The arduous 2: 1 of FC Bayern Munich against Mainz reveals a systemic problem in the midfield of the record champions. Kingsley Coman is indispensable in this form and Dayot Upamecano has to be careful not to damage his reputation. The theses on the game.
In the center, the Bavarians are not only missing Kimmich and Goretzka
The people of Munich will have to do without the architects and the powerhouse of their game in the coming weeks. Joshua Kimmich has to recover from the after-effects of his unvaccinated Covid infection, Leon Goretzka’s patellar tendon hurts. The fact that Munich in the center were not quite as dominant and orderly as one was used to from them in the 2-1 against Mainz can be explained wonderfully by the failure of the two.
But it’s not just because of that. Bayern seem to have a systemic problem in midfield that manifests itself in counter-pressing phases, but above all has to do with poor positional play.
Nagelsmann has often addressed the counter-pressing problem, during the week he complained, for example, that his players on the ball side did not put enough pressure on the opponent and the players on the side away from the ball would not close the rooms. He had previously complained that his players too often did not maintain the staggering and thus create holes in midfield. Before the game against Mainz, he said yes Skythat Thomas Müller noted self-critically that he sometimes attacked too early in the pressing.
Against Mainz, the strong Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sane and Thomas Müller kept getting in each other’s way in the first half before conceding a goal. Sometimes they seemed to stand in the way when trying to play off the compact Mainz team.
Bayern Munich: There is a lack of system in the center
Musiala, nominally called up next to Tolisso on the double six, constantly walked between six, eight and ten, thus pushing the driving-seeking Miller in the direction of Sane. That in turn let himself fall back again and again and acted as eighth.
Result of the back and forth: Bavaria’s much too center-heavy and somewhat one-dimensional build-up game was wild at first and didn’t even take place after the 0: 1. Nagelsmann described his team as “sluggish” during this phase.
In the second half everything worked better because the three held their positions, Müller and Sane and later Serge Gnabry flanked Musiala in the playmaker position and made the game a little wider.
A game with three central offensive players who are primarily allowed to follow their instinct on the offensive and who are primarily supposed to help close the rooms on the defensive, that can just about go well against Mainz in the Bundesliga. But against stronger opponents in the Champions League, a little more system would do well.
