In the center of one of Norway's richest cities, the club boss took the microphone after midnight. “There are nicer evenings to give a speech,” said Jan-Christian Dreesen at the FC Bayern banquet in the ballroom of the Radisson Blu Atlantic hotel in Stavanger.
The coaches, players and guests of honor of the German record champions sat at the tables in front of the chairman. After the 3:3 (0:2) at Viking Stavanger in the second game of the Champions League, no one from the Munich entourage was in a celebratory mood. “We had imagined this trip differently,” said Dreesen. There were unnecessary mistakes that “we don’t want to see.”
First 2-2 in the Bundesliga at FC Augsburg, now just one point at the outsiders in the premier class. Two disappointments in four days. Only third in the Bundesliga and fourth in the Champions League table. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany is currently getting to know the word that probably only exists in German football: results crisis.
Bayern are a mystery to themselves. On this special night in Norway, three words were repeatedly used by those in charge and players that were not heard so often in the world club: mistake, unnecessary and alarm. The team is currently lacking the cleverness and concentration that usually characterizes them. And the error rate is far too high for their demands. The driving spirit is currently running through the competitions. This alarms Bavaria.
Kompany said after the final whistle of the game played on artificial turf that he would not sleep well. At the press conference after the game, WELT asked him what particularly annoyed him about his team's game. Kompany's answer said a lot.
The Belgian is known for speaking plainly internally after points have been lost, but always putting himself in front of his players in public. After the missed victory in Norway, Kompany spoke of a crisis in results without using the word: "It's a valley in a season."
The boss sounds the alarm. To ensure that his team doesn't slip into a real crisis, he is putting pressure on him publicly: "Everyone saw the two early goals conceded. Everyone saw the yellow-red card. Everyone saw that we brought this on ourselves. You can't sugarcoat it, you have to show the reaction on the pitch." He obviously wants to sharpen the focus of his players. Those in charge of the club like that. They now think it is necessary.
Kompany had already spoken plainly in the first television interviews: "It's our own fault. We're very superior, even last weekend. The substance isn't that bad, but it's total lapses in concentration. We just weren't smart - not against Augsburg, where we conceded a goal after eight seconds, and not today, where we conceded a goal after a minute and a half, where we actually have to play the first ball out of the corner. Then a bit of arrogance comes in and at the moment every chance is a goal for the opponent. But we create these moments ourselves.”
He had changed his starting eleven to six positions - and yet a lot was still missing. The “second line” around defenders Minjae Kim and Tom Bischof did not work satisfactorily; Despite all their strengths, the additions Nathaniel Brown and Ismael Saibari still need some time to get used to it.
In Norway, Bayern were without Manuel Neuer and Aleksandar Pavlovic, who according to the club were injured, and Jamal Musiala is not yet fit again after his injury. Lennart Karl, who Kompany let play from the start in Stavanger, is obviously lacking rhythm and commitment to the game after his injury break. This means there is a lack of efficiency in the game on both flanks.
In Augsburg, Munich conceded the fastest Bundesliga goal after 8.4 seconds. In Stavanger, Gianni Stensness celebrated in front of 15,466 spectators after 71 seconds. Bayern's reaction after the 0:2 - Peter Christiansen (38th) increased for the Norwegian champions - was right. After goals from Harry Kane (54'/foul penalty, 60') and Luis Díaz (71'), they led and turned the game around within 17 minutes. Then Michael Olise received a yellow-red card - the offensive star had allowed himself to be provoked by former Fürth player Zlatko Tripic and thrown the ball into his face.
Being outnumbered, his team conceded the 3:3, Herman Haugen scored. “If you make another mistake at a crucial moment, you will be punished,” Kane summed it up. Kompany said they had “shot themselves in the foot with this red card”.
Is there a punishment for Olise? Sports director Max Eberl held back. This will be discussed “in peace,” said the 53-year-old. Like Dreesen and Kompany, Eberl was angry. “There are too many mistakes and then you can’t win here in Stavanger either,” he said. "That's not the level of our team. Our level in the team is different. We can't get that on the pitch at the moment," said the sports director. 13:3 shots on goal and 73 to 27 percent ball possession documented Bayern's superiority. "I'm not saying we're not investing. I'm not saying we don't have any chances to score. But two goals from Augsburg and three goals from Stavanger speak for themselves."
What is it about? "It doesn't just have to do with the defense. It has to do with attentiveness, with the willingness to do my job," said Eberl. "When we're on the attack, not everyone has to help shape the attack. Then there are those who have to be careful that we don't eat up a counterattack."
The people of Munich have to improve quickly. On Saturday (6.30 p.m., Sky and in the live ticker on WELT) they will host RB Leipzig in the top game of the league. “You have to acknowledge that something is missing at the moment,” said captain Joshua Kimmich. You make too many mistakes.
"I don't know if you remember," the national player said after the game in an interview with reporters, "but I said relatively early in the season that I had the feeling that we weren't at our top level yet. I'm still feeling that at the moment. Internally, I'm on alert," emphasized Kimmich. "But externally or internally within the troops, I have great confidence that we can change this again quickly. But we have to start changing it."
Without Kane's accuracy, his team might even have lost. It was the ninth Champions League game in a row with at least one goal from the striker. Only record holder Cristiano Ronaldo (eleven) can top that. Kane calls for his team's performance to improve against Leipzig: "We now have the chance to show a reaction. No season is perfect. Now that we have drawn twice in a row, it is up to us as players to take responsibility for it."
This should help ensure that the words “mistake”, “unnecessary” and “alarm” will soon no longer be used so often at FC Bayern.
