Bayern Munich 0-3 Napoli: Initial reactions and observations from a total mess

Initial reactions and observations

• This game sucked from minute 1 to 90. Bayern Munich have concluded the entire preseason without a single win. This reflects very poorly on Julian Nagelsmann — he even had the starters out there today.
• More dreadful play from Michael Cuisance. Seriously, this dude is never getting sold. Good thing Bayern kept Zirkzee away from this one, otherwise his value would’ve tanked as well.
• Tanguy Nianzou was arguably one of the few players to have a good game. He was dominant playing the sweeper role and regularly got up the field. Good play from him.
• 3-0 in the second half came from individual mistakes, but the fact is that Bayern did not threaten Napoli’s goal. Aside from two rapid-fire shots by Christopher Scott and one turn and shoot by Musiala in the first half, Bayern had no clear cut chances.
• Up next is the game against 5th tier Bremer SV in the Pokal. That one is a must-win. They may be a lower tier opponent, but we saw what happened to Flick with Holstein Kiel last season. The DFB Pokal is always a little scary. How will Nagelsmann prepare?

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Full time: Napoli beat Bayern 3-0. Not a great result.

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85’ — Goal. Pain, just pain. This is so bad.

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70’ — Goal. Wow this sucks. Osimhen scores again.

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69’ — Goal. Osimhen scores from a Cuisance giveaway in midfield. The only thing nice about this game is the timing of the goal.

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45’ — The second half is underway! All the second stringers are on, looks like we’ll have a massively different XI for this half.

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Halftime observations and analysis

• Very mediocre half by Bayern Munich. The attack was flat and the defense struggled to stop chances. Nagelsmann has some thinking to do.
• Kingsley Coman’s injury is another big setback for Bayern, who were looking to get some of the main starters some minutes before the actual games start.
• Every time Bayern plays like this, you’re reminded how important Thomas Muller is. Musiala’s good, but he can’t replace him.
• Stanisic started the game strong, but started to get overwhelmed as the half drew to a close. Napoli seemed to target his side.
• Pavard’s attacking contribution remains mediocre. Bayern needs an attacking RB.

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Halftime: 0-0 for both sides.

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42’ — Time’s running out for the starters. Gnabry hits the post!

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30’ — We’re 30 minutes in and it’s still 0-0. Only 15 minutes more for these players to get a goal.

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8’ — Kingsley Coman comes off for Choupo-Moting. Looks like the Frenchman is injured in the ribs somewhere.

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Kickoff: We’re underway in Munich! How will the team fare?

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One hour until kickoff: We have lineups! Nagelsmann isn’t messing around. We have almost all the starters out in full force! Wow.

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We’ve seen Bayern Munich play three times so far in this preseason, and the club has managed to win a grand total of ... zero games. It’s quite a mediocre start for head coach Julian Nagelsmann, who has admittedly been missing some of his best players.

Against Napoli, that is set to change. Per the coach, everyone who is fit will take part in the game today, which includes the first teamers who just returned from vacaction. While we still don’t have Joshua Kimmich or Manuel Neuer, this could be our first glimpses of the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Leroy Sane under the new coach. Meanwhile, time keeps running out for sidelined players like Joshua Zirkzee and Michael Cuisance — it’s really becoming do-or-die for them.

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Match Info

Location: Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany

Time: 4:30 pm local time, 10:30 am EST

TV/streaming: RTL (Germany), Facebook (United States) FanCode (India), Find Your Country (or check the comments for a clue)

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