Borussia Dortmund 1 – 1 Bayern: Another Weak Performance Against A Tougher Opponent  | OneFootball

After seven straight wins without conceding, the Bavarians fought for a difficult draw that showed much of the problems we’ve already seen this season.

This article written by Rainer Pompermayer

Kompany made a couple of changes after the PSG match on Wednesday, with the biggest surprise being Tel starting, after having so few minutes on the field this season. However, it was Dortmund that came with the first shocker. After a couple of minutes with Bayern dominating, Gittens completely shook off Laimer with a simple move and ran almost the whole Bayern defending side of the field to score a rocket past Neuer. A couple minutes after that, Kompany was forced to make a change with Kane injuring himself.

After this, Bayern used the high pressing to get the possession back a couple of times, but without much offensive effect. In the second half, two good scoring chances were wasted, first by Müller, then by Sané, and we were forced to wait until the final minutes of the match to equalize with another header by Musiala.

Things We Noticed:

The Right Back Question

Since Kimmich moved back to the midfield a couple seasons ago, Bayern have had an issue with defining their right back starter, and this season the problem only got worse.

Be it with Guerreiro or Laimer, the right side of the defense, and the attack for that matter, feels a bit empty. Today, Laimer was chosen to start and showed his flaws in the worst way possible, pressing high without the need to and then completely losing track of his opponent in a one sided race.

Upamecano and Kim were, most times, rightly criticized for they bad displays in some matches this season and yes Davies has been full of ups and downs, but until Kompany decides what he wants on the right back and fixes this side of the defense, we will continue to see the bavarians struggle against better sides.

Toothless Attack (With and Without Kane)

It’s been a constant this season against stronger teams, but Bayern needs five or six chances to score one goal, and today was no exception. The Bavarias were great in the high pressing, especially in the first half, but didn’t manage to seize the (good) opportunities and none of the chances. A total of 14 shots, with five being on goal, to score once. We can say that Bayern was without their striker and main forward, but even with Kane Kompany’s team has been struggling to put the ball back in the net.

At the same time, without Kane, the rest of the team was lackluster offensively. Sané had his chances, but wasted all of them, while Tel was almost a ghost on the field, clearly missing match fitness, like Müller who came on in Kane’s place. And with all that, who could save Bayern today?

Who Else but Jamal?

Another game changing goal and probably another man of the match performance for Musiala. It’s amazing how much he can change in a match and he was basically the only one able to create good scoring chances on his own, even after the changes and substitutions by Kompany, and being asked to perform more as a midfielder, it was all Jamal.

I’m afraid to even imagine what would be of this seasons Bayern without Musiala. After today’s wrong choices, Kompany will probably owe Jamal a couple favors….

LINE UPS AND GOALS:

Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Bensebaini, Anton (Süle), Schlotterbeck, Ryerson (Couto) – Nmecha, Groß, Sabitzer (Reyna) – Gittens (Malen), Guirassy, Beier

FC Bayern: Neuer – Laimer (Boey), Upamecano, Kim (Olise), Davies – Kimmich, Goretzka – Sané, Musiala, Tel (Coman) – Kane (Müller)

Goals: 1:0 Gittens (27’), 1:1 Musiala (84’),

Yellow cards: Sahin, Ryerson, Sané, Upamecano, Beier.