On matchday six of the ongoing Bundesliga season, Bayern Munich laid down another marker with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. In the battle of the Bundesliga’s top two offensive teams, the reigning Bundesliga Champions stood out both on offense and defense.
Bayern took the lead inside of 15 seconds through Luis Diaz, and despite the best efforts from the hosts, never really looked too troubled thereafter. Harry Kane doubled the advantage midway through the first half, and Diaz completed his brace late in the second half.
Courtesy of the win, Die Roten extended their lead atop the Bundesliga table to four points and simultaneously remained the only team in Europe’s top five leagues with a 100% record to date. Let’s take a look at some key takeaways from Saturday’s victory over Frankfurt.
Luiz Diaz appears to have finally found his shooting boots
Since joining Bayern Munich, Luis Diaz has been a clear upgrade on the left wing, and his work rate off the ball has been admirable, but somehow, his finishing still leaves a lot to be desired.
However, on Saturday, much to the joy of the Bavarian faithful, the 28-year-old Colombian winger was the most clinical finisher on the pitch. Lucho scored twice from three attempts at goal and set up Kane for another. His second goal was a cracking effort from inside the box with his weaker left foot following a brilliant two-man counter-attack between himself and Raphael Guerreiro.
With Diaz in this sort of form, Bayern’s attack just took another step forward. Fans will now be hoping that Lucho and the rest of his Bayern teammates return from the current international break free of injury.
Team looking stronger despite injury woes
With Sacha Boey and Konrad Laimer still deployed as full-backs due to injuries to Alphonso Davies, Hiroki Ito, and Josip Stanisic, Bayern’s defense is not optimal in its setup. Even so, a Frankfurt attack with electrifying pace seldom troubled the Bayern back four.
Dayot Upamecano and Jonathan Tah played with assurance in the heart of the defense and Manuel Neuer gave an excellent sweeper-keeper performance. Of note, there was less space between the center-back duo, of Upamecano and Tah, and the deepest-lying midfielder as compared to previous games, and that adjustment was enough to limit Bayern’s vulnerability against a team that thrives on swift counter attacks.
Based on how well the tactics were exceuted on Saturday, it’s clear that Vincent Kompany continues to make this team better despite the personnel shortages.
Question marks still linger over Sacha Boey’s fit with Bayern
Bayern limited Frankfurt to just six shots in total with only one on target in the process of shutting down the opposition. Those stats suggests that Bayern’s defense was every bit as dominant as its offense, still upon closer inspection the performance of Sacha Boey wasn’t quite up to the level of the rest of the back four.
In the absence of the aforementioned Davies, Ito and Stanisic, Boey continues to get the opportunities to deliver in his specialist position of right-back, but somehow, he continues to struggle more often than to shine. It wasn’t a terrible performance from Boey against Frankfurt per se, but overall Konrad Laimer, playing out of position at left-back, once again had a better overall game. Laimer won both his tackles and three of seven contested ground duels as compared to Boey who won one of two tackles and lost out in seven of his nine contested ground duels.