The popular song of Bayern is now a chilling melody in Bochum, according to Andy Brassell.

H

What could have made this week any worse for Bayern Munich? They suffered two weak defeats on the road that could have a major impact on their season. They barely had any strong shots during those games. Some may have thought a bit of indulgence over the weekend would help ease their struggles, especially when facing Bochum. But fate had one final joke in store for them before Monday arrived.

In the past few years, visitors to the Allianz Arena have often commented on the goal music, which may not be appreciated by everyone. When their team inevitably concedes a goal at Bayern’s home stadium, they are met with the playful tune of the can-can, which seems to linger just a bit too long to emphasize their failure and leave them feeling defeated.

The only other team in the Bundesliga that pressured Offenbach to celebrate scoring was VfL Bochum. Their stadium, Vonovia Ruhrstadion, is completely different from Bayern’s home. It is a small, lively stadium that can only hold one-third of the capacity of the champion’s stadium. To make matters worse for Bayern, who are currently experiencing a rough patch, Takuma Asano scored a clever equalizer just 43 seconds after the start of the second half. This only added to the already somber mood for Bayern, who are going through what Bochum native Leon Goretzka described as a never-ending horror movie. The fact that they were playfully taunted with their own celebration music (three times, in fact) just added to the chaos of a disastrous week for Thomas Tuchel and his team.

This was the second instance where Bayern lost to Bochum, a club with significantly fewer resources, in three seasons. Despite having previously beaten them 7-0 in this same match last season and earlier this season at Allianz Arena, it could indicate a long-term decline. However, the current reality cannot be ignored. Tuchel, who often tries to avoid facing the truth, received widespread criticism for his post-match interview with Dazn. He claimed that his team’s 3-2 defeat was not deserved and pointed to Bayern’s 3.4 expected goals (xG). Even though Tuchel also stated that “Murphy’s law applied today” due to everything going wrong, he was forced to acknowledge that it is not realistic for his team to win the Bundesliga title this season. This is evident as they are currently eight points behind a dominant Bayer Leverkusen.

View image in fullscreen

This is the first instance in almost nine years where Bayern has been defeated three times in a row. The previous occurrence, which happened in May 2015, included two losses in the Bundesliga that were not significant due to already securing the league title. These defeats were sandwiched between Lionel Messi’s renowned domination of Jérôme Boateng in a Champions League semi-final at the Camp Nou. The widespread use of memes to mock this event did not sit well with this column, as it seemed absurd to make fun of a player for being outplayed by the world’s greatest.

It’s difficult to imagine any of the individuals responsible for this week’s events being anywhere close to achieving greatness at the moment. Leroy Sané, who was wasteful in Wednesday’s disappointing loss to Lazio, was brought on during Sunday’s match with Bayern trailing 2-1, along with new addition Bryan Zaragoza, in place of Joshua Kimmich and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, in an attempt to inject some energy into their current slump. However, according to Mario Krischel of Kicker, their creativity was outweighed by their lack of participation in defensive duties. Bayern’s defense was abysmal. For the second game in a row, Dayot Upamecano conceded a penalty and received a red card in the same play – both of which were converted into winning goals, first by Ciro Immobile and then by Bochum’s impressive Kevin Stöger. To top it all off, Kimmich, who was visibly frustrated after being substituted (following a lackluster performance in which he was partially at fault for Asano’s goal), had to be separated from Tuchel’s assistant Zsolt Löw as they argued at the end of the game.

At this point, the current Bayern team may only hope to make it to the quarter-finals of a competition that their club has won six times. They would be lucky to have the chance to be defeated by one of the world’s best teams in the final four. This is not the same Bayern team from 2015 and their current coach, Tuchel, is not as successful as Pep Guardiola. More importantly, this current version of the club is not the efficient powerhouse that it used to be known as. If they were, Tuchel would have likely been replaced by now. The fact that Bayern is not taking action despite their failing campaign is a clear indication of their weakness as an institution. They are far from the stable and successful club they once were.

Even though Harry Kane has been successful at Bayern, his signing is not reflective of the team’s functional approach. While he scored his 25th Bundesliga goal of the season, there are still lingering issues with an unbalanced squad. Despite his impressive performance both on and off the field, Kane’s presence has overshadowed the multitude of problems within the team. As the captain of England, he deserves a stronger supporting cast and it is likely that he will have one in the upcoming season.

At the moment, Tuchel will continue in his position since there are no viable options or clear next steps. It is unlikely that this season can be salvaged significantly, so it may be more beneficial to have a slight improvement in performance rather than completely giving up, especially since there are still matches left in the Bundesliga and Champions League. However, it is certain that he will be replaced when Bayern has the opportunity to bring in a higher caliber coach. Tuchel was overburdened in the previous summer’s transfer decisions due to a lack of leadership above him. This must be resolved before Bayern can progress.

Talking points

Leverkusen continues to display confident and bold behavior, while Bayern falls short in this aspect. They managed to secure a victory against a resilient Heidenheim team with Jeremie Frimpong once again being the key player, scoring the first goal just before half-time. On-loan player Mo Dahoud sealed the win with a late goal. Despite the inconvenience of their cancelled flight and the long 400km bus ride back, Xabi Alonso’s team remained in good spirits.

The ongoing demonstrations against private equity investments have been described as spirited, with lengthy disruptions to all games. During the matches at Köln and Rostock, fans used remote control cars to interfere with the play. In one amusing incident in Cologne, Werder Bremen substitute Justin Njinmah tried and failed to kick one of the cars off the field. However, he later came on as a substitute and scored the winning goal. The peaceful protests have caused inconvenience and both Niclas Füllkrug and Emre Can expressed their frustration after Borussia Dortmund’s 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg. It is likely that meaningful conversations between authorities and supporter groups will take place to resolve the issue, as Köln ultras have called for a public re-vote rather than a secret one.

Source: theguardian.com