FC Bayern Reserves – VfB Eichstätt 2-0 (1-0)

In the new year, Tim Walter remained true to his proven 4-2-3-1 system. In front of Christian Früchtl in goal, Thomas Isherwood defended next to Nicolas Feldhahn. That’s why Felix Götze and Raphael Obermair were used on the right wing. Milos Pantovic, however, had to sit on the bench. Franck Evina, who was promoted in the winter, was on the left wing from the beginning.

In contrast to many other clubs in the Regionalliga (fourth division), VfB Eichstätt did without a back-five in the defence, but played with a handful of players on a line behind a single striker.

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With icy temperatures in the Hermann-Gerland-Arena the guests were a little bit better in the beginning and were able to create two chances before the young Bayern adjusted themselves better to the tactics of the opponent. More and more often, the direct passes that were so striking in Tim Walter’s playing style found their way into the depths of their opponent. The reserves pinned the guests deeper and deeper into their own half and consequently gained the lead. Adrian Fein prevailed on the left side to the baseline and found Nicolas Feldhahn, who sank the ball into the net on a freestanding second post.

This was a made-to-measure start for the Munich team, but it was quickly clouded over. Derrick Köhn, already on a yellow, was overloaded by his opponent at the midline and even jumped to the side. But the referee decided for the quick whistle for the Eichstätter and sent the left defender off the pitch. A few minutes later, however, when Evina was brought down in the penalty area, his whistle remained silent. It was the start of a highly foul-heavy phase in which the referee lost control due to his lack of a consistent line. In the event of a relatively clear yellowish foul by an already warned guest player, the referee only used a warning and gave the Eichstätt coach the opportunity to substitute the player.

As usual, the Bayern Reserves were superbly trained by Tim Walter and Tobi Schweinsteiger in tactical terms and remained the clearly superior and more dangerous team, even if they were outnumbered. Tim Walter gave up the number 10 position, Fabian Benko moved to the left, Evina to the right and Obermair replaced Derrick Köhn. However, several promising breakthroughs across the wings remained without a goal.

The second half of the game began with the same superiority. Milos Pantovic missed the best chance to 2-0 in the 59th minute of the game. At the next corner, the young Bayern found Adrian Fein, who went left into the far corner at the edge of the penalty area. A goal that was in line with the course of the game.

As a result, the Reserves played the lead quite confidently, but got a penalty whistle against themselves in the 72nd minute. The shooter of the guests, however, hit the post and Christian Früchtl had also guessed the correct corner. In terms of further chances for the guests, Früchtl could not be overcome (twice with noteworthy saves), so it remained a deserved opening victory for the reserves. With this success, the young Bayern are once again in second place in the standings and will be able to reduce the gap to the leader of the standings to four points in Wednesday’s catch-up match against Garching. That would be a small sensation, to leave the blue neighbours at the end of the table within reach again.

Things we noticed

Red card does not prevent dominance

A red card in football is always an interesting influence on the game. There are examples of teams that are closer together and then better in the game. On the other hand, especially in the two matches between FC Bayern and Real Madrid, one could see how mercilessly a good team can take advantage of the majority by skillfully playing in the open spaces.

Today’s Bayern Reserves were an example of how tactical superiority can compensate for a player’s sending off. After the red card, Tim Walter sacrificed the central offensive midfield position previously played by Benko. Ball safety in the build-up game is the absolute basis of the ball control game. The guests were not able to break them with their timid press attempts on the central defenders, although the overwhelming majority would have offered much better opportunities.

Even before the winter break, the team noticed that Tim Walter’s game idea had become more and more internalized. In the first game in the new year, the team confirmed this impression and is about to enter a very exciting phase with many interesting games.

Evina on his way to old strength

When Tim Walter joined FC Bayern in 2015, Franck Evina was one of several younger players whom he promoted early to U17. In the first season Evina can be called a bit like a “model pupil” of Walter. Although a direct promotion to the Reserves was discussed for a long time, Evina was used in the first half of the season in the U19. In Sebastian Hoeneß’s system, however, the native Cameroonian never really got along so well. Being taken of in 13 games being substituted in in 4 games in 18 games overall are a statistical proof of this, he played only once for the full 90 minutes.

Despite a concrete offer from another Bundesliga club during the winter break, Franck Evina stayed in Munich and joined the Reserves. It was not a move up for performance reasons, but rather the hope that Evina would be able to find his way around in his usual environment and playing system. This hope seems to have been justified after the first competitive match. Evina showed passion and was involved in numerous good breakthrough situations over the wings. It reminds one of Mario Mandzukic in a certain ability. Similar to the Croatian, he throws himself 100% into every duel, he “goes where it hurts”. And even if he then gets it on his socks, he doesn’t let himself be impressed by it.

A characteristic that Evina will help enormously with the conversion to men’s football. Of all the players in the squad, his development will be the most exciting in the coming months. We will keep coming back to this in the future match reports.

The official match report of FC Bayern can be found here. A photo gallery of the game can be seen at Fupa

FC Bayern Reserves – VfB Eichstätt 2-0
FC Bayern Reserves	Früchtl – Götze, Feldhahn, Isherwood, Köhn – Dorsch, Fein – Obermair, Benko (66. Tillman), Evina (58. Pantovic) – Wriedt (81. Nollenberger)
Bench	Weinkauf, Gschwend, Türkkalesi, Mayer
Eichstätt	Herter – Wolfsteiner, Kühnlein, Schmidramsl, Graßl (77. Grau) – Federl, Schraufstetter (41. Panknin), Schäll, Fries, De Biasi (64. Kügel) – Eberle
Bench	Woloszyn, Haas, Schröder, Waffler
Goals	1-0 Feldhahn (22.), 2-0 Fein (60.)
Yellow Cards	– / Kühnlein, Schraufstetter, Graßl, Federl, Panknin, Wolfsteiner
Yellow-Red Cards	Köhn (27., repeated fouls)
Referee	Roman Potemkin
Attendance	365