Bayern world champion with a 2:0 win against Raja

World Champions! FC Bayern wins 2:0 against Raja Casablanca in the Club World Cup final, fielding a different formation with impressive early results but a casual second half.

First half: powerful

Surprise, surprise. Pep Guardiola started a 4-2-3-1 formation that played some of the most composed football that we have seen this season. Toni Kroos and Philipp Lahm acted as defensive midfielders, with Thiago going forward as a playmaker, Thomas Müller as false nine and Xherdan Shaqiri on the right wing.

The attack started very well, changing directions all the time and making it hard for Raja to follow. We benefited from a few easy interceptions early on.

The 4-2-3-1 was very effective in stopping most of Raja’s counterattacks, making sure that one of their biggest strengths was easily canceled. With our control, they didn’t get to have their usual free kicks either.

Individually, David Alaba showed some pure brilliance. He tore up the left side and served many quality cutback passes in the area, notably the 2:0 rocket scored by Thiago.

After 20 minutes, Bayern started doing some of its one-touch passing, not giving Raja much of a chance to get anything going.

A few dangerous attacks were weathered late in the half but Bayern was lucky. Manuel Neuer left his goal on the left and made a pass that was easily intercepted. Luckily, the shot was just wide of the goal.

Thiago was very effective as a playmaker, mixing well with Alaba on the left and Shaqiri on the right. I definitely saw chemistry there.

Second half: snoring

A few of Raja’s early attacks created chances but Neuer wasn’t fooled and the defence held up. For a few minutes, FCB focused on passing the ball around to tire out the opposition, not conceding possession easily.

We almost put in the crucial third goal in the 62th minute. Lahm served a perfect cross from the right to Shaqiri, but his shot from a short range was so high that he hit the crossbar.

In the following minutes, FCB tried to kill off the game simply by out possessing Raja, who tried their best at attacking and came close to creating scoring chances. At 2:0, this kind of game plan is hard to understand.

As if to prove us right, a terrible back pass by Dante almost made us pay, Raja being gifted a great chance (83') that was saved by Neuer, with a rebound being shot in the sky. Koanplacency, we said it before.

Goals

1:0 Boateng controls a Shaqiri corner down and forward to Dante, who is alone in the area to send it in (7')

2:0 Alaba dribbles in the area, loses his footing but cuts back to Thiago who sends it right and in (22')

Lineups

Five defenders Bayern should consider in January

Given the rate that Bayern Munich wins games, it seems odd to say that the Bavarian giants have defensive issues. However, despite Bayern’s ability to grind out wins, the last few weeks especially have shown suspect defending to say the least.

It doesn’t make any sense on paper. Bayern’s starting backline when everyone is healthy and fit is the kind of backline most teams dream of. Lahm, Dante, Boateng, and Alaba are all world-class individuals capable of playing at a very high level.

The key word here is “capable”.

Inconsistency

The defenders who normally hold down Bayern’s impressive backline are either inconsistent, out of form, or moved to a new position on the field entirely. Dante has not been able to replicate his world-class form from last season on a consistent basis, and Austrian sensation David Alaba sometimes forgets that while his runs down the left wing are appreciated, he needs to remember that he is a defender first and foremost.

Lahm has not lost a step since last season, but the Captain of Die Roten has been shifted into defensive midfield to compensate for previous injuries to Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Lahm’s stay in defensive midfield has lasted longer than many expected, especially since the return of Javi Martinez, but Lahm’s excellence in midfield is hard to ignore. It’s equally hard to ignore the strides Rafinha has made as a right-back. That said, most Bayern fans, including myself, are hoping that Lahm will be reintegrated into the defense as soon as possible.

Perhaps the best part of Bayern’s defense has been the overly criticized Jérôme Boateng, who since last spring has probably been Bayern’s best center-back. But the German international needs a rest now and again, and made has made some rather silly errors in the last few games. Jan Kirchhoff has played so few games since coming back from his injury, and it looks likely that the young German will be sent on loan in January.

With Dante’s form somewhat questionable and Boateng’s occasional lapses, January might be the right time for Bayern Munich to invest in a new defender who can rotate with their two mainstays and provide some competition to get back to their best.

Five options

Here are five options for Bayern to consider in January. Their stats come from whoscored.com and market values from TransferMarkt.

Mehdi Benatia
Current Club: AS Roma
Nationality: Morocco
Age: 26
Market Value: 16 M€

Standing at 188cm tall is current AS Roma defender Mehdi Benatia, who has helped give Roma one of the best defenses in Italy. The 26 year old Moroccan has been a lynchpin in Roma’s unprecedented run that gave them the top spot in Serie A for the start of the campaign.

In 15 appearances, Benatia has averaged 2.2 tackles per game, 3.1 interceptions per game, and given 5.8 clearances per game, which are impressive stats for any center-back.

Guardiola is a coach who likes to build up the attack from the back, so the Moroccan’s pass completion rate of 88.6% wouldn’t hurt him either, in fact it’s even a bit better than Boateng’s 88.2% pass completion rate. (Yet still not as good as Dante’s 91.4% pass completion rate.)

A few drawbacks he may have is that he averages 42.8 passes per game, which might not work for Guardiola. There’s also some questions as to if he can keep up with the occasional highline defense used. But as it stands, it would be hard to find a more defensively solid option than Mehdi Benatia.

Can the Bavarians pry him away from AS Roma in January? It’s doubtful that the Italian club will want to sell their defensive rock, but it’s certainly worth sounding out to Benatia’s camp and seeing if he’s interested.

Eliaquim Mangala
Current Club: FC Porto
Nationality: France
Age: 22
Market Value: 20 M€

Eliaquim Mangala is another towering center-back, only he has been plying his trade in Portugal with FC Porto. Mangala is a defender who has likely caught the eyes of many clubs, and at the age of 22 has become a mainstay starter at one of the best clubs in Portugal.

Standing at 187cm, the Frenchman has averaged 1.2 tackles a game, 1 interception a game, and 4.2 clearances per game. These stats are not exactly setting Europe on fire, but they’re not exactly bad for such a young player with that kind of potential.

Mangala would be a long-term investment, but is also expensive and perhaps not ready to take over and challenge Dante or Boateng for a spot in the starting XI. If Bayern decide to gamble on Mangala, they should do so with some caution.

Jeison Murillo
Current Club: Granada
Nationality: Colombia
Age: 21
Market Value: 1 M€

Jeison Murillo is one of the more exciting defensive prospects in Spain right now, despite the fact that Granada doesn’t hit very high in the La Liga table and has a -5 goal differential. Most of that can be chalked up to the fact that Granada’s offense isn’t very good, having only scored 12 goals this season.

Despite all that, Murillo has an impressive personal record. The Colombian averages 2.1 tackles per game, 2.4 interceptions per game, and 6 clearances per game. Not bad for a 21 year old defender.

Again, his drawback could be that he only averages 33.4 passes per game, but his 84.4% pass completion rate is far from terrible. With some work, Pep Guardiola could turn Murillo into a Guardiola defender.

The Colombian comes with the advantages of not being cup tied, being young, being cheap, and seems to be adaptable to the Bayern system. It would be worth Bayern’s time to investigate into the availability of Murillo.

Fabian Lustenberger
Current Club: Hertha Berlin
Nationality: Switzerland
Age: 25
Market Value: 3.2 M€

Bayern has sent so many players to Hertha over the years that perhaps its time they return the favour and send one of their defenders to Bavaria. Over the years, Lustenberger has become one of the better defenders of the club and has an impressive statistical resume.

The Swiss international has an average of 3.3 tackles per game, an average of 3.3 interceptions per game, and an average of 5.9 clearances per game which gives him some of the more impressive personal statistics on this list. He also averages more passes than most defenders with 51.5 passes per game with an 85.9% success rate. He’s also versatile having played a few stints as a defensive midfielder, which is a quality Guardiola enjoys.

Lustenberger would likely make a good fit in Bavaria, he’s reaching his peak as a player, and he’s not very expensive. If he can be tempted into joining Munich, then it’s an option worth exploring.

Fabian Schar
Current Club: FC Basel
Nationality: Switzerland
Age: 22
Market Value: 6 M€

Two Swiss players with the first name Fabian have managed to get onto this list, and both are impressive enough statistically to warrant consideration. Fabian Schar is a Swiss center-back who you may remember from his impressive performances against Chelsea in the Champions League. Even though Basel did not progress in the Champions League, Schar still had an impressive tournament.

So far, Schar has registered 3.3 tackles per game, 4 interceptions, and 6.7 clearances. Once again, we’re looking at some impressive stats for a 22 year old. He makes 54.3 passes per game with a slightly less than desirable 79.4% completion rate, but if Guardiola wants to invest in someone young, it’s worth the risk and his passing can be improved.

Schar is another player who is young, talented, not very expensive, and could potentially push Dante and Boateng to work over the course of the next year.

Starting from the middle

If Bayern are going to bolster their defense, they’re going to have to start from the middle, and there are plenty of options available to them in the January transfer market. If the recent games against Manchester City and even Hamburg have taught us, it’s that Bayern’s defense is looking thinner and less confident that usual.

Bayern should choose to lock-up another center-back in January, and these are five options that they should at least consider.