Bavarian Football Works

Bayern Munich continue their Bundesliga run with another commanding win, this time over VfB Stuttgart. The Swabians had an incredible home advantage and their energy troubled the visiting Bavarians all night. However, the clinical pairing of Michael Olise and Konrad Laimer, coupled with some super subs changed the fortunes of the Rekordmeister. While Stuttgart were unlucky in a few moments, their defeat was a fair one at the end of the 90 minutes. Without further ado, here are the standout performances from the match.
Jersey Swap — Josha Vagnoman
Any team’s performance is usually built on two pillars — the basics being repeatedly done well and the occasional brilliant moments that bring in the game changing X factor. However, many times the basics being done well itself creates moments that change games. So, there will always be a tussle over which should be prioritized in terms of recognition.
In today’s match too there were players who were doing the basics very well to help the team function and a few players who were an absolute threat to alter the course of the game. On the side of Stuttgart, Josha Vagnoman fits in the latter category. While he wasn’t the best man on the pitch, what he did do brilliantly was be a menace when he got the opportunity.
Stuttgart managed to silence the traffic on Bayern’s left wing and that was largely due to Vagnoman. He impressed with his marking of Luis Diaz and showing no hesitation when he found the smallest of opportunity to shoot in the box. Stuttgart’s forwards missed a trick by not going high enough and let the right back drift in or overlap. With his two tackles and one shot that missed the goal narrowly, Josha Vagnoman was one who stood out among the Swabians.
Der Kaiser — Konrad Laimer
The Bayern Munich Ironman Konrad Laimer once again showed his tenacity and indomitable spirit on the pitch. His pairing with Michael Olise was the preferred route of attack for Bayern. With Stuttgart’s strong defensive showing in the first half, Bayern had very few channels left to progress the ball. Laimer with his bulldog like drive towards goal would find himself in the final third with relative ease freeing up some breathing space for his teammates.
His first goal came at the end of a flamboyant touch to get through Nübel’s feet. Olise seems to pair best with Laimer who has taken a fancy for the vacant Raumdeuter spot that Thomas Müller left in the summer. In defense, Laimer had no major complaints with a decent shift that included 4 recoveries.
Fußballgott — Tom Bischof
This award is a hot take for two reasons. The first being that Bischof started at left-back, so what is he doing in the midfield awards. And, secondly Joshua Kimmich did most of the regular work in the midfield. Shuffling the ball, connecting his players and most importantly had a few great long balls that showed that Bayern too can play a strong game from the back with long passes.
However, Bishof showed a lot of heart and brilliance in handling pressure, making passes from very tight spots and running to receive the ball in tight spots despite being pressed deep by Stuttgart’s attackers. With Goretzka not very willing to carry the ball often, it was Bishof who drifted into the middle and shouldered the burden with Kimmich.
The kid’s got a sweet left foot. He made a total of four clearances and four passes into the final third. While he is playing a bit of the jack of all trades role at the moment, this can turn into a great central midfielder with more opportunities.
Der Bomber — Michael Olise
There need not be much said, the only reason Olise drops to Bomber instead of MOTM is due to a certain lover of hat-tricks, whom we will come to in a moment. However, before that, we have to appreciate the calibre of player Michael Olise is. A well rested Olise is unplayable. His tricks, his vision, his passes, his dribbles have proven overwhelming for nearly all of his opponents. Today was no different as Stuttgart had trouble containing Olise.
With seven passes into the final third and 3 chances created, the only reason Olise doesn’t have more than his two assists was some poor performance from the Bayern attack in the first half coupled with a general lack of cohesion. Nonetheless, with Harry Kane coming off the bench, the dynamic changed completely and threw open the gates for the flow of Bayern’s goals.
Meister of the Match: Hat-trick Harry Kane
What a player this guy is! Starts on the bench, comes on in the 60th minute and scores a hattrick in what seemed like a game that would finish with not more than two goals in total. It is absolutely ridiculous how Kane totally turned the game on its head. The Bayern attack not only found its rhythm, Stuttgart were caught clueless by the pace and turn of attack. Kane’s pivots, hassling of the opposition defense cannot be missed from this fixture. And the long shot he took was a sign of his confidence and pitch perfect reading of the game.
This game is a strong demonstration that when the Bavarian midfield is doing its job, Kane can be so much more dangerous upfront which is needed against annoying defenses. Every touch of the man felt like it could create a goal. While the duo of Joshua Kimmich and Aleksander Pavlović were good enough against Stuttgart, they fell short against Arsenal which required Kane to drop back often. That ultimately lost Bayern their edge against the Gunners. A solid midfield signing in the winter should be a consideration for the Bavarian brass.
Thank you for reading and let’s wish good luck to our Raumdeuter and club legend Thomas Müller for the MLS finals between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Inter Miami featuring an old rival Lionel Messi! Packmas Tommy!
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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