Five Observations from Bayern’s 5-0 win in the DFB Pokal

Not a bad first half, actually!

Jena put up a decent fight, especially in the first thirty minutes. Sure, if Bayern’s finishing is a little better the team goes into half-time up by four or five, but Jena certainly didn’t park the bus, and they were brave going forward. Surely that’s something Bayern will respect, and it even led to some half chances for Jena.

The first five minutes of the second half were especially bright, and they almost shortened the lead to 3-1, but a potentially dangerous shot was blocked by Javi Martinez.

Joshua Kimmich’s first touch...

Needs some work. The ball often times jumps off his foot and bounces dangerously far ahead of him. Instead of being able to take his time on the ball, it forces him to scramble quickly so he doesn’t lose possession. If his goal is to eventually take over for someone like Xabi Alonso and become Bayern’s next deep-lying playmaker, he’ll need to be extremely secure on the ball. At only 21, he has plenty of time to iron the problem out, but nonetheless it’s something to keep an eye on.

Offense vs Defense

The defensive shape seemed to be the one that was on the team sheet, with everyone occupying the spaces that were given to them. On offense, though, it looked like Rafinha pushed forward to join the attack and provide width at times, while Joshua Kimmich dropped back to cover the defensive right-back duties.

It’ll be interesting to see if this is a tactic Carlo Ancelotti will use when he has his full first team available to him, or if this was just a one-time thing. It certainly sounds like an interesting idea, but if one were to assume that a first-team midfield includes Xabi Alonso, Thiago and Arturo Vidal, it’s hard to imagine one of them dropping back to play right-back so Philipp Lahm can provide width in attack.

Finally a set-piece threat

In recent years Bayern never really threatened anyone on set-pieces. Other than the occasional free-kick goal by David Alaba or Xabi Alonso, deliveries into the box never really did much for the team. Mats Hummels is going to make sure that that’s no longer the case.

In two games he has already directly contributed to two set piece goals, collecting an assist against his former club on Sunday, and his first competitive goal for Bayern off of a header today.

Could Fabian Benko break through?

Benko came on late for Arturo Vidal and looked quite good. Though it was against a tired fourth division side, he looked calm on the ball and good in possession, not afraid of making a move against an opponent to create space for himself.

While he didn’t feature on the bench last Sunday, he did make the trip to Dortmund for the Super Cup and featured heavily during the preseason tour in America. It would be very exciting if Benko could sneak his way into some real first team minutes this year, especially since Bayern haven’t had an academy product establish himself as a regular member since David Alaba was able to do it five years ago.