Five Observations from Bayern Munich’s 2-0 loss to Juventus

Kingsley Coman looked dangerous throughout the second half

Niko Kovac changed up his winger combination tonight. Saturday against Paris Saint-Germain, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery got the start with Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry playing the second half. Against Juventus, Ribery and Gnabry started, and Coman and Robben played the second half. If he sticks to this pattern, we can expect to see Ribery partner with Coman and Robben team with Gnabry against Manchester City.

Of the group of four, Coman looks the most ready to start the season. While his finishing certainly left a lot to be desired tonight, Coman regularly beat his man off the dribble and advanced into dangerous positions. It’s early, but it looks like Coman is going to be hard to beat out for one of the starting positions.

Paul Will looked like a serviceable midfielder once again — Sven Ulreich looked like a backup goalkeeper once again

There’s no way Paul Will has a chance at seeing any minutes for Bayern’s first team this season due to the depth in midfield, but he certainly has looked like a player that could potentially make an impact in the future.

As for Sven Ulreich... Oh boy, Sven. Why are you like this? He opened the match with about half an hour of great goalkeeping, and then he delivers one calamitous play, basically hand-delivering a goal for Juventus. On the second goal, while he can’t really be faulted for it, he sure could’ve done better. Questioning his ability to come out and get the ball, Ulreich hesitated, started to come for it, decided to stay back, and was in a poor position to cut off Andrea Favilli’s shot. Bayern needs better from Sven.

Most of the kids looked like kids playing against professionals

Unlike PSG, Juventus was able to play far more of their regulars against Bayern, and it showed. The cadre of U-19 players were regularly out-muscled in nearly every facet of the game in the first half. Juventus particularly picked on Ryan Johansson who was playing at right back.

The Luxembourgian doesn’t appear to play right back regularly, but due to the absence of the World Cup players, Bayern aren’t left with a ton of options. Kovac stuck to his game plan, however, and gave the starters and non-starters 45 minutes in this one. For Johansson, that meant 45 minutes of being unable to deal with the bigger, stronger, and faster Favilli.

It gets better, kid.

Why didn’t Christian Früchtl play today, Coach?

Ulreich played every minute against PSG. Then, he played 82 minutes against Juventus. Certainly, Kovac was going to bring on the über-talented, future of Bayern and Germany Christian Früchtl!

But, that’s not what happened. Kovac subbed on Ron-Torben Hoffmann. While this is by no means a slight against that kid, everyone wanted to see Früchtl. Honestly, I’d be okay with Hoffmann and Früchtl splitting the Manchester City match, rather than seeing Ulreich again.

Sandro Wagner didn’t offer much up top

I’ve been really disappointed in Sandro Wagner in these first two games. His hold-up play has been basically nonexistent. His first touch has been poor. His passing and shooting has been well off the mark. So, what’s the deal?

Hopefully, it’s just preseason jitters and him playing with a scattershot lineup and some young kids. In his appearances last season for Bayern, he always seemed to hit the mark. He found the right pass or blasted the ball into the back of the net finishing with 9 goals in 14 appearances.

He’ll come around to be the player that we remember from last season. I’m confident.