A match that was billed as a top clash between first placed Bayern Munich and third placed TSG Hoffenheim ended with a comprehensive 5-1 victory for the Bavarians that could have been a whole lot more. Still, it was not always convincing and the defense of Die Rekordmeister struggled hard against the visitors’ fluid attack at times. Here are some observations on the match.

The red card and penalty change the game, but not in Bayern’s favor

For the first 16 minutes, the clash between Bayern and Hoffenheim was an exciting and frenetic encounter that the Bavarians nonetheless had the better of. Bayern dominated the shot count (4 to 0) and limited the visitors to nothing while holding more of the ball and winning most of the challenges. That Bayern would find the breakthrough first seemed natural at this point and it did happen after Luis Díaz burst through the Hoffenheim defense, was hauled down by Hoffenheim’s Akpoguma and was awarded a penalty while the latter was sent off.

These decisions were rather controversial. Akpoguma certainly did grab Díaz’s leg with his arm while falling and prevented a pass or a shot, but was it the Colombian pulling the defender’s jersey to cause him to fall in the first place? Furthermore, the addition of the red card baffled many. As difficult as the decision might have been, it was either going to be a no call for the penalty or a red and a penalty. Ultimately, Akpoguma was the last man and his shove on Díaz’s leg was clearly not a play for the ball. If that action is called a foul, then it is a DOGSO (denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity) while the defender did not play the ball. Which is a textbook red card.

One would think the red card for the opposition — and Harry Kane converting the penalty— would give Bayern a big advantage. But suddenly Hoffenheim were on the front foot. They carved out chance after chance after chance and, when they finally equalized through Andrej Kramarić, one could argue the Bavarians were lucky not to be two or three goals down by that point in time. How did that happen?

Bayern’s press is being found out as teams play more courageously

Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany has introduced a smothering press that has held the Bundesliga in a chokehold, racking up the greatest points total throughout the first 17 Bundesliga match days in the history of the league. But in recent weeks, it is clear teams have found ways to counteract this seemingly invincible system.

It was clear that there were some weaknesses in the wide areas, the Bavarians tend to congest the middle to win the ball. Teams had tried but failed to really hurt Die Rekordmeister this way. But the loss against Augsburg a couple of weeks ago showed that there are more avenues to success. Bayern’s Bavarian rivals refused to defend with 11 men behind the ball, often leaving one forward up top and freed from defensive responsibilities. Worried about being exposed through long balls in behind to that forward, Bayern were forced to abandon their strategy of pushing the center backs up into opposition half and hemming the opponents in. Instead, in order to create a numerical advantage at the back, two defenders marked this attacker. Ergo, Bayern were now attacking Augsburg’s goal with eight attackers against nine defenders. Outnumbered up top, the Bavarians struggled to create many meaningful opportunities, failed to put the opponents away and left the door open for Augsburg to stage their late comeback.

Hamburger SV took things a step further the following week. They knew they were going to have to deal with Bayern’s man to man press. Deciding to take a big risk, coach Merlin Polzin instructed his team to constantly rotate positions and drag Bayern’s players out of position to follow the players they were assigned to mark. This is dangerous when one does not have players of the greatest technical quality, as Hamburg do not, but it worked very well on the day. The recently promoted club out shot the Bavarians on the day. In the build up to Hamburg’s penalty Karl dropped into the backline and, for the crucial second goal, Musiala and Gnabry were notably forced to drop into the back line to fulfill this man marking scheme. So when Luka Vuškovic lost Gnabry to head in the equalizer, one could hardly blame Bayern’s #7 for not having the instincts of a center-back.

Hoffenheim took things even further this week. They baited out Bayern’s tired press with short passing to begin while utilizing Augsburg’s strategy of pinning Bayern’s defense back with a forward. However, Hoffenheim pushed multiple forwards into the backline, forcing Bayern to drop multiple defenders back to outnumber these forwards. Since Bayern’s forwards and midfielders pressed high and the back line all dropped low, a huge gap was created in the middle of the park. All Hoffenheim then had to do was launch the ball forward. Once the ballw as launched, either the Hoffenheim forwards won the header and attacked the Bayern goal, or the Bayern defenders won the header and the Hoffenheim midfielders and defenders could pick up the ball in their forward momentum towards the Bavarian goal. Of course, this strategy would horribly backfire if the opposition struggled to build the ball up with less players at the back. But the reward outweighed the risk for the most part.

These are not isolated issues, freak results or unfortunate incidents that can be ignored due to the nature of the 5-1 win. These are real, repeating patterns that are making it far too easy for Bayern’s opponents to play against them. It could get worse, too. Hoffenheim are really good this season, without any doubt. But they are far from the best team in Europe. Hamburg and Augsburg certainly are not, either. What will happen when Champions League teams pick up on these strategies and develop them even further with their better players? This is a genuine concern Kompany needs to consider.

But Bayern still destroyed Hoffenheim after certain tweaks

As turbulent as the first half was and how fortunate Bayern were to have the 3-1 lead, the second half was an improvement. Bayern conceded just four shots throughout the latter 45 minutes while overwhelming their opponents, finishing with around 6.0 xG after 90 minutes. This was not just due to Bayern’s effort, of course. The 10 men of Hoffenheim understandably ran out of steam in the second half.

But Bayern did manage to stifle their opponents’ relentless attacks through some important tweaks, such as re-introducing man marking and doing a much better job of closing down the yawning gap in the middle of the park. Substitutes came on and maintained the level as Hoffenheim dropped off, professionally closing out the game while Bayern’s attack (which was turbocharged by Díaz) kept working its’ magic and kept adding to the scoreline.

The issues cannot be ignored and should be seriously taken into account by Kompany. But he and the fans can take a lot of heart in the fact that Bayern won 5-1 against the team 3rd in the league and could have scored 10. As much as Bayern are developing weaknesses previously not seen, the team’s strengths remain incredible and so difficult to stop.

No, Manuel Neuer’s mistake was not a sign of his decline

Hoffenheim’s goal was a curious thing. Bayern were playing their way out of the back as usual and Manuel Neuer was passed the ball. Initially, he did everything right. He took a good touch and took his time on the ball, waiting as Jonathan Tah pulled Hoffenheim’s pressing forward Fisnik Asllani out wide, opening up the passing lane to Alphonso Davies. That is when things became weird.

Instead of passing to Davies on the ground, Neuer bizarrely decided to chip the ball over Asllani to Tah. This chip was far too short and the Kosovo international was able to intercept it. Of course, the control was very difficult and the young forward did so well to control the ball and lay it off to Kramarić. Neuer should never have given him the opportunity.

Having said all of this, unless you suspect Neuer has dementia, this is no reason to call for the Bayern legend to be replaced. If one wishes to argue that Neuer has lost a step and is not physically where he once was, it would be a reasonable argument to make. But the pass had nothing to do with physical ability and was just a simple brain fart from a player that has made mistakes before and continued to be the world’s best goalkeeper. Do not call for Jonas Urbig to start over him for this reason.

Miscellaneous observations

Jonathan Tah and Alphonso Davies both had rare off days today and the former was rightly hooked on the hour mark.Josip Stanišić had his hands full with Bazoumana Toure today but quietly did well.Aleksandar Pavlović continues his very good season.Luis Díaz is a good footballer, eh?Michael Olise and Harry Kane have played the most minutes out of any Bayern players so far this season and it was obvious today. Both were hooked on the night and will hopefully recover during what is a much less demanding February this year.Poor Kim Min-jae was the one Kompany decided to leave out of the squad. This is a damning indictment of how Kompany views him. Not as useless, but less useful than the other 20 players in the squad.

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…

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