BFW postseason breakdown: Bayern Munich’s Most Valuable Player

Value can be assessed in a multitude of different ways, and each of us has a different idea about what makes a player valuable to his team. Scoring, play-making, great defense, leadership, those are all attributes that might constitute a player’s value.

As for the BFW staff, we all had different ideas about which player was “most valuable” to the Bayern Munich over the course of the 2018-2019 season, but ultimately the call is up to you and your vote!

Chuck Smith: Thomas Müller

There were plenty of great candidates to assess as the Most Valuable Player for Bayern Munich this season. Robert Lewandowski, Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Süle, and Thiago Alcantara all came to mind, but the player I went with is Thomas Müller. Müller was back to his menacing self this season, creating offense with his intelligent runs, passing, and overall unselfish play. When he was suspended for both legs of Bayern’s tie with Liverpool in the Champions League, the attack lacked cohesion and had far too little bite to beat a squad of Liverpool’s caliber. Müller showed once again what he brings to the table as a producer (nine goals, 16 assists), leader (vice captain), and glue guy for the team.

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Ineednoname: Robert Lewandowski

It doesn’t need much explanation. He’s scored 40 goals and assisted another 13 this season. And even when he doesn’t score, he’s always working hard for the team, and his hold-up play is second to none. I don’t know where we’d be without him.

John N. Dillon: Kingsley Coman

Everything changed for Bayern Munich this season when Kingsley Coman finally recovered from injury. It’s no coincidence that the team slumped when he was hurt and thrived when he returned. His performances were generally off the charts once he was back.

Berni15: Thiago Alcantara

This really came down to three players for me: Thiago, Serge Gnabry and my lord and savior Thomas Müller. I decided to go with Thiago due to his sustained brilliance and significance to our side. He took on a new role as a defensive midfielder for the Bavarian side and masterfully shielded the back-line. His distribution from deep served as the metronome of the attack. Simply put, Bayern won with him on the field and did not fare so well without. His short stint out with an injury coincided with a rather rough time for Niko Kovac’s men. No Thiago, no party.

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LKChuggz: Joshua Kimmich

Without Kimmich, Bayern is not as successful. Niko Kovac experimented with Kimmich this year, putting him in the midfield for a few games. While Kimmich held his own in the midfield, results showed that he belongs at right-back. He keeps everything settled on defense but cleans up messes when necessary. And he is also extremely dangerous on the attack. He led the team in assists. His crosses into the box were always very threatening.

Marcus Iredahl: Robert Lewandowski

I think Lewandowski has had a solid season, although I believe he is starting to decline, a fact reflected in the many chances he missed this year. Yet another year of disappointing Champions League performances from the Polish international is a bit disappointing. On the other hand, as he showed in the DFB-Pokal Final and numerous other Bundesliga games, Lewandowski still has the ability to decide games for Bayern. Currently, he is our only true superstar who can win games by himself. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off against Liverpool, but the fact that he has such a burden on his shoulders every time he is on the pitch epitomizes his importance to this football club.

Phillip Quinn: Thiago Alcantara

When one evaluates “value” in this sport, the general consensus is that the goalscorer is the “most valuable”; however, unless the forward has an unbelievable season (such as Robert Lewandowski had in 2017-18), I tend to gravitate toward the midfield. Specifically, the center of midfield. That is why I believe that Bayern’s most valuable player this season was the Spanish maestro Thiago Alcantara. He featured in 30 of the club’s 34 league matches this year and, with the benefit of a “reborn” Javi Martinez behind him, was the fulcrum of everything that Bayern did this season. He’s unbelievable, and he’s so vastly underrated.

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Brian Burton: Robert Lewandowski

It’s simple: Robert Lewandowski just scores way too many goals not to be Bayern’s MVP. Despite slipping to 22 goals in the Bundesliga (imagine that, 22 is below your average for the past years!), Lewandowski still managed 40 in all competitions, which is far and away a team best. He scored just less than half of all Bayern’s goals. Goals are how you win, so in other words, Robert Lewandowski is how Bayern wins.

Tom Adams: Thiago Alcantara

Thiago’s respective goal and assist tallies don’t cover him in glory, but he has been such a consistently strong presence for us in the heart of our midfield. It was a difficult campaign for him last season coming back from an injury layover, but this season I really feel that he was one of our most consistent strong performers. His versatility to play a slightly more advanced role or the number 6 role makes him so effective, and his distribution wherever he is on the pitch makes him so efficient. He hardly puts a pass wrong and is one of the players in the Bayern squad you can always expect to keep a level head and good composure in high-intensity, high-stakes matches.

Who did you think deserved being acknowledged as Bayern’s Most Valuable Player? Tell us in the poll below and also in the comments.

This is the part of our BFW Postseason series which will run each day.