Lothar Matthäus: Bayern Munich overconfident after 7-2 win over Tottenham

Hindsight is 20/20, but prior to the match kicking off, no one saw Bayern Munich’s 7-2 demolition of Tottenham in the Champions League coming. Of course, Tottenham has really been struggling in the Premier League this season, but a win by such a margin for Bayern was a huge statement to the rest of the teams in the Champions League. It was, without a doubt, one of Bayern’s best performances of the season, but Lothar Matthäus feels that the team may have gotten a bit carried away with the result moving forward.

In his column for Sky Sports Germany (via AZ), Matthäus suggested that Bayern took too much away from their 7-2 win in North London against a mediocre Tottenham side:

The historic Champions League victory in London was perhaps deceptive and many congratulated themselves too much. As we now see, Tottenham is a mediocre team this year. They’re only seventh in the Premier League, parted with the last place team with a draw this weekend, and also took only a point away from Piraeus in the Champions League.

Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images

After the Tottenham win, Bayern suffered a 2-1 loss to Hoffenheim and then the 2-2 draw at Augsburg, two frustrating results, especially after such a strong performance in the Champions League. While Niko Kovac took the brunt of the criticism after the two poor results, Matthäus also feels that the players also underperformed:

Of coures the coach comes in for criticism when you lose to Hoffenheim and then draw with Augsburg after such a high away victory in Europe. But should I blame Niko Kovac now because Coutinho shot straight at the keeper from five meters away in Augsburg?

With respect to Thomas Müller, who has been benched for six consecutive matches, Matthäus feels that Kovac could have dealt with the situation with more “tact”:

His treatment of Thomas Müller lacks perhaps some delicateness. Kovac himself knows that his statement two weeks ago was infelicitous. I would have done things differently over the weekend and started him in Augsburg after five games on the bench. Everyone would have understood that.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images