Bayern Munich beat Hannover 96 3-1 in frustrated win

Bayern Munich managed to overcome in the end, dispatching Hannover 96 3-1 at home. However, not all went as smoothly as it should have for Jupp Heynckes and the squad.

Bayern Munich returned on the weekend to Bundesliga action with a home win. After the disappointing 2-1 away loss to Monchengladbach, three points at home was a welcome sign. The match opened up early on to what looked like a routine 3-0, 4-0 win, but circumstances didn’t pan out that way.

Thanks, in part, to some hectic refereeing that stunted the pacing of the match and some annoying lapses in focus, Bayern Munich found themselves frustrated for a chunk of the match. The visitors took advantage of the situation and sparked a bit of inspiration late in the first-half. Once again, Bayern disappointingly failed to keep a clean sheet and maintain defensive cohesion.

A bizarre first-half

The match saw a welcome return of Thomas Muller to the starting XI. Having just come back from injury, it was surprising to see the Bavarian vice-captain start so well.

Bayern started the match well, but were forced to play with even more intensity thanks to the visitors’ high press.

For Hannover, these were signs of foreshadowing indeed. Around 16 minutes in, Bayern snapped the deadlock. A great run from Muller down the right-flank led to the Bayern poster-boy squeezing out a cross away from his defender. The ball floated in far-post to oncoming Arturo Vidal.

The Chilean rose and towered over Julian Korb, who recognized Vidal’s run-in too late to successfully intercept. Vidal nodded down the ball, baffling Hannover’s Philipp Tschauner into bracing for a Robert Lewandowski tap-in that never came. As a result, the shot calmly slipped into the side netting to make it 1-0.

Another inspiring Muller play on the right played Lewandowski in to walk home his initial saved effort. However, a controversial referee call after VAR review disqualified the goal as off-side. Taking advantage of the situation, Hannover made quick work of sparking a counter. Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng were caught napping, and Sven Ulreich ultimately made the poor call to come off his line late, and chop down the attacker, utterly missing the ball.

The initially converted shot was miraculously forced to be redone after both teams swarmed the box before the shot was taken. The re-do was Ulreich’s saving grace, as he gambled right and saved the second effort.

Bayern forced to react to complacency yet again

Bayern couldn’t count their blessings just yet. A little deeper into the half, and Hannover found the thorn to stick in Bayern’s side. The visitors managed to force a set-piece opportunity through a corner-kick situation. Then, a lazy piece of man-marking in the box resulted in Charlison Benschop slipping in a well placed headed goal.

Benschop made excellent work to lose his marker and rise to meet the cross, delicately redirecting the ball enough to find its way into Ulreich’s opposite bottom corner, leaving the Bayern deputy keeper helpless. Bayern Munich rarely find themselves conceding from corner-kicks. This makes the goal quite a rare collector’s item.

Despite the unnecessary complications, Bayern were able to rise to the challenge. About 66 minutes into the match, after several failed attempts, the champions were in front again. Muller managed to create and find himself in good space on the right-flank, and tried for another cross into the box. While the ball was deflected, it still found itself to Kingsley Coman at the far-post.

The young Frenchman made beautiful work to deftly bring the ball down and bypass his defender with one touch. Coman subsequently exploited his sudden creation of space, hammering the ball into the roof of Tschauner’s net. Under Jupp Heynckes, Kingsley Coman has flourished again in form. The youngster has had a resurgence in discipline and decision-making skills in the attacking third, and it continues to show.

German champions see out the match with a win

At this point, the game played out — thankfully — as expected. Hannover were taken out of the match after Coman’s response. As a sort of insurance, Bayern earned a penalty in the closing stages, with Robert Lewandowski promptly converting the spot-kick. The Polish striker will be unlucky to have lost out on a brace, but even then, this wasn’t a vintage Lewy show.

Next: Bayern Munich see off Hannover 3-1 at the Allianz Arena -- Player grades

A return home to win after last weekend’s weak loss is a relief. However, there still seems to be much work to be done with limited time, considering PSG and Dortmund ahead. If they’re to clean up their act, they can’t continue to show so much frailty in defense. They’ve got to click in the back, and very soon.