Bayern Munich back to winning ways in Freiburg rout

Bayern Munich come back from the international break with refreshed confidence and run rampant over visitors Freiburg in Heynckes’ first game back in charge.

It has to be said, it is profoundly relieving to be able to talk positively of a Bayern Munich performance. After a string of limp — and at times even outrageous — displays, the Bavarians finally showed signs of life. It’s still too early to declare that Bayern Munich are officially back, but this was a definite confidence-booster. Jupp Heynckes’ shock return started off on the right foot.

After the recent turmoil caused by poor performances and a managerial shake-up, Bayern desperately needed a guiding hand. Surprising results both in Bundesliga and UCL play saw the German club in an unexpected position. Facing a struggling Freiburg side, this match came at the perfect time. Given Bayern recently threw away leads to weaker sides, matches like this help the team to re-adjust and rebuild squad order.

Bayern more organized in the back, albeit with room to improve

The match opened up fairly quickly in favor of the home side. Freiburg managed to create some early scares forcing Sven Ulreich into action. Thankfully, Bayern’s deputy goalkeeper came up big and would remain largely comfortable and undisturbed the rest of the game. Before the 10 minute mark, Bayern opened the scoring with an own goal by Julian Schuster.

While there is room for improvement as always, the defense looked more composed than in recent fixtures. There were some glaring mistakes that allowed a few good chances for Freiburg that were definitely uncharacteristic. Fortunately, the center-back pairing of Mats Hummels and Jérôme Boateng stepped up just in time.

An absolutely abysmal back-pass from Thomas Müller led to one of those instances and it took some last-gasp defending to snuff that out. In large part, Boateng and Hummels provided the muscle in the back to keep Freiburg at arms-length the majority of the match. Bayern Munich must tighten up defensively, as stronger teams will pounce on lapses in concentration like these.

Another comforting note was some noticeably stronger discipline in David Alaba’s performance. While not at his world-beating status of years before, he wasn’t a liability on the left-flank. The Austrian contributed fairly well to defense at times. The key factor for all Bayern Munich full-backs is to balance attack and defense.

Attack grew in confidence as the match went on

Overall, the match seemed relatively calm outside of some sparse Freiburg surprise attacks. After the own-goal, Bayern seemed satisfied with playing a largely possession-based game. This meant, however, that shots on goal came far less often for the Bavarians. That changed after a loose ball deflected toward Kingsley Coman who loftily headed over Alexander Schwolow for Bayern’s second.

Coman’s goal came at a great time, hopefully building upon the young Frenchman’s growing confidence. He’s suffered decision-making problems recently in the final third — as was shown to an extent in this match — but his efforts were rightly awarded today. Coman showed great composure as well in his deft pass to Joshua Kimmich for the fifth goal.

Thiago yet again showed some prime class on the pitch. It even reached the point where the Spaniard was basically showboating his skill against the opposition. Thiago’s passing was accurate and crisp; he hardly wasted a ball. Subsequently, his great showing was capped off with a beautiful outside-the-box curved shot into the near post to make it 3-0.

Later on, Müller made good work to regain possession and give Robert Lewandowski his shot to make it 4-0. Lewandowski didn’t have the most active of games, but his ability to score no matter the situation is the mark of world-class talent.

Joshua Kimmich had a solid game as well, and his sudden and audacious goal was the cherry on top. After Coman’s aforementioned well-placed pass in the box, Kimmich rounded off the win with the flashiest of goals. The Kid’s immaculate heel-turned shot drifted helplessly past Schwolow. It must have taken all of Lewandowski’s power not to tap it in for himself. What a gentleman, right?

Injury scares resurface

It should also be said that Thiago’s pairing with Javi Martínez in midfield was a welcome return. Javi was slot into his 2013 role in defensive-midfield, and we saw some flashes of his strengths in that position. The big Spaniard was assertive and made some strong defensive plays.

Unfortunately, Javi’s return to familiarity was short-lived. At around the 64′ mark, Javi took a hit to what looked like his shoulder. He tried to shrug it off, but it was clear it couldn’t be done. He was promptly replaced with Sebastian Rudy.

According to Javi himself, the injury won’t be a long layoff. However, his absence from the upcoming match against Celtic in the Champions League seems guaranteed.

Confidence going forward

Once again, Freiburg aren’t the best test to see if Bayern Munich can fully turn the season around. But with the “FC Hollywood” drama that has recently surrounded the club and a not-so-new coach taking over so early, this is definitely a positive. The German giants are going to have to build serious form as the competition thickens.

Next: Bayern Munich destroy Freiburg -- Player grades

Bayern still have areas that need improvement, but this match is the right start for Jupp Heynckes’ squad going into UCL action. Given the circumstances, the next matches against Celtic and Hamburg come at a good time for Heynckes and co. These games should allow Bayern Munich to become comfortable with a more organized rhythm leading up to match-ups against some of Europe’s most seasoned clubs.