Bayern Munich stunned by Bochum as defensive woes continue
The concerns surrounding the defensive organisation of Bayern Munich have been further fuelled by a 4-2 defeat against VfL Bochum on Saturday. The defending Bundesliga champions were stunned by Bochum with four first-half goals, which eventually turned out to be enough to register a memorable victory for the home side.
Julian Nagelsmann decided to revert to back four for the game against Bochum. The back four did feature all center-backs by nature as Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez slotted in the full-back positions. Niklas Sule and Dayot Upamecano formed the center-back pairing, while Joshua Kimmich was the sole midfielder for Die Roten on Saturday.
The start to the game was chaotic as Bochum pressed well to put pressure on the visitors. The home side did create a few good chances, but the first goal of the game was scored by Robert Lewandowski. It was a scrappy goal that was created by great awareness shown by Kingsley Coman and Robert Lewandowski. The French winger nodded the header in the danger zone, which was bundled home by Lewandowski.
An early lead didn’t affect the confidence of Bochum as they kept on creating all sorts of problems for the Bavarian defense. Bochum was forcing turnovers and executing swift counter-attacks that were hurting Die Roten. The persistence from the home side was eventually paid off in the 14th minute. Sule and Upamecano were dragged out of position, which gave ample amount of space and time for Christopher Antwi-Adjej to hammer the ball past Sven Ulreich.
Upamecano’s afternoon got worse as the game progressed. He handled the ball in the 38th minute to concede a penalty. Bochum scored from the spot to take the lead. As the half progressed, things got worse for Die Roten. Two wonder goals from Cristian Gamboa and Gerrit Holtmann gave Bochum an ample amount of cushion going into halftime.
Along with poor organisation at the back, Die Roten also lacked the intensity to win the possession quickly. Bochum’s attacking players were given too much time on the ball in a dangerous position, which eventually resulted in goals.
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Die Roten did get a lot of territory in the second half, but Bochum was happy to sit and absorb pressure due to the score-line. Lewandowski did get his second goal of the game, but there was just too much work to do for Rekordmeister in the second half. The home side was buoyed by the confidence from a fantastic first half. It eventually helped them to defend well when Bayern was piling on the pressure.
The Bavarian club remains at the top of the points table with a lead of nine points. Borussia Dortmund can trim the lead to six points when they travel to Union Berlin on Sunday. It is not a disastrous defeat in terms of league position, but a very big wake-up call for Die Roten to tighten up things at the back if they want to win the Champions League and Bundesliga.