JJulian Nagelsmann would possibly have imagined this degree of the season in many alternative guises when he resumed paintings after the World Cup. He virtually definitely didn’t envisage this. His group will start April with extra video games to form the rest of their marketing campaign than they in most cases would at this degree, a legacy of the aforementioned spoil for the event in Qatar, however they are going to additionally make their means onto that highway in an unfamiliar place of To set up 2nd position. Bayern Munich didn’t lose the entirety in Leverkusen, however any false impression underneath which they could have worked underneath that this can be a common Bayern season is long past.
There had been many outstanding sides to the best way through which this all spread out; that Leverkusen confirmed significantly extra nerve than their guests in a 2–1 win and, additionally, that the house aspect’s Amine Adli used to be two times cautioned via Tobias Stieler for simulation sooner than the referee two times re-examined his determination at the track, two times withdrew the cardboard with a grin and a handshake and two times awarded a penalty, each transformed via Exequiel Palacios (two times to Yann Sommer’s proper, in the event you puzzled) to carry Die Werkself from in the back of and information them house.
The primary motivation for scrutiny, alternatively, used to be Bayern themselves. They had been surprisingly passive, flat and uninspired save a brief burst simply sooner than the winner, all the way through which Jamal Musiala got here agonizingly just about giving his group the lead once more with a generally lithe run down the flank and a shot which refused to creep into the nook. “That’s not what Bayern is about,” chided wearing director Hasan Salihamidžić after the sport. “So little drive, mentality, assertiveness. I’ve rarely experienced that. That Musiala, their main source of the sublime this season, was reported on Monday morning to have withdrawn from the Germany squad with a tear in his thigh muscle is another unwelcome surprise before a post-international window program which immediately includes a classical with new leaders Borussia Dortmund and the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City.
Bayern had led at the half here, a touch of fortune at play both in Odilon Kossounou deflecting Joshua Kimmich’s shot to spiral it past Lukas Hradecky, and it coming against the prevailing wind of a period that had been largely Leverkusen’s. Squeezing maximum reward from minimum performance will always be a hallmark of champions, of course, but their return from the interval brought no improvement. Instead, Xabi Alonso’s men emerged reenergized and ready to engage. They wanted the win and they got it, deservedly, against a team that simply let the second half happen to them. The goals conceded may have been a curio in the wider world but they spoke of a team just not switched on. Even if both penalties required Stieler to take a second look, the challenges by Benjamin Pavard and Dayot Upamecano on Adli were – in both cases – so wild, so uncontrolled, so unnecessary, that they spoke loudly of a lack of poise, calm and application .
It may have taken a double save from the unpredictable Hradecky late on to deny Leroy Sané then Alphonso Davies, but Leverkusen had not stolen this. They were the better team and not just that, they had controlled the key moments of the game better. If some have cast Alonso in a similar role to Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa, forging an apprenticeship before meeting destiny and taking the top job at his old club after reaching maturity (a perception not publicly discouraged by the Bayern top brass), the way the The story has decanted has been quite different.
If Alonso’s fledgling managerial career should be considered with more reserve, the initial results are extremely positive, especially when considering he took over a side battling the drop that was (at least on paper) not particularly well equipped for that sort of challenge. The feeling within the club is that Alonso’s skill in communication has been the key, getting his ideas across to the players quickly and clearly.
He has also done well to swiftly identify his team’s major strengths. The main area that Leverkusen have lent on since the former Spain midfielder’s arrival is a simple one, using the lightning pace of Jeremie Frimpong and Moussa Diaby on the flanks, both of whose look have been renewed since Alonso took charge. Here, they underlined they are more than that, with their defense looking more composed than we habitually associate with them. The employment of hardy midfielder Robert Andrich, a key player for Alonso thus far, as almost a third centre-back, really gave Leverkusen control after a midweek in which they traveled to Hungary, reaching the Europa League quarter-finals.
This sort of clarity is something we expect from Nagelsmann. “If we combine maximum hunger and passion with the quality that we have, then we can achieve anything,” he mentioned afterwards, but for a person of such perception and intelligence, the trainer is at risk of mentioning the completely obtrusive. This is apparent and it might be unexpected to few if Bayern got here out all weapons blazing to stand Dortmund and if they discovered the fireplace to dismantle their fighters. But this cycle of motion and response is not only the acquainted Bayern narrative; it’s the acquainted Bayern narrative that predates Nagelsmann. And if we all know the script so smartly from years previous it should pose the query – how a lot are Bayern in truth progressing underneath their broadly admired trainer?
The fluctuations in Bayern this season are so widespread and so wild that it can not lend a hand however invite scrutiny. They would possibly smartly supply a reaction in opposition to Dortmund, however it kind of feels not going to be a definitive resolution.
Talking issues
Dortmund had taken the management on Saturday with an impressively environment friendly 6-1 rout of ÖKöln (“We were ice-cold in front of goal,” as Mo Dahoud put it). Two targets from Marco Reus took him previous the 150-mark for the membership and a brace from Sébastien Haller used to be additionally welcome. What’s extra is that when a few taxing weeks they could get again some lacking group of workers for the talk over with to Munich, with Emre Can, Karim Adeyemi, Youssoufa Moukoko, Salih Özcan and Julian Brandt all absent for this sport.
Leipzig’s week, in the meantime, went from unhealthy to worse as they slipped to defeat at lowly Bochum, following their Champions League hiding in Manchester via dropping by the wayside of the highest 4. Marco Rose raged at Erhan Masović’s winner from Christopher Antwi-Adjei’s lengthy throw. “We talked about it and we still can’t defend it,” he complained. Meanwhile, Union adopted their European go out with a 2–0 win over freefalling Frankfurt which lifted them again as much as 3rd.