Bavarian Podcast Works S4E17: Nagelsmann managing a thin squad at Bayern Munich, the back three vs back four, the Ballon d’Or, and more!

Even with what feels and seems like a razor thin squad at the moment, Bayern Munich were able to welcome back both Niklas Sule and Jamal Musiala as subs in their 1-0 win over DSC Arminia Bielefeld at the Allianz Arena Saturday. Julian Nagelsmann has been without a laundry list of players in recent weeks due to coronavirus quarantines and injuries and has been forced to make decisions and selections from a depleted squad. In Kyiv last week in the Champions League, he was only able to list a total of six subs, two of which were backup keepers Sven Ulreich and Christian Fruchtl. He’s also had to toy with using a back three instead of a back four, but Augsburg was able to expose the weak points in Bayern’s back three.

After a week of training, it’s also a hectic close to the hinrunde for Bayern. After der Klassiker next weekend at Borussia Dortmund, they have Barcelona in the Champions League just four days later and then Bundesliga matches against Mainz, VfB Stuttgart, and VfL Wolfsburg in the span of just six days to close out the hinrunde. Hopefully Nagelsmann will be able to welcome back Joshua Kimmich, Marcel Sabitzer and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting ahead of the Dortmund clash.

In this flagship episode, Tom and Schnitzel discuss:

• How Julian Nagelsmann has dealt with a depleted squad in recent weeks
• What works and doesn’t work with the back three vs. the back four
• The hectic upcoming schedule and if rotations will be made
• The Ballon d’Or and how Robert Lewandowski should 100% win it

As always, thanks for your support and let us know what you think!

Be sure to stay tuned to Bavarian Podcast Works for all of your up to date coverage on Bayern Munich and Germany. Follow us on Twitter @BavarianFBWorks, @jeffersonfenner, @TheBarrelBlog, @tommyadams71, @bfwinnn, and more. One of these days we will convince Schnitzel to get a Twitter account!