Sané and Coman Impress as Bayern Win
August 21, 2022 With Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala both missing out due to injury Nagelsmann started with Manuel Neuer in goal, Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt and Lucas Hernandez in defense. Joshua Kimmich and Marcel Sabitzer maintained their positions in midfield but Serge Gnabry was also given a break and Leroy Sané and Kingsley Coman earned their first starts of the season along side Thomas Müller and Sadio Mané in attack.
The match started off quickly for the visiting Reds as Sané scored in just the fourth minute on a wonderful team goal which he blasted into the top of the net 0-1.
The next 20 minutes saw Bochum try to claw their way back into the match, very much attacking and putting pressure on the Bavarians. However, in the 25th minute those efforts would take another blow.
Kimmich put in another good corner towards the back post, which Manuel Riemann attempted to punch away, missed and de Ligt was there too head it into the near post 0-2.
Just eight minutes later Coman would add a third as Müller attempted a sliding shot in front of goal that bounced back to the Frenchman for an easy tap in 0-3.
Finally in the 42nd minute Mané, just after being denied a goal via VAR, received a beautiful pass from Coman in the box, cut back and hit it directly into the near bottom corner 0-4.
The second half started off more slowly with Bayern not getting another on the board until the 60th minute, this time via the spot as Coman was brought down in the box and Mané stepped up to convert in the left corner 0-5.
Nine minutes later, Christian Gamboa would score an unfortunate own goal for Bochum as he tried too clear a ball from Sané’s feet but ultimately slid it past his own keeper into the net 0-6.
The final goal came in the 76th minute from Serge Gnabry as he received the ball in the box, took a touch and blasted it low off the far post and into the net 0-7.
Three Things We Noticed
Taking Their Chances
It’s not hard to imagine that Sané and Coman had been frustrated by the start to this season. Both will have been disappointed not to be included in the starting lineup for either match.
More importantly, it also appeared as though breaking through would be a challenge given the system that Nagelsmann had been deploying. A couple of injuries however gave them the opportunity to prove themselves Sunday though.
Both of them took that opportunity and then some. Both scored goals. Both set up goals. Both were involved in almost every attack that Bayern had in some way. In short, they were both excellent.
Competition
So that now leaves Nagelsmann with an even tougher decision when Musiala is back. With those two playing at that level, who does the coach start? It feels bad to leave anyone out of the starting eleven at the current moment.
Even Gnabry, who has probably had the slowest start to the season contributed a goal in the match today. This will be the hot talking point for the coming week(s). The competition within the team is clearly pushing the players to prove themselves and play at a high level.
Hopefully, the challenge will now become to keep all of the players happy and engaged as Nagelsmann finds ways to rotate the players in as the matches start increasing in frequency.
Concentration
For the second straight week, Bayern were able to come out of the match with a clean sheet. The relentlessness and concentration to finish off the match will be an important attribute to maintain throughout the season.
However, this wasn’t a match without lapses entirely. Neuer had a few moments that left us cringing, especially a pass in the box that was intercepted and put just wide.
Bochum overall had at least three extremely dangerous opportunities to score that goal. On another day, they could easily have scored on any and you have to expect that the better teams in the Champions League are going to take advantage of those opportunities.
So while we have had a great start to the season on all fronts, there is still work to do and mistakes to clean up.
