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How Kompany turned Bayern into a formidable force
On Saturday afternoon Atalanta suffered the first loss of their Serie A campaign, succumbing to Udinese in a rather lacklustre affair. A few hours later, Bayern Munich beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in decisive fashion.
These two events may seem unrelated, but they meant that Bayern have become the only unbeaten team across the top five leagues in Europe. They have made a 100% start in the Bundesliga - nine wins in nine games, with only four goals conceded.
One might say that the Bundesliga doesn't pose a challenge to Bayern but looking back at the previous three seasons, we must realise that they were challenged quite a bit by Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, to the point that they edged to the title in the final minutes of the 2022-23 season and lost it a year later to Leverkusen.
There is a reason that Bayern's coaching office seemingly had a revolving door for a while. Two weeks ago, Vincent Kompany, the current manager, extended his contract until 2029, making him the first Bayern boss since Louis van Gaal in 2010 to sign an early contract extension.
Longevity and continuity had been lacking in regards to their managerial post before Kompany's arrival. And the Belgian certainly appeared to be an unlikely candidate to bring a feeling of euphoria back.
While they still managed to win championships under Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel and others, the absence from the Champions League final stung Bayern's higher-ups and fans who have the aspiration that their team belong among the best in the world.
With Kompany at the helm, the serial German champions may manage to return to the biggest stage of club football in the foreseeable future.
What was scary about Bayern's win over Leverkusen was Kompany's chosen line-up. Instead of picking his best players, he focused on load management for Harry Kane and others, employing a number of bench players including 17-year-old Lennart Karl, an attacking midfielder with an incredible left foot.
Kane, Michael Olise and Luis Diaz watched from the sideline as their team-mates dismantled Leverkusen's defence. Bayern led 3-0 at half-time and then really took their foot off the gas.
Granted, Leverkusen, who sacked manager Erik ten Hag only a few weeks into the season, still need to rebuild their team after the departures of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Granit Xhaka. And yet, no-one expected such a degree of dominance in the game.
With their win over Leverkusen Bayern have already managed to beat their three most potent challengers - RB Leipzig and Dortmund being the others.
The gap to second-placed Leipzig, who have gone on quite the run after losing 6-0 to Bayern on the first matchday, is only five points, but Kompany's side still might focus a little more on the tasks ahead in the Champions League.
Kompany was able to rest some of his key players at the weekend, especially helpful given the small squad he has, and can travel to Paris St-Germain on Tuesday with the hope of bringing down the French giants. After beating Chelsea 3-1 in mid-September, it will be another great test for Kompany and his team.
Manchester City great Kompany played three seasons under Pep Guardiola towards the end of his career. And one can really see a lot of Guardiola in the way the former centre-back and his assistants approach ball possession and how they set up attacking plays. Positional play and the rotation within the formation are key to letting the ball circulate almost effortlessly.
Last season, Kompany already attempted to introduce positional patterns, in that his players were asked to occupy certain zones or lanes, but this year, players rotate from zone to zone more frequently, which makes it harder for defences to cover without leaving any gaps towards and into the penalty area.
Now, this is not completely unheard of when it comes to Bayern's offensive approach. Guardiola himself implemented similar patterns after his arrival in 2013, but the Catalan failed to lead them to the Champions League final despite making real progress. During Guardiola's three-year spell he brought in midfielder Joshua Kimmich, one of the most promising German players at the time.
Kimmich is still with Bayern and might have an explanation as to why the team look even more fearsome than back then.
"When I joined 10 years ago, we were equipped with incredible individual quality. We had 23, 24, 25 world-class players," he said on Saturday.
But when I now see how we as a team function and are happy together and for one another, when I see how we bring these principles to the field, how one runs for the other, then this is very special. That has not been the case so often. It was different 10 years ago. Then, we had more egoism within the team.
Kane, in particular, represents a form of humility regardless of success.
The England captain is the Bundesliga's top scorer and has already racked up 22 goals in 15 games across club competitions this season, but he is not one to show any arrogance.
Along with Diaz, Kane has attempted 30 shots in the Bundesliga this season, the joint-highest total in the division.
During the summer, reports about internal turmoil at Bayern emerged, with Max Eberl, the man in charge of the club's transfer business, at the centre of attention. It seemed like the usual Bayern drama, but once the season started and the team began to perform at such a high level led by a level-headed manager, all the noise disappeared.
Bayern might drop their first points in the Champions League very soon, possibly even on Tuesday.
But Kompany leads his players in the right direction with the right attitude. And keep in mind, Jamal Musiala, Bayern's generational playmaker, and left-back Alphonso Davies will return at some point during the season and make this team even stronger.
Source: BBC
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