Bayern Munich’s quest for their 12th consecutive Bundesliga title got off to a flying start with a convincing 4-0 win as they traveled to Werder Bremen on matchday one. Any doubts of a hangover following the Super Cup defeat to RB Leipzig were quickly put to bed with an early goal from Leroy Sane before Harry Kane opened his Bundesliga scoring account. Sane and the youngster Mathys Tel added to Bremen’s misery late in the game, as Bayern came away with all 3 points and a great start to the season.
Rekordmeister return to the Allianz Arena Sunday to host FC Augsburg in their first home match of the 23/24 Bundesliga season. Having split last season’s results against Augsburg, the Bavarian giants will be looking to take all three points in this home encounter. As Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel faces one of his old clubs, let’s have a look at the team news and projected lineups.
Bayern Munich
While the Bayern Munich hierarchy seems to have finally found their desired goalkeeper in Daniel Peretz to compete with Sven Ulreich until Manuel Neuer’s return, Ulreich remains the only realistic option in the net for Sunday. Peretz faces a race against time to complete a move to Munich.
With Benjamin Pavard now looking more likely to be playing in Milan than Munich this season, Noussari Mazraoui should get the start at right back after his good performance against Bremen. Despite not ending last season on a high note, Dayot Upamecano has started the last two competitive fixtures for Tuchel and has played well. While I anxiously await the pairing of Matthijs de Ligt and Kim Min-jae centrally, I can’t see Upamecano being dropped. Pairing beside Upamecano, I’m going to go with Min-jae. De Ligt struggled against RB Leipzig and then picked up a card against Bremen during his second-half cameo. He doesn’t quite look up to the form we saw him in last season. Davies will continue to play in the left-back position.
Centrally, Tuchel surprised me going back to the Kimmich-Goretzka double pivot, and while not as surprised, they played well together against Bremem. With Kimmich’s desire to be the #6 Tuchel has been asking for, look for him to prove a point playing the #6 role with Goretzka playing beside him.
As the news trickled out this week that Jamal Musiala is set to miss 2-3 weeks with a torn muscular fiber, the attacking midfield spot has opened up for other forwards. You could really flip a coin here as Bayern have many options that could fill the role, but that would also change the playing style.
TZ journalists Philipp Kessler and Mano Bonke have reported (via @iMiaSanMia) that Tuchel is looking at the possibility of playing Sane as the #10. Personally, I like the idea. While Thomas Muller would make sense as well, using Bayern’s first goal against Bremen as an example, a shadow striker like Sane would work nicely in transition moments playing off a deeper dropping Harry Kane to unlock the Augsburg defense. I’ll take Sane moving from the Right side to play the role behind the center forward.
With Sane moving to play behind the center forward, Gnabry will slide to the right side with Kingsley Coman getting the start on the left to give the space for Davies’ overlaps. Centrally, Harry Kane will look to score his first goal at Allianz Arena.
"Predicted Starting XI (4-2-3-1) Ulreich Mazraoui-Upamecano-Min Jae-Davies Goretzka-Kimmich Gnabry-Sane-Coman Kane"