Bayern Munich never get out of first gear; still win 4-0 over Hannover 96

This was a game Bayern Munich were expected to win as Hannover have had their struggles all season while Bayern Munich have been absolutely cruising through the Bundesliga. I don't think we expected that Bayern Munich would stick this entire game in first gear and still dominate this match are thoroughly as they did.

A great long ball from Bastian Schweinsteiger opened the scoring in the 25th minute when he played a long ball out of the back straight to Rafinha whose cross found the wide open Thomas Müller's head. Thiago added a second in the 34th minute off a great longball, once again from Shweinsteiger, that the Spaniard volleyed past Ron-Robert Zieler with aplomb. Bayern were well and truly on their way to dominating the game before Thomas Müller and Mario Mandzukic added the third and fourth goals early in the second half before the game cruised to it's almost inevitable feeling conclusion.

Some immediate thoughts from today's match

• The last these two sides played, Hannover came in with a counterattack based gameplan and managed to put together 12 shots in a game that was a lot closer then the 2-0 final scoreline indicated. Today, they had very little in the way of a substantive gameplan. The most nervy times in this match came from errors on the part of Bayern Munich keeper Tom Starke. It wasn't until they were staring 4-0 in the face in the 80th minute that Hannover put together their first really cohesive attack of the game.
• Bastian Schweinsteiger started, played 70 minutes and was absolutely fantastic. He put high quality long balls into the attacking box to generate the first two goals of the match, getting the assist on the second goal.
• Javi Martinez had 113 touches, made 3 tackles, 4 interceptions and made 14 clearances. This was easily his best game as a centerback under Pep Guardiola. His partnership with Boateng was a nightmare for the Hannover offense who were continually offside in the first half as they couldn't adjust to the Bayern high-line.
• Tom Starke was not good. His decision making at times was rather hesitant and odd. He needs to either step it up in practice or he may find himself backing up Lukas Raeder come April/May
• The real Thomas Müller is back guys. Enough said.