Bayern Munich: Defeat like the one in Gladbach was around the corner
The defeat against Gladbach was coming for Bayern Munich considering the string of poor performances in the last few weeks.
In the five minutes on either side of the half-time on Friday, Bayern Munich lost the game against Borussia Monchengladbach. The defeat didn’t affect the table as RB Leipzig failed to capitalize on Saturday as they suffered defeat at home against Borussia Dortmund, but Die Roten has got a nice wake-up call at the start of Hinrunde.
Hansi Flick has been vocal about sluggish starts throughout December. Going a goal down early in the game had become a visible trend for Die Roten since the last international break. Coming from behind to grind out results shows the team’s mental strength, but it is not sustainable over a long run of games.
On Friday, the start was reasonable but not spectacular as Bayern knocked the ball around to dominate possession. The good start was rewarded with two quickfire goals after 20 minutes. However, the team surrendered control as soon as Monchengladbach raised the tempo of their passing.
The first goal from the home side was a big warning side for the German Champions. It was yet another error at the back as Niklas Sule failed to track the run of Jonas Hoffman. As good as the exquisite bit of play it was from the home side, it could have been easily avoidable if Die Roten managed to track the run of the German winger.
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The high line defense was further exposed at the end of the first half as Hoffman’s run was again not tracked by Sule. The lack of coordination from the backline to execute the offside trap handed over the momentum to the home side.
Individual errors and collective mistakes have been ravaging Die Roten over the last five-six weeks. The attack has been bailing them during this difficult phase, but on Friday, it was difficult for forwards to break down a stubborn Gladbach defense. Flick needs to find a way to stop the defense from consistently leaking goals at crucial junctures of the game.
Along with the defense, the cause of concern for Bayern should be the predictability of the attack after Gladbach took the lead. They were struggling to break down a deep block from central zones, resorting to crossing in the box with poor accuracy. Die Roten attempted 31 crosses against Gladbach with a crossing accuracy of 25% (eight crosses meeting the target). (Stats courtesy: Whoscored)
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The defeat against Gladbach was painful, but it was one that could have been predicted easily after watching Die Roten over the past few weeks. It is a different challenge for Hansi Flick to arrest this slump and get the team back to delivering good results along with sound performances.