Bayern Strikes
Fansided

Four takeaways as Bayern Munich demolish Hoffenheim

By Joshua Bishop

SINSHEIM, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 29: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Serge Gnabry of FC Bayern Muenchen during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Bayern Muenchen at PreZero-Arena on February 29, 2020 in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
SINSHEIM, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 29: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Serge Gnabry of FC Bayern Muenchen during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Bayern Muenchen at PreZero-Arena on February 29, 2020 in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) /
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SINSHEIM, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 29: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Philippe Coutinho of FC Bayern Muenchen celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal with teammates during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Bayern Muenchen at PreZero-Arena on February 29, 2020, in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
SINSHEIM, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 29: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Philippe Coutinho of FC Bayern Muenchen celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal with teammates during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Bayern Muenchen at PreZero-Arena on February 29, 2020, in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) /

Midweek Match wasn’t an Issue

In previous seasons, anytime Bayern would play a match in the midweek, the following match on the weekend would be problematic for the Bavarians. Whether it was a lack of concentration or just tired legs, the team would play poorly, creating a lack of consistency in their performances.

After last season’s Champions League exit to Liverpool, Bayern didn’t have to play many midweek matches, allowing them to solely focus on the Bundesliga title and the occasional DFB Pokal match. For Bayern hierarchy, players, and fans, this became infuriating, and many people wondered how good these players were, and if they were up to the quality of Bayern Munich.

Since Hansi Flick’s appointment as the interim manager, this hasn’t been a problem. After a midweek match against Chelsea, Bayern came into Hoffenheim and dominated the match right from the word go. Matches every 3-4 days can be exhausting for the players, so to counter that, Bayern have started putting teams to the sword right from the beginning. Scoring goals in the first twenty minutes allows the team to back off later in the match and “rest.”

This has been a key concept since Flick took over. Under Niko Kovac, oftentimes, the team would have to work incredibly hard till the end of matches to keep or get a win. Now, Bayern’s gameplan is to score immediately, and it has been working wonders in the past four months. Going up quickly has allowed important players to rest and get other players more minutes. This match’s examples were Jerome Boateng and Thomas Muller. These two players are incredibly important to Bayern’s season, so getting them off the field quickly will help in keeping them fresh for upcoming games.