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Four Takeaways as Bayern Munich defeat Mainz

By Joshua Bishop

01 February 2020, Rhineland-Palatinate, Mainz: Football: Bundesliga, FSV Mainz 05 - Bayern Munich, 20th matchday. Bavaria's Thiago (M) cheers with his teammates after his goal for the 0:3. Photo: Torsten Silz/dpa - IMPORTANT NOTE: In accordance with the regulations of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and the DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund, it is prohibited to exploit or have exploited in the stadium and/or from the game taken photographs in the form of sequence images and/or video-like photo series. (Photo by Torsten Silz/picture alliance via Getty Images)
01 February 2020, Rhineland-Palatinate, Mainz: Football: Bundesliga, FSV Mainz 05 - Bayern Munich, 20th matchday. Bavaria's Thiago (M) cheers with his teammates after his goal for the 0:3. Photo: Torsten Silz/dpa - IMPORTANT NOTE: In accordance with the regulations of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and the DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund, it is prohibited to exploit or have exploited in the stadium and/or from the game taken photographs in the form of sequence images and/or video-like photo series. (Photo by Torsten Silz/picture alliance via Getty Images) /
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MAINZ, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 01: Thiago Alcantara of Muenchen celebrates his team’s third goal with team mates Alphonso Davies and Joshua Kimmich during the Bundesliga match between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern Muenchen at Opel Arena on February 01, 2020 in Mainz, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)
MAINZ, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 01: Thiago Alcantara of Muenchen celebrates his team’s third goal with team mates Alphonso Davies and Joshua Kimmich during the Bundesliga match between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern Muenchen at Opel Arena on February 01, 2020 in Mainz, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images) /

A midfield dilemma

Right now, Bayern’s midfield is on fire. In the current midfield setup, there is no number ten. Normally, that would be Thomas Muller or Philippe Coutinho, but due to the injuries to the wingers, Muller has been playing on the right, and Coutinho has been relegated to the bench. Serge Gnabry has been making appearances off the bench since returning from injury, and Kingsley Coman has just started training with the first-team training, so it raises the question, what happens to the midfield when everyone is fit?

Bayern has been playing with two center midfielders and a defensive midfielder. Thomas Muller has surprisingly found his old goal-scoring field playing as a right-winger. He has been in great form, scoring lots of goals, and of course, setting up goals for other players, so does he get benched when Gnabry is fully fit?

On the other hand, Joshua Kimmich has been rock-solid as a defensive midfielder, with Thiago and Goretzka contributing in the attack. It’s a great problem to have, but when the games get tougher, and more importantly, you want your best players in their best form. Right now, the current midfield setup provides the right balance, and all midfielders are in good form. So maybe, you don’t change this lineup, but Gnabry offers the team pace and elite dribbling ability, so Hansi Flick will soon have a good selection headache.

Despite the poor quality of opponent (no offense to Hertha Berlin, Schalke, and Mainz), Bayern has been impressive. Leipzig visits Allianz Arena next weekend, so Flick may have to make some tough decisions. Does that mean this current lineup will be used, or will Gnabry make a return to the starting XI, and a midfielder is dropped to make space for him? This is something to keep an eye on.