Bayern 4 – 3 Kiel: A Rout Turned Into a Narrow Win | OneFootball

Another good and safe match that went from a total control goal fest to a narrow win, which has become a familiar sight this season.

The match began as expected, with Bayern having almost all of the ball possession and Kiel in a deep low block trying to counter, but the visitors didn’t have many chances until the Bavarians managed to score at the 19th minute through Musiala.

This article written by Rainer Pompermayer

A bit later Kiel had their only good chance of the first half with Holtby in a counter, but Kim saved on the goal line before it could cross the line.

As soon as the second half began Harry Kane resumed the scoring through a header. A couple minutes later Gnabry scored a nice goal, basically “deciding” the match. But Kiel had other plans and Porath scored another beauty to keep the crowd entertained.

After a couple changes and the fourth goal, Kompany’s team kinda lost all their momentum and before the match was over, Kiel scored again and again, making the final score sheet a not so safe 4:3.

THINGS WE NOTICED:

Almost Full Control (Until Not)

If we look at the numbers of the first half: two goals, 78% of the possession, 12 total shots, it clearly shows us how much control the Bavarians had. Adding another two goals in the first nine minutes of the second half, the picture gets even better.

However after that, and some changes at the 58th minute, Bayern let Kiel get more and more comfortable until they scored the two late goals in extra time, showing a clear complacent picture of the team on the field. As we discussed last week the Freiburg win was without any flairs, fireworks or good individual performances, but the complete dissonance in the two halves today is a way more worrisome view.

Kompany Rotation (And The Price For It)

In the last few weeks, it seems that Kompany finally decided to give a break here and there for the more important players. At the same time it gave some minutes for other players that didn’t feature that much or are returning from injuries.

With the Champions League playoffs approaching and the knockout phase starting, we will need the whole squad, so that’s a good thing. Even though today these changes clearly had a negative effect and caused the energy of the team to decrease considerably, I believe that is just another sign that the Belgium coach needs to give more minutes to these players, so they can have more rhythm and keep up the pace when they are subbed in.

A Goal Feast (But We’ll Never Get Another Clean Sheet Run Right?)

A match at home, against the rookie team in the first division, 4:0 before the 60th minute, everything was pointing to a safe win and probably a clean sheet, but now it seems we will never be able to get these two things in the same match again, or at least not on a consistent basis.

For all the pros of Kompany’s work that we can discuss about this season, this lack of ability to “finish the match” is something that’s been lingering since the first match of the season. Moreover, this issue has already showed its ugliest face in the hardest of tests against the stronger opponents in multiple points dropped.

If we want Bayern to win back the Bundesliga and have a good run in the Champions League, the coaching staff and the squad need to find a way to end this tendency and lack of sharpness across the field in the defense, midfield and attack.

LINE UPS AND GOALS:

Bayern: Neuer – Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Guerreiro (Aznou) – Kimmich, Pavlović (Palhinha) – Olise (Gnabry), Musiala, Coman (Sané) – Kane (Müller)

Kiel: Weiner – Rosenboom, Becker, Zec, Komenda, Tolkin (Ivezic)  – Porath, Holtby, Gigović (Knusden),  Javorček (Skrzybski) – Harres (Kelati)

Goals: 1:0 Musiala, 2:0 Kane, 3:0 Kane, 4:0 Gnabry, 4:1 Porath, 4:2 Skrzybsk, 4:3 SkrzybskiiYellow cards: Laimer, Zec