Five observations from Bayern Munich’s title-winning 2-1 victory over FC Koln

In a thrilling Matchday 34 unlike any other we have seen in the past decade, Bayern Munich faced FC Koln, hoping to walk out the game with a win and resultantly the Meisterschale, as supposed to already having the title in their pockets. The impending threat of a Borussia Dortmund win loomed on the horizon, but the Yellow Wall was massively let down. Here’s the match observations from Bayern’s title-winning 2-1 win against Koln away from home.

Congratulations on #11!

On June 7, 1969, Bayern faced Hannover on the final matchday and lifted their maiden title. One could say the team hasn’t looked back even once since that fateful day. After what has only felt like eternity, Bayern have finally lifted their 11th straight Bundesliga title, making a total of 33 Bundesliga titles since the team first played in the league in 1965.

It has been a fair few decades and the team has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows (in Bavarian standards). Even if this year’s performances pale in comparison to what the team has accomplished over the past several decades, they still deserve due appreciation and respect. Title’s a title! And eleven in a row is huge, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

Alright, that’s enough positivity for now.

Circumstances

Before all of you come at me and accuse me of being a negative Nancy, hear me out. The team has been an utter disappointment inside out.

The season began with a lot of expectations on its shoulders — the entry of Sadio Mane, the new additions in midfield and defense and most importantly, the sheer determination the team had. As the season went on, the Bavarians let down themselves and everyone around. Circumstances were rather undesirable and some players were simply far too subpar to even deserve a place on the roster. Plagued by injuries and plain misfortune, things weren’t necessarily looking great for the Bavarians for the most part. Along the way, fans had come to find their trust in a certain few — Joshua Kimmich, Noussair Mazraoui, Joao Cancelo, Matthijs de Ligt, Jamal Musiala, to name a few.

Tonight was disappointing even with such players. The generally dependable centre-back pairing with Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upamecano found themselves in a mess every other second, the full-backs didn’t do much and in general, the team were unable to hold on to the ball for more than a few seconds. Koln aren’t a pressing machine by any standards either! The sad reality was that Thomas Muller and Leroy Sane had more defensive contributions than the defenders themselves. Pavard has yet again, started to look like his usual “one foot out the door” self.

There is only so much you can expect from the overburdened midfield duo of Joshua Kimmich and Ryan Gravenberch. The former Ajax man entered with a lot expected of him and was simply provided barely any chances despite a horribly underperforming Leon Goretzka. The attack was a hit and a miss, with a decent game from both the wingers in Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane. Thomas Muller, has yet again, been let down. I wait for the day a coach comes to his senses and learns to extract the maximum results out of him.

Serge Gnabry… is an interesting topic. I wish not to comment for the sake of maintaining a child-friendly environment.

Jamal Musiala is worth the entire market value of Bayern and no one can make me think otherwise. Coming on as an impact sub, providing a pair of fresh legs and scoring the most crucial goal of the season — only Musiala things! There is no other player worth celebrating this victory for.

I guess you could say this game was 93 minutes of disappointment…and 2 minutes of Musiala.

The ins and outs

The season’s over finally, so let’s get to what matters now — who is staying and who is leaving?

So as to not incite war, I will leave it to you, dear readers!

But someone please get Gnabry and Mane out at the earliest, I beg!

The sackings of Oliver Kahn and Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic come as no shock, but this topic is beyond the scope of discussion.

JN vs TT — the blame game

Every manager has their own pluses and minuses and there’s only a billion factors playing into a manager’s success. Thomas Tuchel deserves some patience and Julian Nagelsmann deserves some appreciation for all that he’s done for the team.

Bottom line: the ‘schale belongs to Nagelsmann as much as it does to Tuchel and the team.

Auf wiedersehen!

I am sad to report that in my years as a Bayern fan, this is the first time I am relieved that the season is ending. Time without Bayern has only driven me crazy in the past but if I spend any more time watching the team self-sabotage at every juncture…

A few months without the team might actually do some good. But for now, let us all just celebrate a trophy. Whether or not we deserved it. Let’s do it for Musiala. For Muller. For Kimmich. For the defense (who have been great until today). And most importantly, for Bayern. Mia San Mia! See you all next season!

Can’t get enough analysis of this insane sequence of events at Bayern Munich? Well, then check out our latest podcast episode! In this special recording session we talk about Bayerns shaky performance vs Koln, the ruthless sacking of Oliver Kahn and Brazzo, concerns about entering the summer without a sporting director, the drama surrounding everything, and implications for player contracts like Davies and Musiala. Listen to it below or on Spotify.

As always, we appreciate all the support!