FC Bayern – Eintracht Frankfurt 1:0 (1:0)

Before the game Mario Götze was in the spot light in the national team. In the domestic Allianz Arena, he gained some momentum for the upcoming weeks

3 things we noticed

1. “Minimalistenfußball” (again)

Just like before the international break, Bayern Munich operated at their lower end of their potential performance levels. This was partly due to the self-sacrificing Frankfurt players, but mainly to the playing style of Bayern. The build-up game was far too imprecise from the defensive line. Starting with Manuel Neuer, who could find a teammate with three out of 13 long balls. Alaba (1 of 3 long balls arrived), Martínez (4 of 8) and Lahm (5 of 11) underline the imprecise build-up game with often well below 50% accuracy in the otherwise routinely presented game openings. The high defensive line of Frankfurt could not be used, because the ball was lost too easy and to often.

Another problem was due to the strong focus on the left Bayern wing. Almost every attack was carried forward on this flank. Müller on the right was de facto excluded from the game. He collected only 36 ball contacts in over 90 minutes. Only slightly more had Götze with 40 in little less time. The main problem was that Frankfurt pressed so skillfully that the simple pass to the winger was not possible. Martínez only had five passes from his own half into the opponent’s half. Even Alonso, Lahm and Thiago did not manage a structured build-up to include both wings to create danger left and right.

Thus, the game had its lengths and suffered from the lack of creativity of Bayern, but nevertheless compared to the Cologne game before the international break, Bayern created significantly more shots (21).

2. Mario Götze

11.17 kilometers Mario Götze ran against Frankfurt and was up to his substitution the Bayern player with the highest mileage. It will be positively remembered how he recognized the gap just before the goal. There the great strengths of Götze were visible. He recognizes space and knows how to use it for himself. Benefiting from the slip of Oczipka, Götze created the opening goal through the center. With four shots on goal Götze clearly showed that he was trying. Only Lewandowski had more attempts (6) for Bayern. Götze also had one key pass.

Due to the way of how Frankfurt was playing, Götze was not really part of the game most of the time. There were also some imprecise balls, which are normal after the long break, but which hindered the flow of the game of Bayern. With three unnecessary turnovers Götze leads this statistic on the part of Munich. There were also five own fouls, which also turned over the possession to Frankfurt. In sum, also counting in the international match, it was still a good week for Götze and a step in the right direction. However, he still has a rocky road ahead. Especially when the team in the league only shows the absolute minimum.

3. The sheet is clean

Due to the described performance, it is very important that Bayern’s defense is safe in the Bundesliga. Frankfurt had four shots, Cologne six and Bremen two. Together with the match against Borussia Dortmund, Bayern had four clean sheets in the Bundesliga. Despite attempts by Pep Guardiola to integrate convalescents as Benatia and Martínez back into the team. It was the 26th variation in the defensive line of Munich in the 40th competitive match of the season. Precisely because of the many injuries, it is noteworthy that Bayern conceded only 13 goals. Pep Guardiola has been able to further finetune his defensive concept and let the opponents get through the good pressing even rarer. On average, the opposing teams in the Bundesliga have only 6.6 shots. 12% less compared to last year (7.5 shots). Remarkable, especially considering that the best defensive player is missing due to an injury for weeks.

It will also be very important in the next weeks to be error free defensively. Bayern cannot risk to drop points towards the end of the season, as in previous years. Not as long as Dortmund still keep up in the race for the championship. Should Bayern progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League, they will have nine games in April. A considerable number. It will depend on all parts of the team, so that this important phase leads to the culmination of the season.

FC Bayern – Eintracht Frankfurt 1:0 (1:0)
Bayern	Neuer – Bernat, Alaba, Martínez – Alonso, Lahm, Ribery, Thiago, Götze (85. Vidal), Müller – Lewandowski (71. Costa)
Bench	Ulreich, Tasci, Rafinha, Rode, Kimmich
Frankfurt	Hrádecký – Djakpa, Oczipka, Abraham, Zambrano, Chandler – Ben-Hatira (64. Kittel), Huszti (48. Stendera), Hasebe, Aigner – Seferović (58. Castaignos)
Goals	1:0 Ribery (20.)
Cards	Lewandowski (41.), Götze (55.) / Abraham (41.), Ben-Hatira (45.), Chandler (49.), Stendera (51.)
Referee	Florian Meyer (Burgdorf)
Attendance	75.000 (sold out)