Takeaways as Bayern Munich dominate Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayern Munich has room for improvement

Frankfurt did show Bayern one aspect of their playing that needs improvement, and that is set pieces. Many people will naturally assume that Bayern is superior in the air due to the quality of the team. A team can get arrogant when they have players with aerial dominance such as Boateng, Goretzka, Pavard, and Lewandowski. And that’s what happened to Bayern on Saturday, twice. Both times by the same player and within five minutes of each other.

This also shows the cons of zonal marking, which Bayern used on these corners. Zonal marking means that you don’t mark a singular player, but rather mark zones, attacking the ball when it comes into that zone. This approach can be handy if there is a strong organisation in the team.

When the whole team is back defending a corner, this type of defending makes sense in theory. However, a small mistake in the execution of this style of defending can be fatal. Hinteregger escaped the marking twice, getting into the vacant spaces to deposit the ball in the goal from point-blank range.

On Tuesday, Bayern will have to carefully mark Erling Braut Haaland in the box. He is strong in the air, having the speed and quickness to beat defenders who aren’t locked in defensively. Dortmund poses a lot of other problems, but this is an area they will look to exploit. Bayern will have to be on their A-game for this match as it could define the rest of their season.