FanPost

Season starters: five matchdays in five years

I read a comment in the Schalke preview article that suggested someone dig up the first five or so matchday results from the past couple of years to see how long it took FC Bayern to hit full throttle. So that is just what I did.

fc bayern wolfsburg 2014 2-1에 대한 이미지 검색결과

2014-15

Spieltag 1: FC Bayern 2-1 VfL Wolfsburg (Müller, Robben)

Spieltag 2: Schalke 04 1-1 FC Bayern (Lewandowski)

Spieltag 3: FC Bayern 2-0 VfB Stuttgart (Götze, Ribery)

Spieltag 4: Hamburger SV 0-0 FC Bayern

Spieltag 5: FC Bayern 4-0 SC Paderborn (Götze (2), Lewandowski, Müller)

This was definitely one of Bayern’s slower season starts, winning only(?) three out of five and scoring a total of nine goals. Although the second matchday against Schalke was slightly controversial in that their equalizer should not have counted, it still showed that the majority of the team was not at their best yet. It took five matchdays for Bayern to score more than twice in a game, and wouldn’t you know it, the first away victory of the Bundesliga season did not arrive until the sixth game, against FC Köln.

However, there is an excuse in this case: the preceding World Cup. Nine Bayern players were on a team that played the full seven games of the tournament, and a majority of them were starters. Only Dante and Mario Götze were not definitely guaranteed a place in their national teams, which meant that seven of those nine had to play long, arduous games in the Brazilian heat. Hence, training began late for them, and they had little time to get their gears going before the season rolled around.

The first five games of this season were definitely not comfortable to watch. The opening match was a nail-biter for forty minutes while holding onto a narrow 2-1 lead, and only a goal apiece in each half saved the day against Stuttgart. In Gelsenkirchen and Hamburg, shots flew but the scoreboard remained non-responsive. It was not until Bayern faced Paderborn (who, believe it or not, were actually top of the Bundesliga at the time) that the floodgates really opened and the wins started flowing. Bayern would drop points only once more in 2014, away to Borussia Monchengladbach, while conceding only four goals in seventeen league games. They ended the season with the Bundesliga title, winning it with four games to go.

2015-16

Spieltag 1: FC Bayern 5-0 Hamburger SV (Benatia, Lewandowski, Müller (2), Costa)

Spieltag 2: TSG Hoffenheim 1-2 FC Bayern (Müller, Lewandowski)

Spieltag 3: FC Bayern 3-0 Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Müller (2), Robben)

Spieltag 4: FC Bayern 2-1 FC Augsburg (Lewandowski, Müller)

Spieltag 5: Darmstadt 98 0-3 FC Bayern (Vidal, Coman, Rode)

With a much improved record from the preceding season, Bayern made it five wins in five while scoring nearly twice as many goals, also conceding only twice. Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller started their fire-cracking partnership early in the season, with both players scoring in three games. The two would go on to score many more, totalling a tally of fifty goals between them.

That said, it was almost surprising that Bayern had collected maximum points considering those five games were anything but easy. Conceding the fastest ever goal in Bundesliga history to Hoffenheim, Bayern had to rely on a last minute winner from Lewandowski to leave the Rhein-Neckar Arena with three points. Injuries befell the team as always prior to the home game against Leverkusen, with then coach Pep Guardiola forced to field a makeshift back three of David Alaba, Juan Bernat, and, believe it or not, Xabi Alonso. Two penalties ultimately saved the Bavarians, and another would save them against Augsburg, when Müller scored a last minute penalty to seize the win. Lewandowski had barely equalized late in the game prior to Müller’s winner.

What could have been another slow start was avoided due to sheer luck and dogged effort. But again, it was after the fifth matchday that Bayern really kicked into gear. Matchday six brought the infamous 5-in-9 goal haul from Lewandowski, and two matchdays later Bayern would smash Borussia Dortmund silly. Bayern only dropped points twice in the Hinrunde of this season, drawing with Eintracht Frankfurt and losing to Gladbach, while scoring a whopping 32 more goals in the following twelve matchdays. Ultimately, the Bavarians ended up winning the domestic double in what would be Guardiola's final year in charge.

Robert Lewandowski

2016-17

Spieltag 1: FC Bayern 6-0 Werder Bremen (Alonso, Lewandowski (3), Lahm, Ribery)

Spieltag 2: Schalke 04 0-2 FC Bayern (Lewandowski, Kimmich)

Spieltag 3: FC Bayern 3-1 FC Ingolstadt (Lewandowski, Alonso, Rafinha)

Spieltag 4: FC Bayern 3-0 Hertha BSC (Ribery, Thiago, Robben)

Spieltag 5: Hamburger SV 0-1 FC Bayern (Kimmich)

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Spieltag 6: FC Bayern 1-1 FC Koln (Kimmich)

Spieltag 7: Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 FC Bayern (Robben, Kimmich)

Bayern made it five wins out of five for two consecutive years, scoring just as many goals as the year before and conceding even fewer. It was Carlo Ancelotti’s first season at the club, and it seemed as if the Italian had brought a new era to his old nemesis. But things were not as sunny as they seemed. Not because of these results, but because of those that followed. This is why the next two matchdays were included, and will be included from now on.

Bayern dropped points in two consecutive games against Köln and Frankfurt and encountered a similar slump in November by drawing with Hoffenheim and losing to Dortmund, thereby relinquishing the Bundesliga top spot for three matchdays. Dropping points four times in that Hinrunde, Bayern and Ancelotti started raising a lot more eyebrows (which is saying a lot, because no one knows better about raising eyebrows than Carlo Ancelotti). It goes to show that just because the first few games seem sunny and breezy, it does not guarantee success in the following weeks.

True, Bayern hit their stride from December to March, until that disastrous loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League, but in hindsight, this was one season that strangely did not feel like a typical Bayern season. Perhaps this is just because of Ancelotti’s ruined legacy in Munich. Perhaps it is just because Bayern was eliminated from the Champions League earlier than in recent years. Perhaps it is just a silly feeling. But whatever the reason, it certainly was a departure from tradition.

<a class='sbn-auto-link' href=Joshua Kimmich & Corentin Tolisso" />

2017-18

Spieltag 1: FC Bayern 3-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Süle, Tolisso, Lewandowski)

Spieltag 2: SV Werder Bremen 0-2 FC Bayern (Lewandowski (2))

Spieltag 3: TSG Hoffenheim 2-0 FC Bayern

Spieltag 4: FC Bayern 4-0 Mainz 05 (Müller, Robben, Lewandowski (2))

Spieltag 5: Schalke 04 0-3 FC Bayern (Lewandowski, James, Vidal)

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Spieltag 6: FC Bayern 2-2 VfL Wolfsburg (Lewandowski, Robben)

Spieltag 7: Hertha BSC 2-2 FC Bayern (Hummels, Lewandowski)

This was the first and only time in the past five years in which Bayern actually lost in the first five games. Convincing wins on either side of the Hoffenheim loss did little to stem the rumors of unrest leaking from the training ground. Ancelotti’s leadership was being jeopardized, and whether that is to be blamed on the players or the coach himself, this was not a happy time for FC Bayern.

Credit to the team for putting in professional performances in the opening games, but the ship was listing, and it did not take long for it to capsize. In the two following matchdays, Bayern let two-goal leads slip to drop points, and coupled with a humiliating 0-3 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Ancelotti’s Bayern career was dead. Bayern would not return to the top of the league until the tenth matchday. It was possibly one of Bayern’s worst starts to the season in recent years, regardless of the opening five games. Yes, the team got more points than back in 2014-15, but this season lacked a sense of certainty instead.

Jupp Heynckes was brought in as interim manager and completely turned things around to win the Bundesliga with five games to go, as well as reaching the DFB-Pokal final and the Champions League semifinals. His final season with the club sadly did not end as a fairy tale, with two consecutive defeats to Stuttgart and Frankfurt ruining what could have been one of the happiest send-offs in football. However, it did little to tarnish Heynckes’ reputation, as hundreds of fans flocked to the Marienplatz to thank the old gentleman for trading in his retirement for at least a couple of months, and for proving that FC Bayern was still the team to beat in the Bundesliga.

Schlüsselmoment: Robert Lewandowski trifft vom Punkt zum 2:1.

2018-19

Spieltag 1: FC Bayern 3-1 TSG Hoffenheim (Müller, Lewandowski, Robben)

Spieltag 2: VfB Stuttgart 0-3 FC Bayern (Goretzka, Lewandowski, Muller)

Spieltag 3: FC Bayern 3-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Tolisso, Robben, James)

Spieltag 4: Schalke 04 0-2 FC Bayern (James, Lewandowski)

Spieltag 5: FC Bayern 1-1 FC Augsburg (Robben)

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Spieltag 6: Hertha BSC 2-0 FC Bayern

Spieltag 7: FC Bayern 0-3 Borussia Monchengladbach

Niko Kovac started his Bayern coaching career smoothly with four straight wins in the league, until an unlucky draw against Augsburg started raising questions. Bayern then lost two consecutive games against Hertha and Mönchengladbach, and apart from a slight uprise in October, Kovac’s men dropped points in three consecutive games again in November, losing to Dortmund in between last-gasp draws against SC Freiburg and Fortuna Düsseldorf. As a result, the team fell to as low as sixth place in the league table.

September and November of this season were probably the most turbulent periods for the club since its FC Hollywood days. Bild churned out report after report that said Kovac would get the sack, the players were rebelling, and so on and so forth. People were quick to forget the decent enough start that the team enjoyed and gave FC Bayern doubtful looks whenever they played. Some even said they wanted the team to lose in order to get rid of poor Kovac.

But unlike Ancelotti, Kovac managed to right his ship. Although he did drop the occasional points from time to time, he got the team playing with passion and pride right up to the end of the season, winning the team’s first double in three years. Say what you will about the coach, but he does deserve credit for pulling his team through one of their darkest periods in recent years. True, he lost the Champions League early on, but sometimes the cake tastes better in smaller pieces.

Conclusion

It is notable that throughout the past five years, FC Bayern have always dropped points surprisingly early on in the season. Even if you wind the clock back further and go back to the treble/double winning days of Heynckes and Guardiola, it can be seen that even their teams dropped points at least in the first ten matchdays of the season.

This can be attributed to a number of different reasons. First, pre-season tours can take a toll on the team. Not every team has to travel halfway around the world to play a couple of meaningless friendly matches, and long-distance/long-term traveling can unwillingly leave a mark of fatigue on the players, especially considering they normally only return to Germany a week or so before the season starts.

Second, harmony can take a while to build, especially when it comes to FC Bayern. The Bavarians have experienced three managerial changes in the past five years. This is a lot of change in a moderately short/long period of time. For instance, even Chelsea, a team notorious for sacking managers left and right, only had two changes in the same number of years. Add that to a team full of egos such as FC Bayern, and conflict is inevitable, especially in the first few weeks of the season. It makes sense that once that harmony is found, Bayern find their stride as well. Of course, it would be best to just hit it off right from the start, but it is a way that has led to countless trophies over the past years. Sometimes, it is better to lose earlier than later.

Which brings me to my third reason: the team knows that this is a marathon, not a race. For a team like FC Bayern, matches come thick and fast in the middle of the season, and as talented as the team is, it is impossible for the players to perform at maximum level in every single one of those games. Hence, it is necessary to conserve energy for when the season reaches its peak. In other words, the team progresses along with the season. This is not to say that the team puts in less effort in the opening stages of the season. However, seeing as less is at stake in the early weeks, the team knows that it is no crisis when points are dropped here and there. The fans should know that, too.

Other reasons could include international tournaments, injuries, and other things that would obviously differ from season to season. Whatever the reason is, though, the fact remains that FC Bayern has a way of pulling through even after dropping points early in the season. They have done so in the past five years, and it is not a stretch to imagine that they will do it again. Of course, there is no saying that this season will be different, or if it will be another treble winning season (we wish). But what is clear is that just because Bayern drew their opening match instead of winning it does not mean it is time to panic. All the fans can do is to get behind the team, and hope they stay as professional as they can be. They have done this before, and the fans have been through this before. Only when the team and the fans come together can they both reach higher ground. Hopefully it can happen again this season.


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