Weekend Warm-up: Is this the end for Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich?; Bundesliga predictions; The Walking Dead starts its final season; and MORE!

If you woke up from a coma and just began watching Bayern Munich during Robert Lewandowski’s first season with the club, you might think the Polish Hitman is widely revered as the game’s best player.

Sadly, most people can’t even acknowledge that Lewandowski is “the man” at the moment. Many still lean on either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo (both are still excellent, but both have not been at Lewandowski’s level over the past three seasons).

Knowing all of that, it would still be odd to hear that Lewandowski would want to leave a club where he has achieved everything from an individual — and team — perspective that he could hope to achieve.

And therein might lie the rub.

Lewandowski has done it all. He has broken Gerd Müller’s single-season Bundesliga record. More, he won a sextuple — essentially achieving every major championship one could hope to win over the course of a career in one year.

Like many achievement-driven personalities, though, Lewandowski is reportedly yearning for a new challenge — one that seems to include a future outside of Germany.

In 2018, we heard the same whispers. There were rumors of frustration with the squad, the coaches, and the front office, but ultimately he stayed and achieved unparalleled team and individual success.

Now, though, he really might be ready to test himself in Spain or England...or maybe eventually in the United States once he has lost a step or three. Whatever the case, Lewandowski’s reported urge to leave puts Bayern Munich in a tough spot: Fight to save the best player on the planet and potentially be left holding nothing....or work with Lewandowski to move on — and hope like hell you can convince Erling Haaland that he, too, can achieve everything Lewandowski did in Bavaria and more.

Make no mistake, if Lewandowski leaves, Haaland becomes a “must” for Bayern Munich. Team wage structure be damned, the Bavarians will have to evolve with the new pay scale in football or risk being left behind.

If Lewandowski does leave, we’ll see pretty quickly what path Bayern Munich decides to take and it has to be one that includes a future with Haaland.

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The Walking Dead will finally end

I’ve written about this a few times in this space, but I am still — somehow — watching The Walking Dead. I want it to end in the worst way, so I can be done with it.

There was a time where I thoroughly enjoyed the show and really was excited for each episode. I still enjoy some of the characters and storylines, but the show fell off a long time ago. I’ve already detailed why the “off-shoot” shows just don’t work, but the flagship show still kept me in...barely.

I will say that I don’t envy the job the writers had of trying to keep the show relevant and interesting once all of the zombie tropes had been done dozens of times. I’d also say that the writers had a completely unenviable job of trying to stay true to the comics, while adding their own TV twists.

The results over the past few seasons just have not worked and the show will mercifully end after a long and successful run when this final season is over. A show like this needed to be no more than five season and unfortunately — despite good baseline material from the comics — went awry and missed the mark far too often in recent years. Too many good actors left, too many good storylines got bastardized, and too many filler episodes or segments were inserted to pump out seasons with too many episodes.

Night gathers, and now my watch begins...for the last time with this show. I’ll hang for the entire final season...and hopefully I won’t walk away disappointed (again).

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Song of the Week: “Generals and Majors” by XTC

I have long thought that XTC was one of the most underrated bands from the 80s era. They have a good catalog of hits and this one popped into my head as I was working through some BFW posts this week.

If you appreciate the 80s genre, you’ll probably enjoy some XTC:

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Oddball question

I was driving and flipping stations (yes, I’m a dinosaur, who still listens to terrestrial radio) and the song, “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by Yes came on. I am no huge Yes fan, nor do I own the song on my playlist, but I like the song...probably so much so that I likely have NEVER flipped stations, heard it, then kept going:

I don’t dislike Yes by any means, but I would not go out of my way to find a Yes album or buy one...if that makes sense?

Anyway, that led me to think: Are there any songs that fit that category for you (you don’t necessarily like the band, don’t own the song, but you never turn it off if you hear it)?

If so, drop them in the comments...I’d love to know I’m not the only weirdo!

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The Weekend Warm-up Podcast

With another crazy week in the books, the Weekend Warm-up Podcast is here to hit all the latest Bayern Munich news — and there is no shortage of that. Here are the topics we have on tap:

• How things stand after matches against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund.
• The news that Robert Lewandowski wants to move on why that means Bayern Munich needs to prepare to bid on Erling Haaland.
• Why won’t anyone bid on Corentin Tolisso?
• Is Bayern Munich taking a big risk by playing this season with Tolisso and Niklas Süle on lame duck deals?
• The uncertain season ahead of Julian Nagelsmann — especially after declaring his roster was a bit thin.

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Predictions

Bayern Munich might be coming off of a dramatic and intense victory over Borussia Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup, but the Billy Goats are arriving in Munich after a big 3-1 win over Hertha Berlin.

Part of me fears that the Bavarians could be in for a bit of a letdown after such a crazy midweek match. Julian Nagelsmann, though, should be able to find a way to keep his troops motivated for what could be a difficult contest.

I think Nagelsmann will do just that and Bayern Munich will respond in a big way.

I’d also wager that we can mark Robert Lewandowski down for another brace.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 4-1 FC Köln*

(*Steffen Baumgart wearing a Jeff cap like he is hired muscle for the Peaky Blinders could power the Billy Goats to a victory. You cannot dislike that man and his style.)

Other Bundesliga predictions include:

• RB Leipzig 2-1 VfB Stuttgart
• VfL Bochum 1-2 Mainz 05
• Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 Augsburg
• SC Freiburg 1-3 Borussia Dortmund
• SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1-1 Arminia Bielefeld
• Hertha Berlin 1-2 Wolfsburg
• Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Union Berlin 2-2 Hoffenheim

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Prediction Records

Things did not start off so well last week, but it could have been a lot worse!

Last Match Day record: 4-5

DFL-Supercup record: 1-0

Overall record: 5-5

Guest prognosticator record: 0-1