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Florian Kohfeldt’s cheerfulness seemed subdued. In stark contrast to other guest team coaches, who in the past had the rare sense of happiness of a draw in Munich that caused pure ecstasy. Sure, Kohfeldt was also satisfied with the 1-1 draw, happy and relieved at the end of Werder Bremen’s dark streak, after 19 league failures against FC Bayern in a row. But not a trace of exuberance. Kohfeldt knew that an away win for his team would not only have been possible, but also deserved.
That wasn’t enough for Werder that they couldn’t take advantage of three great chances to win after promising counterattacks? That was due to exactly three things: Manuel Neuer’s outstretched arm, Leon Goretzka’s grand entrance, Jerome Boateng’s last mission.
There were various reasons why Bayern got into such trouble, why they just didn’t play better and didn’t overwhelm their opponents with their dominance as usual. One of them was sitting wrapped in a thick yellow jacket on the lower level of the main stand: the wounded Joshua Kimmich. And so in the first game, after his serious meniscus injury in Dortmund, it became clear how important he is to Bayern’s game, how big the gap will be without him in the coming weeks.
When asked how much he missed his leading player, Hansi Flick later said, “Joshua will always be missing.” At least until the planned return in January.
At first, manager Hansi Flick sent a daring starting eleven onto the field that had never existed before, with 17-year-old Jamal Musiala alongside Thomas Müller in the double eight, followed by Javi Martinez as a lone six. Things got even more complicated when left-back Lucas Hernández had to leave the field in the 19th minute due to a painful bruise on his hip. Substitute Leon Goretzka moved to defensive midfield, Martinez retired to central defense, from which regular defensive boss David Alaba moved to the outside of Hernandez’s position, which completely lost the static of the Munich game.
For most of the past year, Hansi Flick was able to rely on a basic structure, the much-cited and invoked axis from Manuel Neuer to David Alaba and from Joshua Kimmich to Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski at the helm. The trio in the middle of it all turned out to be the pillars of this axis: Alaba, Kimmich, Müller. Strong in instructions, resolute in the structure of the game, the three absolute leaders on the field. The fact that Kimmich was missing from the start and that Alaba now had to come off the line with a significantly smaller design margin inevitably led to an irreversible shaft break this Saturday afternoon, apart from the fact that Thomas Müller sometimes looked like not knowing what he was wearing. the talented but also overly enthusiastic Jamal Musiala should start alongside him.
There is no facility without Kimmich
The result was a confusing and confusing match for Bayern. Not a single chance to score in the first half, more coordination problems with Bremen’s first goal just before half-time. “A very cheap goal,” complained Thomas Müller later. He was correct. In the second half he got a little better, but it was more about the fight and the will than the usual ease of play. Many moments remained the product of chance. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
What was lacking were the automatisms of a well-rehearsed team, the blind understanding between them, the successful anticipation of the next action. When asked about the changes, Hansi Flick later said: “Every player knows what to do.” Yes. But maybe it’s not what the next man is doing. Where is it. What to expect. What are you planning.
A problem that should continue to accompany the team until Christmas. There are eight games to play in the next four weeks, three in the Champions League and five in the Bundesliga. Hansi Flick will continue to be forced to rotate and improvise due to injuries and stress. So Flick has to say goodbye to its philosophy of always sending the same eleven players to the field in every game. Time and time again, especially in the previous season, he had emphasized how important she was to him. Not having to keep changing. Precisely because of the mechanisms, the automatisms.
Salzburg becomes the key game
Next Wednesday could be very important. If they beat FC Salzburg in the Champions League, Bayern could already be group winners, provided Atlético de Madrid are left without a win in the side game against Lok Moscow. That could help Flick save regular players for the Bundesliga in the last two group matches.
That they have a great squad, that they await the return of Corentin Tolisso and Lucas Hernández, said Flick, adding: “We have enough players.” But none like Joshua Kimmich.
