FC Bayern Munich: Strong in the League, Struggling in the Champions League
Foreword
This is my first post in a while. Although I haven't written anything about the Tuchel administration, I have been following each match closely. With the start of the new Kompany administration, the situation has become unbearable to watch, so I decided to share my thoughts once again. This article is a lengthy expression of my opinions without any images, so it might be a bit challenging to read, but if you have the time, I'd appreciate it if you could read through to the end.
Ins and Outs for the New Season
For those who haven't been following Bayern closely, some might not be aware of the current squad situation. With massive budgets attracting top players and managers, leagues like the Premier League enjoy immense popularity, while La Liga boasts powerhouses like Real Madrid—though not fully adjusted despite Mbappé joining—and Barcelona, flourishing again under new management. In comparison, fewer people might subscribe specifically to watch the Bundesliga. Therefore, let’s start by summarizing Bayern’s current squad situation.
First, let’s talk about the ins and outs. For the start of this season, Bayern appointed Vincent Kompany as the new manager and began by restructuring the defensive line. They transferred Dutch national center-back Matthijs de Ligt and Moroccan full-back Noussair Mazraoui to Manchester United. They then acquired Japanese national defender Hiroki Ito, a key player from Stuttgart who finished second in the league behind Bayern last season. Bayern also brought back Josip Stanišić, who was loaned to Bayer Leverkusen and played a key role in their league title win last season.
Next, let’s discuss the midfield. Last season, the hierarchy seemed to favor rising young talent Aleksandar Pavlović and the box-to-box midfielder Konrad Laimer, known for his work rate. Many might wonder, “What about Kimmich?” Last season, he was often deployed as a right-back for both club and country. Goretzka, who hasn’t been mentioned so far, clearly dropped in the pecking order. Under Hansi Flick, he was a core player, provided he was fit, though frequently injured. However, his chronic fitness issues seemed to have held back his conditioning, and whether it was due to management issues, like becoming a disgruntled presence within the team, is uncertain. What’s clear is that his ranking fell, as evidenced by not being called up for the EURO squad. After offloading Mazraoui, Bayern now lacked a proper right-back. If they counted Kimmich as a right-back, it made sense that the new manager and board considered the midfield lacking in depth. Consequently, they acquired Joao Palhinha, a defensive midfielder who was previously at Fulham and known for his ball-winning abilities—a player even former manager Tuchel had reportedly wanted, akin to Manchester City’s Rodri. It was undoubtedly a well-targeted addition.
Lastly, let's look at the forward line, where Bayern’s most talked-about transfer took place. Bayern acquired Michael Olise, the French midfielder from Crystal Palace. Together with Eze, he drove Palace’s offense and had also attracted Arsenal’s interest as a potential backup to Saka and Ødegaard. A left-footed player who mainly operates on the right wing or in a shadow striker role, Olise isn’t an explosive winger but possesses notable technical skill and a precise left-footed strike. Bayern already has Sané on the right wing, wearing the number 10, and Musiala, essentially the face of Bayern, in the attacking midfield role. While it may seem a luxury acquisition, Bayern’s €60 million investment in Olise is understandable as they aim to reclaim the throne. Personally, I find the fee quite reasonable for a player of his caliber.
Current Squad and Injured Players
Let’s review the squad and summarize the ins and outs so far.
At goalkeeper, 38-year-old captain Manuel Neuer remains the starter, with Sven Ulreich continuing as the backup, as usual.
In defense, the center-backs include Kim Min-jae, Upamecano, and Dier. Left-backs are Davies and Guerreiro, while right-backs include Boë (and Kimmich as an alternative). Stanišić, who returned from loan, can play anywhere along the backline, and new addition Ito can be used as both a center-back and a left-back.
The midfield consists of Kimmich, Pavlović, Laimer, Goretzka, and Palhinha. Broadly speaking, they can be grouped into two categories, with the former two being more technical and the latter three more defensive.
In the second line, Gnabry and Coman, who has just returned from injury, are on the left wing. Sané and Olise are on the right, while Musiala and Müller occupy the central role.
Up front, the main striker is Kane, with the promising Tel as backup.
This comprises the main players. Now let’s consider this season’s injured players.
First, we have the two defenders who joined the squad this season. Stanišić, back from loan, suffered a medial collateral ligament tear in his right knee early in the season during training. He only managed to appear in the DFB-Pokal (the German domestic cup) before being sidelined ahead of the league opener. New addition Ito broke his metatarsal after being stepped on in a preseason match against a fourth-division team, Düren, in what would have been his Bayern debut, ruling him out for some time.
Moreover, Boë, the only natural right-back, is also out with an injury. He started the first two league matches but tore the meniscus in his left knee during practice. Although the surgery has been successful, his return will take some time. Currently, this leaves only three available center-backs—Min-jae, Upamecano, and Dier—and just two active full-backs, Davies and Guerreiro, leaving the defense in a challenging situation, particularly with no natural right-back.
Furthermore, emerging young talent Pavlović, who was becoming a key midfielder, started in the league’s seventh match against Stuttgart but fractured his collarbone early in the game after failing to brace himself in a fall, leaving him sidelined. Lastly, Sané, who had been recovering from a groin surgery post-EURO, has returned since the first round of the Champions League.
Positions Lacking Depth
As the squad overview makes clear, while Bayern has exceptional talent up front, the defensive line is evidently lacking. Last season’s central figure in the defense and defensive leader, de Ligt, was transferred, and both Ito and Stanišić, who joined with high expectations, are currently sidelined. As a result, Kim Min-jae and Upamecano have become the first-choice center-backs for both the league and Champions League. However, there is an evident shortage of both quantity and quality among the center-backs. Even for those who have only watched the highlights, the lack of reliability in the Kim Min-jae, Upamecano, and Dier trio becomes obvious when facing top teams in the Champions League.
Additionally, with no natural right-back in the squad, this position also needs a solution. Initially, Kimmich filled in as a right-back as he did last season, but with Pavlović—who served as a distributor in the midfield—now injured, Kimmich had to return to the midfield role. Consequently, Bayern has been relying on players like Laimer, who is primarily a midfielder, or Guerreiro, a left-back by trade, to cover the right-back position.
The New Manager’s Tactical Intentions and Choices
From here, let’s discuss the tactical characteristics that new manager Kompany aims to implement with the current Bayern squad, along with its weaknesses.
Starting with personnel choices, Neuer is the undisputed choice for goalkeeper—naturally. For center-backs, as previously mentioned, Kompany’s first choice is Kim Min-jae and Upamecano. At full-back, we see Davies on the left and either Laimer or Guerreiro on the right. Since Pavlović’s injury, Kimmich and Palhinha are frequently paired in midfield. On the right wing, new signing Olise has secured a starting position, likely because Sané was injured early on and joined later. It will be interesting to see which of them becomes the regular starter moving forward. On the left, Gnabry has established himself as the regular after recovering from an injury earlier in the season. However, Coman has also shown strong performances when on the field, creating intense competition for the position. In the central role behind the striker, Musiala is the primary choice, with Müller stepping in when Musiala’s conditioning is an issue. Up front, the star striker is Kane, who scored an impressive 36 goals in the league last season. Unless Kane suffers an injury, Tel likely won’t see much playing time.
Next, let’s look at tactics.
On the offensive side, Kompany generally positions both wingers wide and asks the full-backs to take up positions lower to link up with the wingers and center-backs during the build-up. However, neither full-back is defensively oriented, so they frequently push forward in the flow of play. As a result, when Bayern presses into the opposition half, Davies and Guerreiro take up winger-like positions while Olise and Gnabry move into the spaces between the lines. Attacking setups typically start with wide play from the wingers and full-backs on the flanks, and Kane or Musiala often get involved in the final phases.
On defense, Bayern consistently operates with a high line, aiming to defend in a narrow space. The wide open space behind the defensive line relies on the athletic ability of the two center-backs and Neuer’s exceptional range as a goalkeeper. They also apply high pressing, pressing up from the middle zone to the opponent’s center-backs. However, there are also many moments where the pressing lacks cohesion. Musiala, as the central attacking midfielder, needs to develop his ability to lead the front line in pressing. Modern football relies on a skilled on-field leader who can dictate pressing, as seen with Müller under Flick and Ødegaard at Arsenal before his injury.
Analyzing the weaknesses of these tactics, we first look at the attack. There are frequent instances where the build-up feels overly improvised, which risks a short counter from mistakes during the build-up, stemming from issues with the defensive line’s positioning, decision-making, and technical quality. As previously mentioned, the full-backs take up positions that link the wingers and center-backs in the early stages of the build-up, but as they approach the opponent’s half, the full-backs spread wide to the touchline. This positioning makes it difficult to pass to the players on the wide lines (the full-backs in this case), restricting the width and making it challenging to stretch the field. Although Musiala occasionally drops down to receive and turn, and Kimmich also helps by dropping into the space vacated by the advancing full-backs, the center-backs often make poor decisions and attempt risky vertical passes, resulting in situations where “Musiala’s skill saved them from a turnover.”
The takeaway here is that while Kompany aims to increase possession and control the game, the center-backs do not have the ball-playing talent required for this style. This deficiency is directly tied to the weaknesses in defense. Despite playing a high line, the center-backs lack the ability to cover the space behind them effectively. Besides needing better line awareness, they’re also slow to react when their markers start moving, which is a fatal flaw. In addition to poor reactions, their body positioning is far from the standards of top defenders. Despite this, Bayern persists in holding the ball high up the field and making challenging vertical passes, leading to frequent turnovers close to their own goal and exposing them to counters that exploit the open spaces.
Kompany might believe that Kim Min-jae and Upamecano can make up for these lapses with speed. Both players are indeed fast—very fast. But so are the opposition forwards, and they’re skilled. This is why defenders need to cover the space behind, even when playing a high line. If the line were set lower, the goalkeeper could react quickly to balls played in behind. However, with Bayern’s team holding possession high up the field and defending with a constant high line, the through balls and breakaways behind the defense often lead to one-on-one situations with the goalkeeper. Perhaps prime Neuer could have handled this, but that’s just wishful thinking. Neuer often positions himself high to cover for the center-backs’ poor spatial awareness, and while he makes aggressive moves off his line, it’s unrealistic to expect him to prevent every goal. Goalkeepers leaving the goalmouth is inherently risky, and while Neuer has managed this at a high level for years, it’s unrealistic to expect him alone to continuously compensate for the center-backs’ inability to cover the space behind them.
An example of this vulnerability was seen in the Champions League Round 2 match against Aston Villa. Criticizing Neuer for this would be absurd—his positioning makes perfect sense in these situations. I’m not saying that this tactic is inherently flawed. It works if the team can circulate the ball to unsettle the opponent, if the passing choices are precise, if the center-backs carry the ball forward without narrowing the passing lanes, and if defenders can keep both the ball and their markers in sight when the opposing forwards are making runs. If they could do this…
Strong in the League but Struggling in the Champions League
For those who follow Bayern closely or even casually, the reason behind this title is likely obvious, but I’ll clarify anyway: it’s the quality of the opposition. As the level of the opposing defenders increases, they don’t allow Kane to handle the ball as freely as he does in domestic matches. Kane’s positioning can sometimes contribute to this issue, but within Germany, Bayern’s attack is generally strong enough to overpower opponents. Against domestic teams, Musiala can often control difficult vertical passes, the wingers can break through on the flanks, and the full-backs can deliver crosses from high up the pitch, allowing clean passes to reach Kane. When facing stronger teams, however, things don’t go as smoothly.
For instance, against Barcelona, Gnabry and Olise struggle to break through on the wings, and there are fewer runs in behind. Kane, of course, makes very few runs in behind, and Olise also seems to prefer receiving the ball at his feet. Although Gnabry can make outstanding runs behind the defense when he’s in top form, the German winger, who returned at the start of this season, has yet to show that level of quality. Barcelona’s full-backs indeed excel in one-on-one defense, but there are even tougher opponents. Teams like Manchester City, with players like Gvardiol, Aké, Walker, and Akanji, and Arsenal, with players like Calafiori, Timber, White, and Tomiyasu, would be even more difficult to break down. If a team struggles to score even one goal against Barcelona’s defenders, how many goals can they hope to score against the likes of Liverpool’s van Dijk and Konaté, City’s Ruben Dias and Stones, Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães and Saliba, Real Madrid’s Rüdiger and Militão, or Tottenham’s Romero, Drăgușin, and van de Ven?
With this squad and this tactical approach, the higher the objectives, the less realistic it becomes. You cannot expect players without the quality of a strong team to execute a style intended for the elite.
Immediate Improvements and Future Needs
The immediate improvements are simple. When facing stronger opponents, Bayern should avoid risky buildup from deep and instead opt for more practical strategies, like playing long balls behind the opposing full-backs timed to the wingers’ runs or having Kane drift into the full-backs’ position to create mismatches and then sending long balls to him. Our midfield includes a player with excellent long-ball accuracy, so they should design plays to win second balls, enabling Musiala to receive the ball facing forward after Kane contests in the air. As for Kompany, who was one of the world’s top center-backs in his playing days (when uninjured), he should instill defensive know-how in the current center-back lineup.
However, in the long run, this style likely won’t be sustainable. Both fans and players may grow dissatisfied with it. Bayern has long held the mentality of Germany’s strongest team and symbol of dominance—and it should remain that way. This is why Bayern strives for a level of possession that allows them to overwhelm opponents with an ultra-attacking, high-quality, high-scoring style, asserting the mentality of a winning side. This was precisely the essence of Bayern under Hansi Flick. And there’s only one way to achieve this: reinforcing the squad with center-backs of the necessary quality. During the Hansi Bayern era, they had Alaba and Boateng. That’s the kind of reinforcement they need.
Conclusion
The manager’s skill will be tested by how he can overcome the current challenges with the players at his disposal. This season, I hope to see a tactical approach that maximizes the team’s winning probability with this roster. By next summer, Bayern should thoroughly evaluate and reinforce the center-back position. In defense, there is rarely a “quick fix,” but given the current injury-prone situation, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give young talents like Aznou and Buchmann a chance. Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen, who was also mentioned in this summer’s reports, is a decent center-back, but adding him alone likely won’t resolve the issues significantly. Since Alaba’s departure, Bayern has repeatedly faced the same problem; they absolutely need a top-tier center-back with a winner’s mentality and high levels of skill, physicality, and intelligence. After all, we are an elite club. And, of course, they should also work on extending the contracts of key players like Kimmich and Davies.