Julian Nagelsmann has not been coach of FC Bayern so long that he has already experienced everything with his team, knows the whole spectrum. There have been big wins, some minor ones, and there have been defeats. But Nagelsmann has not yet had a hard-won 1-0 in his repertoire in Munich. Against Arminia Bielefeld, Munich defended the league table lead in the Bundesliga with a minimalist victory.
“A 1-0 win in autumn is also good,” said the Bayern coach. Thanks to Leroy Sané’s goal, the Munich team are not only number one, but also, according to Nagelsmann, “full of anticipation for Dortmund” for the top game next Saturday against BVB (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky).
Nagelsmann was not surprised that the Munich team found it so difficult on the offensive against the sixteenth in the table from East Westphalia. He had already expected a game similar to the one in the previous week against Augsburg, which Munich had lost. This time, the Bayern coach praised, “the discipline and the structure” were right. “We have taken a step in counter-security,” he stated.
Corona and Qatar
The Munich-based company has had an eventful week in which an ongoing vaccination debate, the positive corona tests by Joshua Kimmich and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and finally the memorable annual general meeting almost dwarfed the victory in the Champions League at Dynano Kiev.
And even on the sidelines of the game against Arminia, this conflict between club members and the club’s management continued to have an impact. It became known that President Herbert Hainer called Michael Ott, who had triggered the upheavals on Thursday with his requests for Qatar sponsorship and human rights. They “stayed in such a way that we would have a personal conversation with Qatar and the YHV,” Ott announced on Twitter. It sounds like a slight approximation.
The situation has also eased slightly in terms of personnel. Niklas Süle and Josip Stanisic have returned to the squad after surviving the corona infection, as have Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala. Dayot Upamecano, who was last suspended in the Champions League, replaced Tanguy Nianzou, who was injured in the shoulder, in defense. Otherwise, Nagelsmann sent those players onto the pitch who had also started in Kiev – in the hope that the stresses of travel would not be too noticeable.
“We have to bring in full power from the start, which was often not the case recently,” Nagelsmann told his team on the way. At least Bayern had so much energy that they occupied their opponents almost exclusively in their own half. However, they hardly found any gaps in Bielefeld’s defensive bulwark because they didn’t seem so lively and responsive. If it does, then the last pass or the end was not precise enough.
After the break, there were even a few unusually pathetic failed attempts in front of the goal. Leroy Sane, Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski, who hopes to be awarded the Ballon d’Or on Monday, each failed to hit the ball correctly in a promising position. “The conviction was perhaps five percent missing today,” admitted Müller.
“Then someone should go in”
The 400 or so fans of the Ostwestfalen who traveled with them applauded and cheered every good action by the outsider – even when the guests played the few promising counter-opportunities poorly, there was encouraging applause. The Arminia appendix set the tone in the Munich arena, at least as long as it was 0-0. Bayern had increased the pressure in the second half of the game and replaced new staff in Gnabry and Musiala, but the Bielefeld fought and defended their goal bravely.
It took until the 71st minute before Munich succeeded in one of the few quick and direct attacks. Via Musiala and Müller, the ball landed at Sané, who released his team and made it 1-0 – with a fine flick from 17 meters. “It’s about,” said Müller later, “to keep going. Then someone should go in. “
Afterwards, Bielefeld finally ventured out of their own half more often, but they no longer caused serious danger because “the last or penultimate ball was not played precisely enough or too hastily,” said Arminia’s coach Frank Kramer. On the other hand, the otherwise goal-hungry Munich team seemed exceptionally satisfied with having only scored one goal.
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