Bayern Edge St. Pauli 1-0 In An Uneventful Match

This article written by Rainer Pompermayer

Vincent Kompany made a couple of changes today after the Benfica match on Wednesday using Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané on the wings, Raphael Guerreiro as a right back and finally gave a chance to Leon Goretzka to start beside his friend Joshua Kimmich. 

In the first half, the Bavarians completely controlled the match, but didn’t manage to create clear chances, until Jamal Musiala created a wonder goal completely on his own showing once again that he is a game changer for Bayern. Unfortunately, that was it for the match, Bayern got some nice chances to score, especially in the second half, but every single one was wasted by the Bavarians.

THINGS WE NOTICED

Rotation and Problems on the Wings

In the last few matches, Kompany has started to rotate the two wingers on the team, a wise decision to give the players more rhythm and more chances. However today was not very effective as Coman and Gnabry produced little and Sané, despite trying hard, was unsuccessful.

Gnabry, after coming on, also produced little. The three players had a lot of difficulty with St Pauli’s low defensive line and their number of defenders. Olise came on at the end, perhaps he could have achieved more due to his ability in small spaces, but he had little time on the field with Musiala to create anything different.

Defense Was Solid Once Again

Even though the level of the opponents was not that high, we now have five straight clean sheet wins by the Bavarians. And even though Kim did not display the same masterclass as against Benfica, he and Upamecano were good today, allowing just 3 shoots from St. Pauli. Considering how much the defense has been criticized this season so far, we also need to praise them when they have a good run.

Another lackluster performance

Five clean sheet wins in a row…sure, but we really need to highlight that today’s win was pretty lackluster. The team was lacking intensity in the first half, and the second was missing any accuracy to finish some good chances.

A 0.8 xG against a team like St. Pauli should never be something that we aspire too. Considering that the next matches will bring opponents like PSG, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund, if Bayern peform the same way they have the last three matches between now and the winter break, we will reach Christmas in a dire and questionable state.

LINE UPS AND GOALS:

St. Pauli: Vasilj – Wahl, Smith (89’ Dźwigała), Mets – Saliakas, Irvine, Boukhalfa (89’ Sinani), Ritzka – Guilavogui, Afolayan (74’ Wagner) – Eggestein (81’ Albers)
FC Bayern: Neuer – Guerreiro (70’ Laimer), Upamecano, Kim, Davies – Kimmich, Goretzka (82’ Palhinha) – Sané (82’ Olise), Musiala (90’ Müller), Coman (69’ Gnabry) – Kane
Goals: 0:1 Musiala (22’), 
Yellow cards: Guilavogui (64’), Kim (66’), Saliakas (66’)