Sports Weekly all-media reporter Huang Sijun
Bayern, who was wearing a shirt with a gold badge printed on the 2020 Club World Cup winner for the last time, was hit with a slam. Although Lewandowski opened the scoring just nine minutes into the opening, Bochum equalised with a quick counter-attack just five minutes later. In the last 10 minutes of the first half, the unbelievable scenes appeared one after another: Yu Palmecano first sent a handball to let Locadia overtake, then was forced by Locadia to concede the ball in the backfield, causing Gamboa to send the ball into the world wave, and finally the one-on-one was pierced by Holtman and watched another world wave. Bochum became the first team to score four goals in the first half of a Bundesliga match since Frankfurt in November 1975 (which led 5-0 in the first half and won 6-0) and won 4–2, winning bayern for the first time in 18 years.
After Gamboa World Wave rewrote the score to 3-1, Bochum was unstoppable.
The rout certainly won't make Bayern, who are still 9 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund (this round is not played), worry about the Bundesliga title, but against the backdrop of Jules' just decided free transfer to Dortmund this summer, as they approach the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final with Salzburg, bayern can't help but worry about how much it will cost bayern to restructure a defensive line that is competitive in the Champions League.
Always lose to weak teams, all because of light enemies?
In the first round of the season, Bayern beat Bochum, who returned to the Bundesliga after a 11-year hiatus, at the Allianz Arena 7-0. However, since the most painful professional league defeat in the history of the team, Rice's team seems to have opened the light, the quality of defense has suddenly improved qualitatively, and the ranking has steadily climbed. Prior to this round, Bochum, ranked 11th, was seven points higher than Stuttgart, who was second to last, and had conceded only 14 goals in the last 14 rounds, with bayern side-by-side conceding the fewest in the Bundesliga. The best part is that Bochum has only been counter-attacked twice so far this season, and both have been in the fourth round of the 1-3 home defeat to Hertha Berlin.
Bochum has made progress, but not too many people believe they can cause trouble for Bayern, especially when Levan has taken the lead early. However, Bayern's defeats this season have often been unexpected, even inexplicable. For example, before the 1-2 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the seventh round, Bayern had just won nine consecutive official matches, while the opponent was 14th without a win in the first six rounds. In the 12th round, Bayern lost by the same score to the third-to-last brother Augsburg. This year's first defeat to No. 14 Borussia Mönchengladbach was relatively reasonable, after all, Bayern were missing a total of 13 people due to the new crown, injuries and the African Cup of Nations – but it was outrageous to be swept out of the same opponent in the second round of the German Cup in late October with an all-main squad.
Lewandowski opened the scoring just nine minutes into the opening.
So far this season, Bayern's five defeats have been given by opponents in the lower half of the Bundesliga table, and 2 of them are still routs, which is obviously abnormal. As Kimmich pointed out after the game: "With this attitude, this kind of body language, it has nothing to do with tactics or game plans. We have to ask ourselves if this is Bayern's attitude. It's happening too often now – I haven't seen this at Bayern before. We lacked everything we needed to win. If this happens once a season, it's okay – but it's already in the game against Borussia Moncheng, so we need to be careful. ”
Star Mateus also believes that Bayern's loss to opponents in the bottom half of the table may be related to the lack of concentration of the players, "Conceding 4 goals in Bochum and the opponent's attack line is not the strongest, which is already very troublesome." ”
Can't defend, because you can't attack
Perhaps anticipating the danger of Bayern having another gutter capsizing, Kicker did a retrospective of one of the most classic Bochum-Bayern matches in history before the game. It was the sixth round of the 1976/77 Bundesliga season, when Bayern had just completed their champions league triple and Bochum was favourite for relegation. As a result, after 53 minutes of playing, Bochum, which played at home, actually led 4-0! Even more incredible, Uli Hoeness's 89th-minute win saw Bayern finally complete a 6-5 comeback, becoming the only team in Bundesliga history to turn a defeat into a victory after falling behind by four goals.
Now, more than 45 years later, still at the Ruhr stadium, Bayern lost 1-4 in the 44th minute and was even scored twice in less than 4 minutes from the start of the second half, but fortunately due to offside. If Levan had seized the one-handed opportunity created by Comand in the 52nd minute and quickly pulled back a city, Bayern might have staged another big comeback. But in the end, Levan did not take advantage of the free-kick melee until the 75th minute. And when he hit the top left corner of the frame with a free-kick in the 86th minute, the last chance to replicate the miracle was also lost.
Levan's direct free-kick in the 86th minute was rejected by the goal frame.
Nagelsman, who failed to "live the whole life", did not criticize Yupa or other players who played particularly poorly after the game, but instead made self-criticism, "Usually, I have to adjust earlier. But in Musiara's absence due to a positive covid-19 situation, the coach felt that there were not many attacking players available for him to deploy. So it wasn't until after half-time that he replaced the poorLypa with Tolisso, and during the second half he sent Shubo Motin and Zabitzer to Thomas Muller, who was captain, and Comand, who had some muscle problems. Bayern's performance improved after a series of adjustments, especially after changing back to 3241, "but it was too late" (Na Shuai).
The bigger problem is not a lack of backhands, but a completely failed starter's choice and game plan. The coach also admitted: "We played very poorly in the first half. We had a game plan, but it didn't work, so I wouldn't criticize the team. After the narrow victory over the Leipzig RB in the last round, Na Shuai was asked by reporters why he continued to use the radical 3241 formation, and Na Shuai replied at the time: "I can use 4 central defenders to form a four-back, but at the moment I really don't want to sacrifice a player on the offensive line." ”
Perhaps to deal with Bochum's sharp flanks, especially on the left side where Holtmann is, Na Shuai did form a four-back with four centre-backs – Pavard, Jules, Hupa and Lucas Hernandez – but still did not want to sacrifice any of the Lévan, Muller, Sane, Comand and Gnabry on the offensive line, so he sacrificed Toliso, who had recently been in excellent form on the offensive end. The formation became 4141, that is, between the 4-man defense and the 5-man group in the front, only Kimmich had a strong defensive attribute.
Antvi Ajay shook Jules to equalise 1-1 with his left foot, replacing Neuer Ulreich was powerless to do anything about it.
Nagelsman's game plan should still use more fierce offensive firepower and the most aggressive high defense to suppress the opponent and strive to score one or two more goals than the opponent. The reason why the first half was so crotch-pulling was because the entire backline led by Yupa was rushed by Locadia, Holtman, Antvi Ajay and others, but the bigger problem was that the front five-man group could not give the opponent enough and sustained pressure. In such a new formation, it is difficult for the 5 frontcourt masters to form a synergy between them, the passing route is chaotic, and only Levan's 2 shots in the first half pose a threat, which is a strong contrast with the mercury in the past 3 rounds.
The most fatal point is that Bayern lost the ball too easily. The counter-attack of Antvi-Ajay's equaliser was due to Mueller's cross from the right to Sane but was destroyed by Lech' snatch; the penalty created by Rych Bechai, which was cut off by Locia's header from Kimmich's forward cross, Gamboa's world wave, which was originally due to Yu Pamecano's attempt to return a pass to Urreich at the back, was snatched by Locadia; Andelman's world wave originated from Gnabry's cross when he was brought to the right near the midfield. It can be seen that Bochum is completely in its own way of treating others, and the three consecutive goals from the 38th to the 44th minute are all opportunities to fight through high pressing.
Yu Pasin, however, who will succeed Jules?
There are certainly accidents in being scored by Bochum on 4 goals at half-time - Gamboa and Holtmann (playing with his right foot, which he is not good at) are both unsavable, and have nothing to do with Ulreich, who started to replace Neuer (meniscus surgery), of course, it is also related to the player's light opponents, but the tactical level is also very large. Haman, a famous "poisonous tongue", pointed out that Bayern have conceded too many goals this season, "They are too open in the backcourt." They sent 5 attacking players today, very aggressive, and the current game plan is to score more goals than their opponents. In the future they will have to play another kind of football. ”
Yu Palmecano, who started for the first time this year, once again played a "super ghost" performance.
The reason why Nagelsmann suddenly became so aggressive after the start of the second half is directly related to the absence of the main left-hander Alfonso Davis. It can also be clearly seen in this game that Lucas and Pavard play two gates in the four-back system, which will help the attack very little, and will also amplify the defensive loopholes in the attack-to-defense state. Therefore, before Davis returns, the coach may have to continue to hold high the banner of offensive football.
The good news is that Davis, who recently reappeared on Sebenne Avenue, is doing well. The coach revealed after the game that the latest examination showed that Davis' "dangerous traces of the heart" had "almost said goodbye" and that "this is the best condition that can occur during recovery." "In about two weeks, Davis will have his next checkup. If all goes well, he could make a comeback in March.
Jules was also embarrassed by the repeated onslaught of Bochum players.
If Davis' comeback promises to solve the immediate problem, then when Jules leaves, who will solve Bayern's future problems? Having been so bad in his first start this year, Yupa really couldn't give people enough confidence, after all, he had already played several "super ghost" games in the first half. In particular, the losses to Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Moncheng (The German Cup) were directly linked to Yupa's poor performance. After Jules left, the safety factor was too low due to the double centre-backs of Pa and Lucas, or the three centre-backs of the three French internationals Pa, Lucas and Pavard.
If In the coming weeks, Hupa plays another game or two similar, bayern executives will inevitably be more entangled in the search for a successor to Jules, as they may be forced to invest more in signing a player who can immediately act as a defensive leader, rather than picking the most cost-effective of several free agents to play the 3rd or 4th centre-back. Haman said: "Bayern may have a few restless weeks. ”