The match went the way that many of us anticipated, and Bayern Munich conducted around Schalke to the song of a 5-0 score. While it felt like Schalke was hanging as particular breaks went their way during the first half, Thomas Müller’s stoppage-time target gave Bayern the 2-0 lead and they never looked back. Now, bear in mind, it is the first time I’ve written some complete observations in a while, so let us make sure I bring you something great.
When Bayern signed Davies, there was real (and warranted ) concern among many that the Canadian would not have the ability to find his footing at such an enormous club. Was he great enough to play in the attacking midfield? Was he good enough to play left-back? Can he forever languish as a tweener which was not good enough to play regularly in either place?
Well, I am here to tell you right now, that when Hansi Flick has a complete roster at his disposal, Davies cannot find his way back to the seat.
Since being pressured into left-back (as David Alaba was forced over to center-back) because of accidents, Davies has stepped into the role and, quite frankly, made it his own. His ability to get up and down the left flank with his breakneck pace completely changes how Bayern play and forces the resistance to cede space on the right to help protect against Davies. At one stage in the game, Davies drew two midfielders and two defenders at precisely the exact same time, pulling Schalke’s shape out of sort. This enabled Müller and Benjamin Pavard to have the ball at their feet to get slightly longer while they made decisions on the opposite flank, as Schalke hurried back to cover distance.
Davies’ conclusion in the last third has to continue to improve, but he’s showing signs that he is one of the group’s most dynamic offensive threats, even from left-back. With better ending by his teammates, Davies possibly walks off with a pair of assists to his name.
It is exciting to see a child with so much raw talent to mature into a terrific player.
When you are writing observations, it is fantastic to have the ability to point to specific statistics as facts to back up your argument. Having said that, Thiago seems confident again out there, right?
Kind of man, but the decrease of Thiago throughout the Croatian’s reign in Munich was shocking. Every time that you saw Thiago on the area it seemed like he was there to devote a mean change (at best) at the midfield. It felt just like the spark was gone. Maybe he was beyond it and had a change of scenery to locate it.
But against Schalke, he seemed just like the Thiago of older. On at least two different occasions, Thiago delivered a Schalke player the incorrect direction with the smallest head fake, opening ten-to-twenty yards of open space for the Spaniard to run into. Schalke’s midfield was completely overrun now, by and massive thanks to Thiago’s ability to do what he wanted with the ball when he wanted to do it.
There are few things more exciting from the game than when Robert Lewandowski is about the ball in the opposition’s penalty area. Following his goal against Schalke, the Polish striker has scored 21 goals in 19 Bundesliga matches this season, matching a feat only reached by the best goalscorer of all time, Gerd Müller.
Lewandowski is on track to obliterate his prior high-mark of 30 goals, which he’s attained twice during his time in Bayern. Ten always felt like the hopeless number: just Lewandowski himself (twice) and his erstwhile teammate and rival Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have achieved it since the late 1970s. Still, this year feels different from Lewandowski.
Sure, he is still prone to overlook the occasional”simple” goal (ha!) In the first half of this season, there were instances where Bayern had Lewandowski to score every time because that was the only way the club was likely to have a goal.
So, the question has to be asked for the first time in almost 50 years: Can Robert Lewandowski hit the 40 goal tally in the Bundesliga?
