Daily Schmankerl: The aftermath of Bayern Munich vs. VfB Stuttgart; Miroslav Klose battling in Austria; Another report of unhappiness at Bayern; FC Barcelona already eyeing next summer’s big transfer; Leon Draisaitl’s Bayern hockey squad; & MORE!

Die Folgen: Bayern’s 2-2 draw with Stuttgart (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich put forth a very up-and-down effort in another Bundesliga draw — this time against VfB Stuttgart. Here are some quick hitters on a match that surely left some fans frustrated and others longing for some consistency:

• Julian Nagelsmann opted to do a pretty heavy rotation for this match. Mathys Tel, Serge Gnabry, Dayot Upamecano, Noussair Mazraoui, Leon Goretzka, and Jamal Musiala entered the fray, while Sadio Mané, Kingsley Coman (injured), Lucas Hernandez, Marcel Sabitzer, and Leroy Sané all took a seat:

• I felt like Mané — in particular — needed a blow. It has been a lot on the ex-Liverpool man so far, so getting his legs fresh was a good idea. Otherwise, this was a good opportunity to get Pavard, Sabitzer, and Hernandez some downtime as well.
• As expected, the early part of the game was marred by a lot of ping-ponging and choppy play. VfB Stuttgart was determined to defend with all of its might.
• VfB Stuttgart really gave Bayern Munich all they could handle for a large part of the first half.
• In the 30th minute, Serge Gnabry could not break through Florian Müller and the VfB Stuttgart wall. It’s a shame because it was some outstanding work from Bayern Munich.
• Gnabry also probably thinks he should have converted his attempt in the 34th minute as well.
• At this stage, Bayern Munich had begun to wear down Stuttgart and Mathys Tel ultimately made them pay with the game’s first goal and set a new standard in the process:

• Tel was a bit uneven before his goal, but that seemed to add some pep to his step.
• Part of making the loss of Robert Lewandowski palatable was the sense that Thomas Müller would emerge from the Polish Hitman’s shadow and take on more of a scoring role. In fact, the team needs him to produce. Of course, Müller’s presence and his “off the scoresheet” contributions are unquestioned, but he’s not a scoring legitimate threat right now and that’s a problem.
• Oh no, here they come for me! It’s the #MullerMafia:

• Seriously, though, Müller needs to get back to his goal scoring days.
• Truthfully, I though the foul drawn by Joshua Kimmich that took away the 51st minute goal from Serhou Guirassy was pretty weak. Bayern Munich was a bit lucky there as I did not believe that warranted a foul being awarded.
• In the 57th minute, Konstantinos Mavropanos took advantage of some really lackluster play from Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies to set up Chris Führich for the game-tying goal. There was a complete and utter lack of effort from Musiala on the play (this might be the first time I’ve ever criticized him). Aside of getting out-muscled on the play, Musiala quit on his pursuit, which left Davies to get caught flat-footed. It was a bad look.
• Musiala would (almost) make up for it with a pretty spectacular goal off a feed from Noussair Mazraoui and some good work from Kimmich.
• Things, however, would not really get better from there.
• Matthijs de Ligt’s foul that caused the game-tying penalty can’t happen in that spot. De Ligt has to be better.
• Despite some of the post game ratings on popular sites, I thought only Mazraoui turned in a good shift on the backline. Alphonso Davies had his moments, but lost possession an astonishing 16 times. His defensive work and ability to possess the ball have been an issue for a while now.
• I’ll beat this drum some more, these are the games where Kimmich needs to be rested. He wasn’t as crisp as he has been. He wasn’t bad per se, but this is a key stretch and I’d rather see him rested a bit like Nagelsmann did with Mané.
• Leon Goretzka was not great to be honest and probably my didn’t help his cause to get back into the starting XI consistently.
• I wasn’t thrilled with the attacking play overall, either. There were definitely moments where Bayern Munich looked very dangerous. However, it wasn’t consistent enough or good enough. Gnabry needed to finish far better than he did. His 62nd minute attempt (saved by Florian Müller) will haunt him. He was all alone and could not find a way around the VfB Stuttgart goalkeeper.
• Yes, there will be people who are going to start clamoring to put the heat on Nagelsmann, but this is a situation where the players need to be better…a lot better. Acknowledging that this was, indeed, a trap game, Bayern Munich’s focus has to improve:

• For a team with such tremendous talent and depth, Bayern Munich has to held itself to a higher standard in these types of matches. Fighting and clawing for three points is a must. I saw a bit too much entitlement on the pitch — which was highlighted by Musiala’s lackluster tracking back on VfB Stuttgart’s first goal and De Ligt’s reckless challenge in extra time.
• Overall, this was a frustrating for a number of reasons. The game was not fluid for Bayern Munich and the team was — once again — very inefficient in the attack. Dropping points in extra time — especially the way it happened — made it all the more painful, but the reality is what it is: Three Bundesliga games, three draws. If I were to transition to ”Dad Mode” here, I’d say that I’m not mad about the result, just disappointed. Bayern Munich needs to be better...it’s as simple as that.

If you missed out on our Initial Analysis, Match Awards, Observations, and/or Postgame Podcast give them a look or a listen:

Klose struggling at Altach (Sport1)

Things are not going so great for Miroslav Klose in Austria, but the club’s former coach Ludovic Magnin thinks he can turn it around.

“Of course Altach’s place in the table isn’t nice and the situation is exhausting for Miro. But I’m not sorry for him, but he wanted to take this step in the professional business and in these moments he will learn a lot, even if it costs a lot of energy,” Magnin told Sport1. “I’ve known Miro for years and he’ll be able to handle it. He has had a huge career as a player and his experience will help him keep calm. Of course, he must have imagined things differently in the early days. But he has to go through it now.”

Rheindorf Altach is sitting at 12th in the Austrian Bundesliga table.

Draisaitl puts the Bayern boys on skates (@NHL)

Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl picked out which Bundesliga players would comprise his “Starting Six” for hockey. Not shockingly, Draisaitl went all-in on Bayern Munich:

Bavarian Podcast Works: Weekend Warm-up — Season 2, Episode 10 (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich pulled out a nice victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League after a disappointing showing against Union Berlin in the Bundesliga last weekend.

While Julian Nagelsmann has done a good job of managing his personnel, the recent lack of precision, efficiency, and synchronicity on offense has some fans mildly concerned.

Like always, there is plenty to talk about — including those issues listed above. Let’s take a look at what we have on tap for this week’s episode:

• Why coaching is getting more difficult every year (as Thomas Tuchel and Domenico Tedesco found out — and as Jürgen Klopp might soon learn). Also, did we mention there are some unhappy players at Bayern Munich now?
• The FC Barcelona is going to tell us a lot about where Bayern Munich is at this stage.
• Matthijs de Ligt and Lucas Hernandez look great together.
• The midfield conundrum...Leon Goretzka wants to start, but Marcel Sabitzer has been great? What will happen there.
• Bayern Munich and Harry Kane might really be interested in forging a relationship in 2023.

Bild confirms dissatisfaction with Bayern subs (Sport Bild)

On Friday, we saw the news break that several Bayern Munich players were getting restless with their respective roles on the squad. The initial report came from Sport1, but now Sport Bild is corroborating the report:

According to BILD information, the first stars are dissatisfied with their playing time and sub role!

The upcoming slate of matches should help Nagelsmann rotate more, but heavy rotation also can cause teams to get out of sync due to using so many different combinations of players.

In the end, Julian Nagelsmann is going to have to make a lot of tough calls this season and it will not be easy to have so many high-priced, good players on the bench for extended periods.

Barca won’t give up on Silva pursuit (Sport1)

It looks like FC Barcelona — Bayern Munich’s next opponent for the Champions League — still has its sights set on Manchester City star Bernardo Silva:

FC Barcelona will apparently not give up when courting Bernardo Silva from Manchester City. As reported by Sport, the Catalans are planning another attempt to sign the Portuguese next summer.

A transfer failed this summer, although Silva would have liked to move to Barcelona himself. However, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City didn’t let the attacking midfielder go and Silva himself didn’t want to force a change. Next summer, however, the Spaniards see themselves in a better position. However, they have to dig deep into their pockets there.

In the last transfer window, the Citizens also rejected an offer from Paris Saint-Germain, who made an offer of 70 million euros.