Five Observations: Bayern finally win Supercup, beat Dortmund 2-0

Carlo Ancelotti: Calm, Quiet and Composed

In about the 20th minute, Bayern skied a cross over every player in the box, and the ball found its way out of bounds untouched. The camera immediately panned over to Ancelotti on the sidelines, presumably to capture his immediate reaction. Unfortunately for them, there was none.

Where former manager Pep Guardiola would’ve have used the dead-ball to shout instructions and corrections at his players, Ancelotti just sat back. It’ll be interesting to see whether this is just how he is, or whether he’s also just in preseason form and saving the screaming for the more important games.

Franck Ribery’s short fuse is going to cost Bayern

It may not have been today, it may not be next week, it may not even be this calendar year, but eventually Ribery’s inability to keep his emotions in check will cost Bayern a win. He should have been sent off in the DFB-Pokal final, he could’ve been sent off in the UCL final in 2013 and you could make a case he should’ve been sent off today.

At this point it should be part of every teams game-plan to pester him until he loses his cool. If he doesn’t have at least a yellow card at the end of the match, you’ve probably done something wrong.

Midfield dominance

In years past, there was always an insistence to “dominate the midfield.” Start by playing the ball out of the back, go through the middle and work your way forward. If no openings were found, the team went back into the midfield and started again.

Today, Bayern certainly didn’t dominate the midfield. They seemed inpatient in their build-up play and tried many long balls that had no hope of getting to anyone. Their midfield left too many holes on defense and looked off-balance on offense.

For a side that looked so in control last year, it was certainly odd to see them struggle today.

Shaky...everything?

Bayern certainly didn’t look great for a team that kicks their season off in just a few short days. While it’s easy to say that this is just a glorified pre-season game, when the Bundesliga kicks off on the 26th, the team needs to be on, because as we saw tonight, Dortmund certainly isn’t going to make winning a fifth consecutive title easy.

There were obviously individual performances that you could point to and portray in a positive light. Manuel Neuer and Javi Martinez come to mind, but as a unit this team needs to perform better.

Ancelotti vs Guardiola

Super Cup Records:

Ancelotti: 1-0
Guardiola: 0-3

Coincidence? Probably n-- Yeah, probably.