Bayern on cruise control, 2:0 against Braunschweig

2:0

A game of two halves. After an impressive first 45 minutes, FC Bayern slowed down and gave Eintracht Braunschweig a decent chance to get back into the game on Saturday, but still turned out a 2:0 win.

First half: total domination

Most of the first half can easily be described with this line: Bayern had 80% possession and it settled down with the ball, passing it around until it found a way to venture forward for a strike.

The first goal went it fast when Robben went forward, thanks to a great aerial pass by Götze (2'). He would repeat this kind of combination with Toni Kroos 28 minutes later.

Aside from Robben’s chances, Dante had a great one off a corner, but he was unlucky since his header was cleared off the line by a defender (22').

Braunschweig rarely tried to go forward, not being able to register a shot. They were also punished with dangerous counters by Bayern. The gulf in class between the two teams couldn’t be more obvious with Bayern having the ball 79% of the time and winning 59% of challenges.

Thiago was very sharp with his passes, completing 66 of them while the whole of the Braunschweig team only had 7 more.

This thing with Javi pulling back a lot as a DM seemed to work once again.

Second half: sleepy

We cannot say that the second half was the most entertaining. FCB was a bit flat and Manuel Neuer became more aggressive, coming out of his net to stop Braunschweig’s counterattacks.

We nearly conceded off a corner, not providing good coverage. Thankfully, the ball went wide. In the 72th minute, Neuer came out to stop a counter, but it still resulted in a shot against the empty goal, saved by Alaba who stuck his foot out beautifully. A deflected free kick later on also made us look terrible when it hit the crossbar.

Braunschweig played a little better defensively, with better positioning and more pressing while the Reds were a bit more casual.

The spin

Despite a great start, it looks like motivation went down in the second half. It’s not a big worry but this is not something FCB can afford to do against better teams. Man of the match: Arjen Robben, natürlich. Much needed: a game or two on the bench for Müller.

Goals

1:0 Robben receives a pass from Götze, controls with his foot, shoots, then takes his own rebound to put the header in (2')

2:0 Robben receives a pass from Kroos on the right, turns around, cuts in and scores a his classic lefted foot goal (30')

Key reactions

Pep Talk: “Robben is very important and scores many goals. Braunschweig had several opportunities. The Bundesliga is a very difficult league.”

Arjen Robben: “We had a tough match and trip in Moscow. If you come back here and play on a good pitch, it makes it fun.”

Lineups

Bayern – Braunschweig analysis in statistics (week 14)

Statistics don’t always tell the full story of a match. What looks mostly positive from FC Bayern’s 2:0 against Braunschweig on Saturday is easily offset by defensive mistakes.

The good

Thiago

He had a very strong passing game: 149 touches, 122 passes completed.

Passing accuracy

90% completion is a monster number. Toni Kroos served up 4 key passes for scoring chances.

Air domination

72% of challenges won. You will rarely see a better number.

The bad

Thomas Müller

He didn’t have a good game. No shots on goal, one big miss in the area and he turned the ball over three times, in addition to going offside twice. Pep was right to yank him out.

Weak on the right

This graphic shows where we failed to challenge Braunschweig properly. Mostly on the right side.

Inaccurate crosses

5 out of 19 were successful. This graphic shows us how we failed at reaching someone in the area.