Bayern Romp Past Union
April 20, 2024 With the only meaningful matches remaining for Bayern in mind, Thomas Tuchel made several changes, to the lineup to give some players some rest and also out of necessity. Manuel Neuer started in goal with Joshua Kimmich, Eric Dier, Kim MinJae and Alphonso Davies in defense. Leon Goretzka and Aleksander Pavlović started in midfield as Thomas Müller, Mathys Tel and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting started in attack behind Harry Kane.
Three Things We Noticed
Beating Up The Bottom
Once again, Bayern put a beating on a relegation embattled team this season winning 5-1 today in Berlin. Since January, Bayern have put demolished the teams near the bottom of the table amassing 5 wins and 1 loss against the teams 14th or lower in the current Bundesliga standings while scoring 23 goals and allowing 7 over those 6 matches.
Compare that to teams above that in the current Bundesliga standings and Bayern have 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses while scoring 12 goals and giving up 15. That’s a stark contrast and while maybe a bit unsurprising, is also an indicator that we should not read too much into this match.
Bayern were reasonably good today and once they got ahead they dominated. Bayern always look far more comfortable with a lead and they still have enough quality to go out and punish much weaker opposition.
However outside of the recent Arsenal results, Bayern have struggled against higher quality opponents this year. Hopefully they can reverse course on this trend though as three of the remaining four Bundesliga matches are against teams near the top of the current standings.
Magic Müller
On a positive note, Thomas Müller had a fantastic day today scoring twice and providing a crucial decoy on Leon Goretzka’s opening goal.
Müller’s presence and awareness on the pitch are still second to none for Bayern. While he’s on the pitch, Bayern usually look far more dangerous as he brings some of that old Bayern mentality coupled with his unique play style.
While it’s understandable that Tuchel might not have him as the first choice when the team is healthy, Müller is still a vital and irreplaceable part of this team. If Bayern are going to get anything out of this season, meaning progress against Real, it seems inevitable that Müller will play a vital part in that.
Still Bayern
Despite all the positives today, and there were a reasonable amount, Bayern still managed to look much like the team they have all year at times. It would be a massive overstatement to say that Bayern were in control of the match even up until half time.
Kane’s 46th minute goal really seemed to deflate the Berlin side as they looked much poorer after the half but they certainly held their own in the first half with xG at 0.28 vs 0.47 in favor of Bayern, which clearly shows the match was much closer than the 0-2 scoreline. They also had four corners to Bayerns one and just two less shots overall with only one less on goal.
Predictably, Bayern also switched off before the full 90 minutes were played as Union scored their only goal in the 90th minute preventing Neuer from getting another clean sheet. Of course there are other excuses to be made with massive changes and rare match time being given out by the final whistle, but it’s still consistent with Bayern’s MO this season.
Bayern have one more match before they host Madrid at home. There will still be players who need rest in their matchup with Frankfurt next weekend but Tuchel also needs to keep this team on a positive trajectory and avoid a repeat the 5-1 loss they suffered in the Hinrunde.
