Weekend Warm-up: Bayern Munich needs to free up Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller; Sven Ulreich has not been the problem; Throwing it back to Silverchair; Bundesliga predictions; and MORE!

With all of this talent on the roster and a creative manager in Julian Nagelsmann, who would have thought it would be so tough to watch the Bayern Munich operate at times?

Of late, Bayern Munich’s attack has been dealing a lack of creativity, not enough movement, and a general self-induced congestion caused by flooding the final third with too many of its own players.

All of that has led to Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller to see their own effectiveness choked out at times by the manager’s tactics — and their own teammates.

Bayern Munich is at its collective best when Lewandowski and Müller are at the forefront of the offense, strategizing where to attack, what runs to make, and what defenders to expose. While Leroy Sane, Kingsley Coman, and Serge Gnabry are all great players, it has been too much of them, and not enough of the club’s dynamic duo.

Heck, even Joshua Kimmich has been prone to trying to get more involved in the offense, creating more congestion and leaving his backline exposed for quick counterattacks.

Right now, things are just not clicking on a number of levels under Nagelsmann.

The insinuation, however, that Lewandowski and Müller are no longer effective — or that they cannot be effective under Nagelsmann — is absurd. Despite dealing with all of the aforementioned, self-induced issues, Lewandowski has amassed 37 goals and three assists in 31 games across all competitions for Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, Müller has tallied 10 goals and 21 assists in 32 games across all competitions.

The boys...are just fine.

Now, it is time to put them back in charge of the attack and give them more space to operate. There is no point in having all of that offensive talent out on the pitch, if it is just going to get in its own way on a regular basis.

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ICYMI: Bavarian Podcast Works: Weekend Warm-up Podcast Season 1, Episode 37

A loss, a draw, and some turmoil: This was really not your average week at Bayern Munich.

Fans are irritated, the front office is clapping back at the media, and everyone from Julian Nagelsmann to Dayot Upamecano is being called out to improve.

FC Hollywood is back, baby!

This is what we have on tap for this episode:

• The five things we learned this week, including: Bayern Munich’s front office might be getting too sensitive, Serge Gnabry’s place on the squad could be in doubt, Nagelsmann isn’t happy with the teams transfer strategy, Bayern Munich is prioritizing a leader at center-back and an attacking player for the right defensive flank, — and I learned that I don’t believe the coaching staff and squad planners are fully in alignment with how to put this team together.
• A look at how excited I am for the start of Better Call Saul to start back up in April.

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Song of the Week: “Tomorrow” by Silver Chair

Man...when this tune came out, it was AWESOME.

And who would have though it was a group of 15-year-olds who would be able to produce some excellent 90s-Era Alt Rock? Coming hot off the heels of Grunge starting to fade out, Silverchair captured the imagination of the rock world with “Tomorrow.”

Wikipedia captured how quickly this group of teens — f’n teens! — put this together:

Silverchair’s debut album, Frogstomp, was recorded in nine days, with production by Kevin Shirley (Lime Spiders, Peter Wells) and released in March 1995. At the time of recording, the band members were 15 years old and still attending high school. Frogstomp’s lyrical concepts were fiction-based, drawing inspiration from television, hometown tragedies, and perceptions of the pain of friends. The album was well received: AllMusic and Rolling Stone rated it in four and four-and-a-half stars, respectively, praising the intensity of the album, especially “Tomorrow”.

While the group’s stock might not have soared as high as some would have liked, they put together a really good career and grew a nice fan base in the process. Anyway, here you go:

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Ulreich has been good

Losing Manuel Neuer was never going to be easy, but Sven Ulreich has held his own so far. Sure, giving up four goals to VfL Bochum last weekend was not an ideal start, but Bayern Munich’s defense has done the veteran goalkeeper no favors with its repeated breakdowns, general sloppiness, and poor decision-making.

Essentially, Bayern Munich lost Neuer at a time when it could least afford to see the GOAT get injured. No one on the backline is operating at their peak level, but the collective funk over the unit needs to go away...and quickly.

Ulreich is also playing for a new contract and seems to be a good, natural fit to continue to be Manuel Neuer’s understudy. Some people are born for a role in the background an Ulreich seems to have the mentality and skill-set to work on a daily basis with Neuer — knowing that playing time will be at a premium.

Ulreich is doing his part, but he does need better support.

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ICYMI: Bavarian Podcast Works: Preview Show — Bayern Munich vs. SpVgg Greuther Fürth

Bayern Munich is coming off of two consecutive poor showings in a loss to VfL Bochum and a draw with Red Bull Salzburg.

Can the Bavarians right the ship and get back headed into the right direction?

That is just one of the topics we discuss on this week’s preview show. Here is what we have on tap:

• A look at the Bundesliga table and the recent form of both teams.
• A quick dive into some of the reasons that Bayern Munich is struggling. Could Phillip Quinn’s theory about the team not being right since the COVID-19 outbreak be right on the mark?
• A look at the potential line-up for Bayern Munich.
• A prediction on the match.

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Predictions

Bayern Munich is reeling as a team. Many players are scuffling individually. The coaching staff is being second-guessed. The front office is being questioned.

Things...are not good, but this is still Bayern Munich and while SpVgg Greuther Fürth has been playing much better of late, this seems like the perfect time for the Bavarians to snap out of the malaise they’ve bene mired in.

Talent is still talent...and hopefully that will be enough to get Bayern Munich back on track.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 3-0 SpVgg Greuther Fürth

Other Bundesliga predictions include:

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

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Prediction Records

I am struggling.

Last Bundesliga Match Day record: 5-4

Overall Bundesliga record: 104-95

DFB-Pokal record: 1-1

DFL-Supercup record: 1-0

Champions League record: 6-1

Overall record: 112-97