Following a hard-fought win against St. Pauli, Bayern Munich headed into the International break as league leaders with five points separating them from second-placed RB Leipzig.
Under new coach Vincent Kompany, Die Roten play an aggressive and expansive style of football. However, it did take them some time, and a couple of bitter defeats along the way, to get comfortable with their play style and execute it at the desired level. Now, going into the international break with five wins in a row, they have the momentum and confidence to carry on this good run of form when club football resumes.
Meanwhile, let’s take a closer look at some of the numbers behind Bayern’s dominant start to the season.
Goals galore
Bayern have scored the most goals in the league with 33 in 10 games (3.3 goals per game). They are well above Frankfurt who are the second best with 26 goals. With the third and final goal against Union Berlin, Bayern became the first team in Europe to hit the 50-goal mark in all competitions — achieved the milestone in merely 14 games.
High-pressing and counter-pressing are the key and uncompromising features of Kompany’s style of football and Bayern’s outrageous goalscoring form is a direct result of that. Many players have spoken appreciatively about this ultra-aggressive system, including star striker Harry Kane, who has scored goals left, right, and center this season.
Dominant with the ball
Bayern are by far the best team in the league when it comes to possession-based statistics. Vincent Kompany's coaching philosophy is heavily influenced by Pep Guardiola's work and you can see him take a page of the Spaniard’s playbook when it comes to prioritizing ball possession. “Offense is the best defense” has been the motto for Bayern this season as they love to keep the ball, and when lost, they spring into action to recover it as soon as possible.
Let’s see some stats that underline Bayern’s ball-playing excellence:
Highest average possession percentage : 71.2% (1st)
Accurate passes per match : 691.7 (1st)
Touches in opposition box : 396 (1st)
Possession won in the final 3rd : 4.8 (1st)
Defensive improvement after shaky start
The games against Barcelona, Aston Villa, and Frankfurt exposed a significant vulnerability in Bayern’s high-line style of play: its susceptibility to counterattacks. Following the heavy defeat to Barcelona, Kompany stated that minor tactical adjustments would be needed to address the leaky defensive line. So far, his changes have appeared effective, as Bayern have kept clean sheets in every game since the defeat in Barcelona.
The latest 1–0 win against St. Pauli makes it the fourth consecutive Bundesliga clean sheet for Bayern, a feat they’ve never managed to achieve since December 2018.
Here are some of the defensive stats that Bayern boss:
Clean sheets : 6 (2nd)
Goals conceded per match: 0.7 (2nd)
Expected goals against per match : 6.1 (1st)
(All Stats courtesy of Fotmob)