, he has been criticized for his corners for years. So far, however, no coach at FC Bayern has had the idea of releasing him from this responsible task. “I’m curious how long Kimmich can still shoot the corners from both sides,” said the former standard specialist Mario Basler table football “It’s completely disappointing how they’re shot. Too little happens there. I sit on the couch during the games and just wonder.”
In fact, FC Bayern is only average when it comes to their own corners – just like Dortmund. On average, Munich need 30.7 corners to score. That is the eleventh best value in the Bundesliga. Freiburg is again the most effective, while FC Schalke 04 is the most ineffective.
club
corners
goals after corners
corners/goal
Schalke
153
1
153.0
Hertha
132
1
132.0
Hoffenheim
151
3
50.3
Stuttgart
137
3
45.7
Cologne
177
5
35.4
Werder
102
3
34.0
Leverkusen
129
4
32.3
FC Bayern
215
7
30.7
Frankfurt
178
6
29.7
Dortmund
203
7
29.0
Leipzig
158
6
26.3
Wolfsburg
139
6
23.2
augsburg
152
7
21.7
Bochum
127
6
21.2
Mainz
145
8th
18.1
Gladbach
140
8th
17.5
union
144
10
14.4
Freiburg
124
9
13.8
FC Bayern Munich: Goals conceded by standards
After FC Bayern conceded a goal from a corner in the 1-1 draw against 1. FC Köln at the end of January, Kimmich moaned: “We have to stop that as soon as possible.” Nagelsmann also recognized the problem and demanded that his team “be more aggressive”.
In fact, FC Bayern conceded a disproportionate number of goals from standard situations. The absolute number 13 is within the league average, but the percentage of 38 is the second worst in the league after RB Leipzig (46 percent). Striking: Munich have already conceded six goals after penalties. Only Leipzig and VfL Bochum surpass this figure.
By the way, Dortmund is particularly strong when it comes to defending opposing standards. Seven goals conceded is the best value in absolute numbers, 18 percent is the second best value just behind Werder Bremen. Striking: Apart from six goals conceded after corners, BVB conceded only one more from all other standard situations together.
club
after corner
after free kick
after penalty
after throw
Total goals conceded
goals afterstandards
Percent goals conceded by set pieces
Cologne
4
7
4
0
49
15
31%
union
5
1
5
0
32
11
34%
Mainz
4
3
3
0
46
10
22%
Leverkusen
4
2
6
1
43
13
30%
Dortmund
6
1
0
0
40
7
18%
Gladbach
4
1
5
1
48
11
23%
Frankfurt
8th
6
2
2
49
18
37%
augsburg
4
11
1
2
55
18
33%
FC Bayern
2
5
6
0
34
13
38%
Schalke
7
3
4
0
59
14
24%
Hertha
7
9
5
1
62
22
35%
Leipzig
5
3
7
2
37
17
46%
Freiburg
4
1
5
1
38
11
29%
Werder
6
1
2
1
60
10
17%
Hoffenheim
11
3
2
0
52
16
31%
Stuttgart
5
6
5
0
54
16
30%
Bochum
8th
9
8th
0
69
25
36%
Wolfsburg
6
1
4
0
43
11
26%
FC Bayern: goals conceded after corners
And now for the big ray of hope: Contrary to Kimmich’s general criticism after the Cologne game, FC Bayern actually defends corners extremely well. In this way, the Munich team conceded only two goals. That is just as much a Bundesliga best as the corners/goals conceded ratio of 57.
club
against corners
Goals conceded after corners
Corners/Goal Conceded
FC Bayern
114
2
57.0
Gladbach
165
4
41.3
Cologne
146
4
36.5
augsburg
146
4
36.5
Freiburg
140
4
35.0
Mainz
128
4
32.0
Wolfsburg
191
6
31:8
Stuttgart
152
5
30.4
union
149
5
29.8
Leverkusen
119
4
29.8
Schalke
195
7
27.9
Werder
163
6
27.2
Hertha
179
7
25.6
Dortmund
143
6
23.8
Bochum
174
8th
21:8
Leipzig
106
5
21.2
Frankfurt
126
8th
15.8
Hoffenheim
170
11
15.5
FC Bayern: Anthony Barry will be responsible for standards in the future
The change of coach from Nagelsmann to Thomas Tuchel has also changed the responsibility for training set pieces at FC Bayern. Toppmöller had to leave the club together with Nagelsmann, he is now acting as the head coach at Eintracht Frankfurt – the club he had outsmarted on the first matchday.
From the outset, Tuchel’s preferred candidate to succeed him was Anthony Barry from England. FC Bayern had to wait for him for almost a month. His previous employer Chelsea FC only wanted to release him when a possible meeting in the Champions League semifinals was no longer possible. Both clubs failed in the quarterfinals.
“I’m very happy. We fought hard and really wanted to have him there,” said Tuchel when the move was finally finalized at the end of April. “He’s got the whole package: personality, love of the game and the job, passion and quality. I’ve never seen set pieces at his level before.”
Tuchel and Barry worked together at Chelsea for a year and a half. FC Bayern had to be loud for the change sports picture Pay a fee of 500,000 euros, and various bonuses could increase the sum to one million euros. On the side, Barry continues to work as an assistant coach to Roberto Martinez at the Portuguese national team.
By the way, national coach Flick also treats himself to a standard specialist in the German national team with Mads Buttgereit. The Dane previously worked for FC Midtjylland in his home country, which had great success with set pieces thanks to a data-based approach.
