Round-Up & Link-List: Bayern’s POTM Thiago
November 4, 2016 A lot of rumours were spreading about Thiago in the summer. Can he have a future at Bayern without his mentor Guardiola? Kimmich, Alonso, Vidal – is he even needed anymore? Alas, in October all these open questions were answered: He remains a wonderful fit for Bayern. The Spaniard had a fantastic month in Munich. Currently, Bayern’s game (again) depends on his elegance on the pitch, his impressive overview and his brilliant passes.
When the former Barcelona player was fit, he only missed 104 minutes under Ancelotti. The Italian coach rotated the team around Thiago. It’s hard to identify Thiago’s impact on Bayern’s game only based on the box score (with two assists and one goal), but it’s plain to see how he takes control of the game and sets the tempo. His usual high passing accuracy (above 90%) is complemented with his currently strong defensive work. Six interceptions and winning more than 60% of his duels per Bundesliga game are impressive numbers. After his weakest performance of the season against Frankfurt (83% passing accuracy), he had a peaked against Gladbach.
Thiago has also made the final step to be able to replace Alonso. Last season the synergies between the two of them were a building block to success. The October games have demonstrated how Thiago can balance the form crisis of his midfield partner. There’s no need to worry about Bayern’s future – as long as Thiago is pulling the strings in midfield.
Of course, Thiago’s magical ball handling did the rest to convince us of his POTM potential: Enjoy.
(Photos: Christof Sache, Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images |
Visual: Michael Böck)
Miasanrot.com provides a 2-for-1 information combo meal. It contains a link list to (hopefully) worthwhile texts about the red giant and a feature text about former players, upcoming opponents or the Miasanrot player of the month. This month’s feature was written by Felix.
Link-List
No words needed
Tired of verbal diarrhoea? Just use one of the Bayern GIFs from GIPHY instead.
Leonie Maier on DFB.de
Leonie Maier is not only a gifted soccer player, but also a person with reflected thoughts about her experiences in Rio at the Olympics and about the Paralympics, as she has demonstrated in an interview on DFB.de.
Sing when you’re winning
The German Bayern podcast Erfolgsfans have recreated two original fan chants. These two songs are more than 110 years old, but faded out of memory over the years. The people behind Erfolgsfans gave new life to these songs and they will be performed at the next home game in the Allianz Arena. Tune in here.
Number of the week: 27.84
That’s the weighted average age of Carlo Ancelotti’s teams in the Bundesliga. This makes them the oldest team in the league or the most experienced one, depending on your point of view.
Here's the same weighted average age data but for the Bundesliga. Bayern the oldest of the bunch, Bayer 04 the youngest at this early stage. pic.twitter.com/VFyUiLF0wA
— Tom (@Worville) November 1, 2016
Miasanrot’s week
Chistopher analyzed the 3-1 away win in Augsburg, including the Robbendowski bromance. Jolle explained why a 3-1 win against MSV Duisburg sounds better than than the actual game. Steffen analyzed the 2-1 road win in Eindhoven, including a quick scouting report about Ramselaar. Tobias wrote his first article for Miasanrot describing Coman’s current situation and his challenges under Ancelotti.
Special thanks go out to this week’s translators Tobi and Michael.
