Three (and a half) observations from Bayern Munich’s meaningless but downing defeat to Mainz

Well, that was pathetic. Bayern Munich have lost 1-3 to Mainz 05. The Bavarians are still guaranteed the Meisterschale no matter what happens in the next two games, but it was pretty disappointing nonetheless. Here are the observations.

Title hangover?

Bayern were a shadow of their usual selves today. No one played well, absolutely no one. It’s a wonder how a team goes from besting Borussia Dortmund just a week ago to losing to Mainz in such an embarrassing manner. The only explanation (apart from Julian Nagelsmann being a fraud, which we’ll get to in a minute) is that the team didn’t care about today’s result. Bayern were fully outplayed by Mainz and deserved to lose, 100 percent. Maybe the team just didn’t feel the need to show up, especially during a tough away game. Title done and dusted, nothing more to play for, what’s the point? Pride? Highly doubtful that the players care about that, except maybe a select few. Joshua Kimmich, Robert Lewandowski, and Manuel Neuer were the only three people who actually seemed to care, and the latter wasn’t even on the pitch for some reason. Oh well, we’re still German champions, nothing changes that.

Is Julian Nagelsmann a fraud?

Now, I know I shouldn’t call for Nagelsmann’s head just because he lost a meaningless game to Mainz. Heck, even Hansi Flick lost at Mainz away last season. But the way that Nagelsmann’s teams keep losing is a concerningly familiar pattern. No ideas, no changes, no spark of fury that Flick somehow pulled out of his pocket nine times out of ten. The team will be even weaker than this come next season, so what will happen then? Yes, again, today meant nothing, but Nagelsmann needs to change or he needs to be shown the door. The defeatist attitude that was on show for so many games this season can’t be here to stay. If this trend continues, next season just might be the season that Bayern finally loses the Meisterschale. Champions League? Forget it. I’ll be surprised if he wins the Super Cup.

Are Mainz Bayern’s new bogey team?

Bayern have conceded the first goal four games in a row against Mainz. Twice they’ve lost. Are Mainz becoming Gladbach 2.0? We’re talking about a team that was winless in their last five games, and conceded five times without reply to Wolfsburg last week. Yet they somehow beat the best team in the land. This is a concerning trend. The last thing Bayern need is another bogey team. They just got rid of the Eintracht jinx a few months ago, now this? Why does some team always have to stick their dirty noses up Bayern’s business? Mainz are fast becoming one of my least favorite teams in the Bundesliga. We’ll see what happens next season. Will Nagelsmann be here to see it? Maybe, but I hope not.

Bonus: Wow, Bochum

Remember that 4-2 defeat to Bochum in February? Well, they just proved that wasn’t a fluke. They bested Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion 4-3. They led 2-0, got reverse swept by an Erling Haaland hat trick, but did they give up? Not a chance. They scored twice more in front of a capacity 80,000 strong home crowd to down the Black and Yellows and condemn them to their second defeat in as many league games. Even Bayern didn’t score four times at Signal Iduna Park for a very long time, but Bochum pulled it off. Kudos to them!

Looking for even more content discussing the game? Check out our postgame podcast! Listen to it below or at this link.