clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Four observations from Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen

As Oktoberfest takes over Munich, Bayern Munich made sure to give Munich a much-needed boost.

FC Bayern München v Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Bundesliga
Sadio Mané and Thomas Müller both scored against Bayer Leverkusen.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Bayern Munich jumped to second place in the Bundesliga table — for now — as they took advantage of almost all of Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s mistakes, swimming to a 4-0 victory and ending a run of four winless games in the league. Four thoughts on their return to winning ways:

Lady Luck finally smiles on Bayern

Bayern created more than 90 chances in the past four league games, and yet emerged without a single victory. So, today, when Leroy Sané’s shot deflected in, when Jamal Musiala’s shot escaped from under Lukáš Hrádecký, when Sadio Mané scored from a deflection and when Thomas Müller scored from the most obvious keeper error on the night, you knew the footballing Gods were smiling down on Bayern. They deserved the win; Lady Luck thought so too.

Alphonso Davies was key to the victory

Odilion Koussonou and Jeremie Frimpong are not exactly slow; Alphonso Davies had their number all night. The duo barely managed to create as Davies’ speed bamboozled them. They couldn’t handle him and, as a result, Davies found himself in and around the box all night. Bayern Munich’s defense was solid and part of that reason was Davies as he defended by running at Leverkusen’s right side all night long.

Jamal Musiala is by and far Bayern Munich’s best player

Every time that I write observations, I end up writing about Jamal Musiala. He has been perhaps Bayern’s best player this season. Today, his dribbling, style and risk-taking led to three goals. Julian Nagelsmann should not think twice before putting Musiala on the team sheet any more for the big games.

Bayern is not out of the woods yet

The first goal came early against a Leverkusen team short on confidence and was not set up to defend. They made Bayern’s life easy. Right now, they are making the lives of many an opposition side rather simple. This performance was needed; however, the real tests will come in the upcoming weeks against Dortmund, Freiburg, et al. There were signs of Bayern overcomplicating moves in the attack today as well. In fact, Viktoria Plzeň will probably put ten men behind the ball and that match might turn out to be more interesting than anybody is expecting. As a result, there is still plenty to learn about this team ahead.


Want more discussion about the game? Check out our postgame podcast! Listen to it below or on Spotify.

As always, we appreciate the support!

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Bavarian Football Works Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Bayern Munich news from Bavarian Football Works