Bayern Notches 2-0 Win as Ribery Shreds Hoffenheim

The injury to Müller is the immediate concern - we don't have any word on his status, but we'll check back in as soon as details become available. Aside from that, this was a decent performance, with the midfield duo of Martinez and Schweinsteiger really seizing control. The forwards (well, mainly Ribery) did enough to power us to a win, but there were some plays left on the field.

For as long as I've been watching this team, there's been a fine line between "aggressive play" and "selfishness." Ordinarily, I try not to be too critical when forwards look to shoot whenever they have a chance. But today, I think there were at least 3 cases when a guy had a free-running teammate he could have found and instead chose to shoot or try to take on defenders himself. In a match against an elite opponent, this could come back to haunt us. But, again, when a player makes a selfish decision and scores, no one calls him selfish - it's just "a strong, aggressive move to the goal."

In the first 15 minutes or so, we weren't doing enough to pressure the goal, but what we saw out of Bastian + Javi was very promising. We already know they can both pass, but there was a little more toughness and assertiveness going after loose balls today. About 19 minute in, Ribery took a pass on the left flank, faked a move to the inside, and went back to the short left to create some space for a shot:

Given the lack of any consistent threats from Hoffenheim, it felt like this goal might have been enough. But, of course, with some recent defensive lapses fresh in Bayern supporters' minds, and with Neuer's propensity to venture out of the net needlessly, it always feels better once you get the 2nd. We had to wait a while, though, as out best remaining 1st-half chance came through a beautiful pass from Bastian to Ribery, who declined a pass to an open man and then sent his shot wide.

After the break, though, we didn't have to wait long:

All respect to Kroos - after a stumble, it would have been easy to get frustrated and lose track of the ball, but he stuck with it and found a good second option. And Ribery put the perfect inward bend on the shot, giving Casteels no chance.

Back with more later, looks like Schalke also won decisively. A good performance, considering Tommy had to leave early and Kroos went down hard for a minute, too. We'll update injury status as soon as we can. Thanks for reading.