Telekom Cup 2019: Bayern beats Fortuna Düsseldorf
January 13, 2019 It was the second match against Düsseldorf in the current season. The 3:3 was certainly the low point under Niko Kovac. For the Munich team it was the first test five days before the start of the second half of the Bundesliga.
In case you missed it
FC Bayern began the match with a 4-2-3-1. Surprisingly, Mai was in central defence. Sanches was also allowed to start in midfield next to Goretzka. The remaining players were those, who were last trusted by Kovac: Neuer, Süle, Alaba, Kimmich, Coman, Gnabry, Müller and Lewandowski.
The match plan reflected the 3:3 from the Bundesliga game almost identically. FC Bayern had a lot of possession. On the other hand, Fortuna was relatively low in the 4-1-4-1 and tried to attack the passing lanes of the Munich team in order to force transitions.
The Munich team had their first chance in the eighth minute. Coman beat several players on the left wing. He pulled into the penalty area, but his shot missed the goal by a narrow margin (8.).
On the other side, Lukebakio had the first big opportunity for Fortuna. Kimmich made a mistake in the build-up and then it went quickly. From the midfield a long ball was played to Lukebakio. He beat May, but only on the outside track, whereby the angle to the goal became very narrow. Lukebakio’s finish missed the goal (24.).
In the 32. minute the Reds had the large chance for the lead. Coman came to the header after a cross from Müller, but Rensing got his fingers on the ball and steered the ball somehow around the post.
Only two minutes later Kimmich had the chance to score after a low pass from Alaba, but the German international was too surprised (34th).
Nothing happened in the last 10 minutes. So the match ended 0-0 and was decided by penalties. Here, Alaba missed for Bayern. Neuer held against Stöger. Usami missed penalty kick number 17.
Süle then scored for the Reds. So Bayern advanced to the final of the Telekom Cup.
Things we noticed
No news here
FC Bayern showed few new tricks against Düsseldorf. Tactically no change was tried in this game. It remained at 4-2-3-1, which has been the fixed tactical construct since late autumn.
The double six of Goretzka and Sanches required the latter to take on a heavy load in the build-up of the game. Sanches showed light and shadow as so often. Some clever passes and interesting runs alternated with errors.
But on the whole, in the first game after the winter break, there was a lack of ideas on how to break down a team parking the bus. The ball continued to move to the outer lane early on. Mostly in the second third. For Düsseldorf this was easy to defend.
Direct play
With short contacts and direct passes Bayern tried again and again to get speed into the game. Gnabry, Müller, Kimmich and Lewandowski tried to pick up speed.
From the 25th minute on, this was more and more successful and made crosses and finishing situations possible. These were not compelling, but increased nevertheless the pressure on the Fortuna, which had to stand thereby substantially lower.
Problems in defensive switching
Also in the defensive game there were little improvements by FC Bayern compared to the first half of the season. If the Munich team lost the ball in the build-up, be it through an inaccurate ball control or through an individual mistake, the staggering of Bayern was not good enough, so that the Fortuna could get very dangerously in front of the goal of the Munich team with little effort.
Especially when they managed to bring the speed of Lukebakio into play. Here there were unintentionally many one-on-one duels, which with a lot of luck did not lead to goals.
