Julian Nagelsmann reacts to first loss as Bayern Munich manager vs. Eintracht Frankfurt

Julian Nagelsmann suffered his first competitive loss as Bayern Munich manager with the 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt today. Goals from Martin Hinteregger and Filip Kostic cancelled out Leon Goretzka’s opener in the 29th minute and a heroic outing from Kevin Trapp in Frankfurt’s goal helped Oliver Glasner’s side earn the three points away from home; their first win of the season.

Despite dominance in nearly every department of the match, it will be back to the drawing board for the next two weeks for Nagelsmann as the majority of Bayern’s squad breaks for international duty for friendlies and/or World Cup qualifiers.

Speaking after the match, Nagelsmann admitted that his first competitive loss hurt, especially in the nature that his side dominated most of proceedings. They had more than enough chances to score more than just once, but Trapp had other ideas. “Defeats always hurt, even today, because it was avoidable. We were punished, but also had enough chances,” Nagelsmann said (Tz). On paper, Bayern outshot Frankfurt 20-5, had 10 on target to Frankfurt’s three and boasted 772 passes to Frankfurt’s 294, but weren’t able to find the back of the net aside from Goretzka’s opener in the 29th minute of play.

Specifically, Nagelsmann felt that Bayern sat a bit to deep out of possession and afforded Frankfurt too much space to be able to maneuver in without enough pressure. He felt that Kostic had way too much freedom on the left flank on the side that Serge Gnabry and Niklas Sule were playing opposite of. Gnabry was then replaced by Jamal Musiala and Sule by Marcel Sabitzer in the 70th and 75th minute, respectively.

Nagelsmann felt that the subs also didn’t do enough defensively, which ultimately led to Bayern conceding in the 83rd minute (Kostic). “We often hung too low and didn’t take the last few steps. We’re not going right against Kostic. Even players who have just entered the game are missing the defensive connection,” he explained.

Photo by Stefan Matzke - sampics/Corbis via Getty Images

Even before the match, Nagelsmann was wary of Kostic, knowing how much he could hurt Bayern on the wing.

“We have to tie him at the back. He doesn’t like to defend at the bottom line. After switching it is very dangerous. Niki (Süle) has a good pace and duel behavior, he will manage it,” Nagelsmann had said.

Based off of that, it’s safe to say that Nagelsmann expected a better shift from Sule, while he was hardly one of the poorest performers from Bayern’s perspective. It’s always a collective effort and it just wasn’t good enough from Bayern and they were punished for it.