The Goals Don’t Let Up
September 21, 2024 Vincent Kompany lined up a little differently yet again with Sven Ulreich in goal, Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano, Kim MinJae and Alphonso Davies in defense, Joshua Kimmich and Aleksander Palovic in midfield and Michael Olise, Jamal Musiala and Kingsley Coman in attack behind Harry Kane.
The match itself followed the script from the previous two. Bayern scored and scored often. Olise opened the scoring in the 23rd minute followed by Musiala in 32nd to give Bayern a well deserved 0-2 lead at the half.
Kane would score his requisite goal in the 57th minute before Olise added his second in the 60th and Gnabry closed the scoring in the 65th 0-5. Olise was the absolute star of the day with his two goals and two assists.
Three Things We Noticed
Quick Movement
I’ve talked quite a bit about the changes we’ve seen in this team over the last few match reports and today once again necessitates some discussion. Particularly, it was the ball movement that really stood out.
For the entire match, the Bayern players very rarely had more than two to three touches before moving the ball along. More importantly, most of those passes were not casually passing around the back, but passing with a purpose and a view to attack.
The few times that someone did hold the ball longer were usually either on the wings to drive forward or through the middle with Musiala around the box. Even in those situations, the players had clear ideas and moved the ball as soon as there was an opening.
It is refreshing to see this team being more decisive. It is keeping everyone more involved and moving both on and off the ball. This is translating all around the pitch with better energy and attitude and is resulting in a lot more goals.
Rotation
Another thing that is refreshing to see and probably unexpected, is the rotation that Kompany has employed thus far. Every match seems to see at least one or two changes to the starting eleven.
Maybe even more importantly, Kompany has made a lot of good and early changes in game. He’s utilizing nearly every person in the squad to at least some extent.
What’s more is the timing seems to be very good. Too often in recent seasons, the coaches have either waited too long to make changes or had too short a leash. The timing has always felt off.
That has not been the case at all so far this season. He has made moves to mix things up when something is not working, give players an opportunity and not overtax others.
A Clean Sheet
For the second time this season, Bayern earned a clean sheet today and this one probably felt more deserved. Yes there were a few potential opportunities for Werder on the day but at the same time Werder ended up with zero shot attempts on the day.
That is both a sign of just how ineffective Werder were but also how dominating Bayern were. Bayern controlled the ball nearly the entire game. When they lost it they recovered quickly. They only rarely made mistakes in the build up and passing game.
While better teams will certainly have created opportunities and shots against this team, Bayern have been very good so far at limiting them. And while we can say that these last three matches were maybe not against the best opponents, Bayern struggled heavily against smaller teams last season.
Once again, it was an encouraging day with a lot to like. Hopefully that momentum carries over into next week as they return home for a big match against Leverkusen.
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