Sports Weekly All-media reporter Huang Sijun
With Paris Saint-Germain on the domestic sidelines, after being knocked out by Marseille in the French Cup 1/8 final in midweek, and losing 3-1 away to Monaco in Ligue 1 on Saturday afternoon (but still leading by five points), Bayern still have to give it their all ahead of what may be the most important game of the season, even at home against relegation teams like Bochum and the "away bugs". The result was a 3-0 victory, with Bayern finally welcoming their first home win of the new year and their first league clean sheet since Zormer's arrival, but it was not easy until half-time that Thomas Müller seized on an opponent's mistake to break the deadlock, and the second goal was belatedly late after Comand came off the bench. Nagelsmann was unhappy with the performance, "If we play like this on Tuesday, we won't be good enough. ”
With a 3-0 win over Bochum, Nagelsmann was not satisfied.
On the one hand, the Champions League is facing the big test of early arrival, and on the other side, the league chasers are clenching. Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund continue their post-winter break-winning record, with Bayern still leading by just one point. Want to stay strong for the Champions League? Nagelsmann does not yet have such capital. The three league opponents to face between the two legs with Paris are Borussia Mönchengladbach, Union Berlin and Stuttgart, which led to Bayern's three-game draw in the first round! Not to mention, the match against Cypress United in two weeks will be a six-point battle.
Cancelo 'a little tired'
Due to Kimmich's automatic suspension, Herafenbech continued to miss with a knee injury, and Zabitzer went to Manchester United before the winter window closed, and Nagelsmann predicted before the game that Goretzka would be dragged behind the midfield and play as the "pseudo-No. 6", no longer the "B2B" style of play in the past, but as Kimmich did after the last round, responsible for protecting the back and tandem defense and midfield. Coupled with the fact that both Palmecano and Shupo Moting can return to the game, and Bochum must be the head of the line, the boss naturally has a reason to reduce a defender and send as many front-court players as possible, so Bayern's change of 3142 (or 3322) is not a surprise.
Cancelo wasn't excited enough and failed to provide assists in three consecutive games.
The only minor surprise was that Cancelo switched to the left flank and the recently sluggish Alfonso Davies took another break after last week's trip to Mainz 05 in the DFB-Pokal 1/8 final. The boss pointed out after the game that Cancelo was placed on the left flank in consideration that Bochum would use that side to make a fuss. This explanation is a bit strange because Bochum's strong side is clearly Antvi Adjei's left flank, and the Ghanaian winger is on track for a first-half assist hat-trick in the 5-2 home win over Hoffenheim in the last round. However, after the change, the boss replaced Müller with Davis, Gnabry moved to the centre and Cancelo returned to the right until he was replaced by Comang on 60 minutes.
Whether on the left or right, Cancelo was not too excited, and the boss also said: "I feel like he's a little tired today. "Since joining Bayern on the last day of the winter window, Joao Cancelo has started three consecutive games (71 and 78 minutes in the first two) and sat on the bench for three consecutive games before leaving Manchester City. Obviously, the Portuguese star has to regain the rhythm of consecutive games. Despite some exhaustion, Cancelo's signature dish was still handy, sending two precise crosses, but Shupo Morting missed the target twice, failing to allow him to provide assists in three consecutive games.
Just four minutes after coming off the bench, Comand changed the score to 2-0.
Cancelo's side was not active enough, and Gnabry, who started playing on the right wing, was not sharp enough, but Comand, who replaced Cancelo, continued his good form in the opening 14 minutes of the last round, and only 4 minutes after coming on, he used a wonderful quick team cooperation to follow the right foot low shot in the box and penetrate goalkeeper Liman's "small goal". As soon as the goal was conceded, Bochum lost the idea and courage to resist, which led to the third goal that Gnabry burst into the box to create a penalty and scored himself.
Has Bayern returned to normal levels?
In less than 20 minutes, Bayern had more than enough chances to score two or three more goals. In particular, Arion Ibrahimovic, who made his debut in the 77th minute for Sane, the 17-year-old and 2-month-old youth elite received Pavard's cross from the right in the 84th minute and rushed into the center of the small penalty area with a left-footed volley, but was subconsciously blocked by Liman, while another substitute 17-year-old Ter's close-range shot was interfered by the defender and failed to kick on target.
At the age of 17 years and 2 months, Ibrahimovic became the second youngest official match appearance in Bayern's history.
Bayern had 25 shots on goal, nearly half (12) on target, and the expected goal value was 4.63, more chances than created in the 7-0 win away at Bochum in the first round, when the expected goal value was only 3.11. A more interesting comparison is that when visiting Wolfsburg in the last round, Bayern's expected goal value was only 0.66, a season low, but four shots on target were exchanged for four goals.
Bayern have struggled to create scoring chances in the first four rounds of the league since the new year, but at least this game has improved and looks to be back to normal levels. At the same time, the defensive performance of the last round was also noticeably improved, with only a header from high school striker Philip Hoffmann creating a certain threat in Bochum (which was lifted off the crossbar by Zormer), and the expected goal value was only a measly 0.2.
Gnabry with a "pineapple head" penalty score, but his form still needs to be improved.
Bayern seem to be ready in time for the big battle in Paris? Nagelsmann doesn't think so. In his opinion, the team's performance is completely below par, "In the first six minutes, we have to play 2-0 or 3-0, we have good chances. But it's a bit like those three games in which we drawn, we didn't play directly enough. In general, neither side played well. "It's not that Bochum doesn't give us space. I think if we really go full speed and have the right movement and bring some enthusiasm to the pitch, we can open up in the first six minutes and then quickly go 4-0, 5-0 or 6-0 because we obviously have a lot of space to use. ”
Nagelsmanna sounded the alarm, "We are not at a high point at the moment, we are only one point ahead in the Bundesliga, there is no bigger advantage. We have to play a good game in Paris, even if Kylian Mbappe may be absent because the other side is a world-class team. ”
For Mueller, playing three central defenders?
Bayern's lack of directness, or inefficiency in front of goal, is also limited by certain objective conditions - the quality of turf at the Allianz Arena is still not ideal, and the impact on the dominant offensive side will be greater. In the last game against Eintracht Frankfurt, the players on both sides were skating on grass, with constant slippage on the soles of their feet. Speaking after the game, Müller also pointed out of his opening goal: "Honestly, you have to admit that our field at the Allianz Arena is not that good. So maybe I benefited from the fact that the ball rolls a little slowly. "When Yanko faced the high ball and chose to volley back out of the box to receive Liman, Mueller quickly stepped forward and stabbed a kick that was blocked by Rieman, Mueller luckily regained the ball and swung Yanko away and kicked into the empty goal with his left foot.
Müller seized on a mistake by the Bochum defender to open the scoring.
Since Mueller's return to the starting line-up, Bayern have won three straight in addition to being forced to draw by Eintracht Frankfurt, and Mueller has been crucial in providing assists or goals in all four games. Although he was replaced at half due to a minor calf problem, this was not enough reason for the boss to suddenly not use him in Paris. So the question is, with Kimmich returning and only Mane missing stars in the midfield, how should Nagelsmann arrange Mueller's position on the field?
Since the arrival of Joao Cancelo, Bayern have played three central defenders in three consecutive games at different times, the last game was to play a back four, Kimmich sent off and changed to a back five. The game opened with Pavard, Yupamecano and Matthijs de Ligt forming a three-centre-back from right to left. When Comão replaced Joao Cancelo and then Daly Blind replaced Musiala in the 67th minute, Bayern returned to 4231, Blind and Goretzka partnered at the back, Davis withdrew and Pavard switched to right-back.
If playing three centre-backs, with Cancelo almost sure to start, there is only one position left on the wing, and Comão, who has been excellent recently, should be the first pick, then is it necessary to let Davis play as a left-centre-back (briefly) as he did in the last round against Wolfsburg? And if you play back four, then Cancelo, Davies, Comang and Gnabry have what it takes to play at the same time. Even if Sane plays on the right and puts Gnabry on the bench, Muller is still alive between Musiala and Shubpo Motin.
It seems unlikely that Sane, Schupo-Moting, Muller and Gnabry will start at the same time in Paris.
There is always a little superstition about Mueller – at least that's what many media and fans think. If this crucial game suddenly removes Mueller again, the first person to blame for the problem must be the coach. Anyway, compared to letting Gnabry, Comang, Sane or Davis sit on the bench, not using Mueller is a "felony" in public opinion, I believe the coach also understands it in his heart. That being the case, the possibility of playing three centre-backs in the opening game in Paris is really not small. Mueller said: "Of course, Tuesday's game is important. We have to go back to Munich there with a good result. ”