FC Bayern München

Even club legend Thomas Müller’s future is in doubt in Bavaria these days:

Per FCBayern.com, Davies “will be out of action for FC Bayern for the time being” with “a muscle strain in his left hamstring.” Davies had pulled up on a sprint in only the ninth minute of action and was replaced by Noussair Mazraoui, with starting right wing-back João Cancelo moving to his spot on the left to accommodate.

According to kicker journalist Georg Holzner (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), the future of Bayern Munich sporting...

But why?

For Bayern Munich, one ill-timed loss to Bayer Leverkusen (thanks Xabi Alonso!) set off a remarkable chain of events that included sacking Julian Nagelsmann, the hiring of Thomas Tuchel, getting bounced from the DFB-Pokal and Champions League, a locker room fight, and the fall from first place in the Bundesliga.

According to a report from Sport Bild journos Tobi Altschäffl and Christian Falk (as captured by Twitter account @iMiaSanMia), both Tel and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting will both be at the club next season, with the plan being to bring in a new striker, Choupo becoming the reserve striker again, and Tel being an option on the wing.

Thiago Alcantara was battling through injuries and had already indicated that he might be seeking to move on, but the tandem of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka had started to emerge as quite the partnership — one that could conceivably rule to roost for club and country.

The public reason given was that the move was to protect the team’s chances at winning all three trophies this season. But that is too obvious, too facile. Every choice made at a sports club should be made to deliver better results on the pitch. There is no reason to doubt that the decision was made in the hope of better results but that tells us nothing. What we want to know is why the club decided that Nagelsmann didn’t give them the best chance of delivering optimal results.

Here are our talking points from the game:

A second half onslaught and fightback from Mainz saw the home side triumph to a 3-1 victory, keeping the Bundesliga title race well and truly alive between Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. Goals from Ludovic Ajorque (65’), Leandro Barreiro (73’) and Aaron Caricol (79’) rounded out the three points for Bo Svensson’s side, who were well deserving of the result with their second half fight. From Bayern’s point of view, it was yet another Bundesliga lead blown and they absolutely fell apart after Ajorque had equalized.