Cohesion between defense and midfield
Whilst the offense has been the punching the tickets for Bayern’s success so far, the defense and midfield can’t be overlooked. Jonathan Tah and Dayot Upamecano have been excellent as the main center-back pair in open play.
Vincent Kompany made the necessary tweaks to the system to remove the disconnect between midfield and defense, which had previously left the team extremely vulnerable to counterattacks. As a result of those changes, Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlovic have been bossing proceedings in the middle of the park in the majority of games.
However, the real hero outside of the attacking department has been Mr. Versatile- Konrad Laimer. The 28-year-old box-to-box midfielder has been Bayern’s best full-back whether on the left or right flank. His underlapping and overlapping runs while playing alongside either Olise or Diaz have been a key feature of Bayern’s attack. Amazingly, Laimer, at times, was the player seen leading the press. He has been the embodiment of the pressing and counterpressing, which is a key component of Vincent Kompany’s system.
Bayern’s one glaring weakness in defense during the Hinrunde has been their vulnerability to set plays. However, Laimer should be the last person to be held accountable for that flaw.