Stats & Links: Player Of The Month – February

First a look at his numbers: In February, Lewandowski scored six goals in six matches, equalling one goal every 73 minutes. He scored the only goal of his team in both Bayern draws this month. Against Hamburg he even scored three goals in just 57 minutes, which led us to compare him to all-time great Gerd Müller. But Lewandowski’s performance goes beyond the sheer numbers.

In order to describe Lewandowski’s month a closer look at the first leg of Bayern’s match in the Champions League against FC Arsenal is enough. After dominating the first twenty minutes of the game and leading after a supreme goal by Arjen Robben, it was Lewandowski who caused an unlucky penalty. This led to the game-tying goal by Alexis Sanchez.

After conceding, there was an obvious break in Bayern’s play, which was so superior earlier. A sense of uncertainty spread among the stands and even seemed to affect the players on the pitch.

But after the break, three minutes were enough for Lewandowski to decide the match. After Robben’s pass to the overlapping Lahm, Lewandowski headed in Lahm’s cross over Arsenal defender Mustafi making it 2-1. Still incited by the go-ahead-goal, just moments later Lewandowski used his heel to beautifully send on a pass by Alonso to Thiago who converted the chance, making it 3-1.

We all know what happened next. Bayern dominates Arsenal in the second half and eventually wins 5-1.

This newly added quality by Lewandowski to turn around important games with his individual quality makes him our player of the month. Additionally, the polish international was spared so far by severe injuries and is almost always ready to go.

Another drive could be Lewandowski’s strive for the highest individual award in professional football. As the Polish knows just too well, every individual award is tied to titles won by his teams. This very personal motivation – as well as the farewell tour by Lahm and Alonso – could lead to additional boost of momentum for Bayern’s path to a league title and maybe more.

By the way, there is a good chance that we will feature Lewandowski once again next month, because in the first four games in March the striker already scored five goals, one of them his one-hundredth at Bayern.

Let’s have a look at the links for this week

Bayern Munich moving closer to another Bundesliga title | Gabriele Marcotti | ESPN FC

Squad turnover during the last five years: from Genoa to Bayern | CIES Football Observatory

Lewandowski reaches 100 Bayern goals, but Muller still out in front | Mark Lovell | ESPN FC

Bundesliga 2016/17: The First 23 Weeks | Andrew Beasley | World Soccer Stats

Xabi Alonso’s memorable moments at Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich | ESPN FC

Recent Miasanrot articles

3 Things We Noticed: FC Bayern – Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 (2-0) | Christopher | Michael

Preview:FC Bayern – Eintracht Frankfurt | Justin | Michael

Xabi Alonso – A legend hangs up his boots | Justin | Sam

We have a new Twitter account for FC Bayern Stats, Maps, and Graphics