Thomas Reis explained that he would go into himself and consider what he had contributed to this defeat and immediately began to present a few thoughts: Would it have “perhaps needed more fire from outside”? “A different positioning” within the team? Elements that “make the defense more stable”? All of this probably wouldn’t have done any harm, but it probably wouldn’t have helped if nobody could prevent the FC Bayern team from taking up positions on the other side. “It is what it is,” Reis said after the 7-0 defeat: “Bavaria is the ultimate at the moment.”
The statisticians promptly reported that the Munich team had never started the season so well, but the statisticians should be careful not to make themselves unpopular. Who – apart from their own followers – still wants to hear about Munich’s success records? On Sunday evening, at least a few people from Duisburg were happy about the, no kidding, relatively close result. With a 9-0 win at Tasmania Berlin in 1966, Meidericher SV was the nimbus of the highest away win in the Bundesliga.
If you listened to Joshua Kimmich, it was thanks to Bayern’s mercy that they got the record: “We could have scored a goal or two,” he remarked without sounding arrogant. Kimmich just expressed what happened in this unequal showdown. The Bochum fans understood that too, they just kept singing and refrained from insulting their eleven. The VfL team had provoked the debacle with their error-prone game, Christian Gamboa’s 0:6 was not the only own goal, but she was also overwhelmed by her enthusiastic opponent. “We’ve never been so dismantled according to all the rules of the art,” complained attacker Simon Zoller.
Kimmich explains how much he likes the Bayern game without Lewandowski
Of course, this victory will go into the debate about the all-powerful Bayern, the old and usual arguments will be mentioned. And the latest clues from Säbener Strasse do not lessen the suffering of hegemony. FC Bayern may have sold their one-of-a-kind goalscorer, but they’re now scoring even more goals without him. While Robert Lewandowski has started to do his usual factory work in Barcelona – he scored two goals in the 4-1 win in San Sebastian on Sunday evening – his former team-mates clearly don’t seem to miss him.
Kingsley Coman (middle) is also back – and of course he scores against Bochum.
(Photo: Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters)
Not only the coach Julian Nagelsmann emphasized the high sense of community in the team and made it clear that it was quite different last year. Kimmich agreed: “It’s a lot of fun at the moment because there’s good energy in the squad,” he said. For years Lewandowski was the logical target of offensive operations, now the Munich Sturm game exudes the spirit of relaxation and freedom. Although Leroy Sané, Sadio Mané and Kingsley Coman were assigned positions from left to right on Sunday, the roles and paths within the formation can be exchanged at any time. The midfielders benefit too.
The high speed and the mobility of the new attack line benefit him, reported Kimmich: “If you have three or four players who can go deep, then of course you are more flexible in the pass game. You have even more stations that you allude to In that respect it’s even more pleasant for a midfielder, I would say.” The five changes that Nagelsmann had made by the middle of the second half didn’t upset the rhythm. Kimmich: “We’ve not only gotten better across the board, but also at the top. It doesn’t matter who comes in: We lose little in terms of quality and, above all, little in terms of energy.”
Leroy Sané “wants to be left alone for a bit,” says coach Nagelsmann
The focus this time: Leroy Sané, who completed a combination he had initiated after just five minutes to make it 1-0. Nagelsmann said he could be brief when asked about Sané’s striking performance: “If he’s 100 percent up for it, then he’s one of the best players in Europe.”
Apparently he was finally keen, fellow players reported spectacular training performances. Nobody could say where the drive suddenly came from, Sané’s paths seem to be unfathomable. “He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t constantly seek dialogue and sits in the coach’s office. He wants to be left alone for a bit,” summarized Nagelsmann. If an evening like this comes out of it, even the extraordinarily talkative coach is willing to keep Sané silent.