Youth teams in autumn 2017 – part 1
October 17, 2017 Inconsistency is an issue for Bayern’s U23s
Not always results reflect how the game went. In August FC Bayern’s second team lost 5-1 at FC Augsburg, which on first sight might look like a huge difference between those two teams. However, FC Bayern was the better team for the majority of the game, even with a man down early (Früchtl got sent off). Sadly, nobody talked about this after the 90 minutes. The following games were somewhat more positive, with wins over Nuremberg (2-1), and SpVgg Bayreuth (5-0), but one draw and a loss against Memmingen (1-1) and Burghausen (1-3).
Even before the season started it became quite clear, that promotion would not be up for discussion. With TSV 1860 Munich, having a team that is clearly the best ever playing in Regionalliga Bayern, FC Bayern is counting on its youth players. The squad, who lost 5-1 at Augsburg was the third youngest FC Bayern second team starting eleven since 2000. For example, Michael Wagner, Lukas Mai and Franck Evina are three of the youngest second team players ever.
Right now the team answers all expectations, considering their youth. Ups and downs whether they are positive or negative are okay at this state. Strong teams like Schweinfurt and Bayreuth have been beaten but against weaker teams like Memmingen and Unterföhring the squad did not reach up to their full potential. One of the main flaws is scoring in general. In those games against Memmingen and Burghausen, FC Bayern was the dominant team but failed to make use of their chances. Add the traditional weakness in counter situations and you have too many unnecessary lost points like right now.
Those points might cause the team not reaching their season target, which is second place. This might be surprising to some readers, because not only the media, but even some opponents mentioned FC Bayern’s second team when talking about promotion for Dritte liga. One thing that is much more important than the rank at the end is development. With all the experience they are gaining this season, the majority of the team has the chance to take on the big target – promotion into Dritte Liga – next year. Let’s take a look back to put the current situation into perspective. In 2012 Mehmet Scholl as their former coach had an extremely young team, which struggled a lot. However, two years later they managed to win the league in 2014, with an unfortunate season ending in relegation against Fortuna Köln.
