Weekend Warm-up: Bayern Munich’s Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić has been frustrated and wants to see results; Throwing it back to “Spiralling” by Keane; Recapping The Last of Us; Bundesliga predictions; and MORE!

If you have been paying attention this week, you know that not everything is peachy keen at Bayern Munich.

There is a lot of frustration throughout the club, but one particular person who has been venting loudly is sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić.

Whether he was pleading for the team to “switch on”, “offering a wake up call”, or “cracking down on Serge Gnabry for his off-day jaunt to Paris”, the roster’s architect seems perturbed about how things are playing out. Salihamidžić did laud Thomas Müller, but the veteran is out of favor and has not been in the starting XI in either game since the Bundesliga season kicked off its second half.

Whether this is really the case or not, Salihamidžić sure looks like he is getting tired of waiting for the players he acquired to start playing better and the coaches he hired to find solutions for all that is ailing the team right now.

The attack has been underwhelming and the defense — while solid — has shown it is still dealing with positional issues. The results in the standings are extremely good, but Salihamidžić’s overarching annoyance with things likely comes from what could be perceived as a lack of progress.

To say that some of the players are underperforming would be nothing short of accurate. At this stage, there should not be as much experimenting as is currently going on and some of the highly paid stars should be producing at a much higher rate.

Moreover, the coaching staff continues to tinker in hopes of finding the best pathway forward. So far this season, Nagelsmann’s crew has been indecisive on formations, roles, positions, and starting lineups. Trying to pinpoint who Bayern Munich’s best functioning XI is incredibly hard. Worse, even if you think you have that XI, the coaching staff has already started putting players into silos determining what positions they can play and what roles they can have despite what they have done in the past.

Salihamidžić’s anger is not just directed at the play on the field, though. Aside of needing to publicly take a swipe at Gnabry, the sporting director has had to bite his tongue over the reckless decision made by Manuel Neuer that has cost club its starting goalkeeper, the team its captain, and Brazzo his vacation.

Salihamidžić did recover from that nicely by stealing acquiring Yann Sommer and bringing in versatile veteran Daley Blind to help cover the loss of Lucas Hernandez, but every time he fixes a mess, another one arises somewhere else.

Salihamidžić has been excellent at those stop-gap measures, but how are all of these pieces are working together on the pitch and in the locker room?

The answer to that is debatable.

There is no doubt that this is a talented roster with great players — however, not all of the pieces fit perfectly into place. There is no true top-flight striker (sorry Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting). There is an overabundance of talented wingers (too many to keep happy over the long haul). One of the central midfielders is oft-injured (Leon Goretzka), while the other (Joshua Kimmich) would need Seal Team 6 to remove him from the pitch (even when he’s worn down). The current center-back tandem (Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt) has supreme talent, but needs time to gel. One right-back might want out (Benjamin Pavard) and the other (Noussair Mazraoui) made an ill-fated decision to push through COVID symptoms at the World Cup.

One of the club’s prize newcomers (Ryan Gravenberch) has openly griped about playing time, found himself in transfer rumors, and now is jumping over more established players into a more significant role. The other key youngster brought in over the summer (Mathys Tel) is probably more of wing (one more!) than a striker.

The team’s two most key attacking players (Jamal Musiala, Müller) are most effective playing the same position (No. 10). If you want to dig deeper, four of the clubs best young players also play that position as well.

The coach, for all of his brilliance, has not yet shown the ability to take this pool of talent and get it to perform at the highest level — yet. This roster can win big games, but there is doubt if it actually will. Even the teams — alleged — plans for next season leave much to be desired.

The flaws to all of this talent coming together can likely be worked out, but, admittedly, there is a lot going on. Roster building is a tricky thing and there is no clear pathway to success.

Salihamidžić has far more hits than misses when it comes to player acquisitions, but how this all melds is not just on Nagelsmann (whose tinkering hinders consistency at times), but also on the sporting director for who he targets and where those players ultimately slot into the roster structure at Bayern Munich.

It remains to seen where this team ultimately finishes, but there is a chance Salihamidžić will once again be tasked with partially re-forming this roster again in the offseason to adjust to what we learned about this player mix during the 2022/23 campaign.

So, yeah, his frustration is justified. Salihamidžić can see from above how things look now — and for the long-term. He also likely knows he has plenty of more work to do during the summer transfer window.

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Bavarian Podcast Works: Weekend Warm-up Podcast Season 2, Episode 29

Bayern Munich is scuffling...BFW’s podcast got whacked like Joe Pesci walking into that room in Goodfellas...and there is a ton of news going on.

Plus, Bayern Munich has yet another game in a jammed in — this time against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Yeah, there is A LOT going on, but we are covering it all here! Preview? Yes. Riffing on the news? No doubt. Some entertainment talk? For sure. Here is what we have on tap for this episode:

• A preview for Bayern Munich vs. Eintracht Frankfurt.
• There seems to be a changing of opinion on Leon Goretzka — and is Ryan Gravenberch going to take over Goretzka’s starting role?
• FC Barcelona tried to hijack Bayern Munich’s deal for Konrad Laimer and the word that Marcel Sabitzer might want to stay.
• Chelsea FC’s Kai Havertz and Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane are probably off the table for Bayern Munich.
• Bayern Munich’s plan for the attack and why it is a mess.
• Some thoughts on the latest episode of The Last of Us — and some news on the future of Cobra Kai.

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Song of the Week: “Spiralling” by Keane

Released in 2008, Keane’s “Spiralling” was one of the group’s biggest hits, but it did not draw a ton of play on modern rock stations. Like many of the of alt rock songs from this period, I discovered it on my old, early morning rides to work.

I still enjoy this tune and hopefully you will, too:

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Entertainment Rundown

The Last of Us

Episode two was a solid, but not spectacular display. Here is what I thought about it:

• I loved getting the snippet from Jakarta that took us back to the beginning of the outbreak.
• At times, the show is excellent at building suspense.
• We also got the full story on exactly why the main trio of Joel is making the cross country jaunt and why Boston managed to survived through a bombing to try and prevent the spread of the disease.
• The post apocalyptic world of The Last of Us is a lot more overgrown and messed up than The Walking Dead, eh.
• This episode was more about providing additional info about what the world is like, how the infected work (for lack of a better term), etc. This was likely a necessary story to set things up for later.
• For the most part, this episode was about setting up what might becoming down the road. It had the requisite drama and some combat against the infected, but this was really more about informing the viewer than advancing the storyline.
• I was not blown away, but I did not need to be just yet. Let’s see what the coming weeks bring.

Cobra Kai

Cobra Kai’s magnificent run will be coming to an end:

Okay, I have to suck it up and start last season (I am such a slacker).

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Predictions

Bayern Munich will play its third game in eight days and its opponent, Eintracht Frankfurt is no slouch. Normally, this might be the kind of game that the Bavarians might sleepwalk through, but things have not been great for the Rekordmeister.

With two draws in its first two games since the re-start, Bayern Munich needs a strong effort to get it going. It will not be easy — and it remains to be seen exactly who Julian Nagelsmann starts — but Bayern Munich should be poised to pull out the three points.

Match Day 16 Prediction: Bayern Munich 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Other Bundesliga Match Day 16 predictions include:

• RB Leipzig 4-1 VfB Stuttgart
• SC Freiburg 3-2 FC Augsburg
• Hertha Berlin 1-2 Union Berlin
• Hoffenheim 1-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Mainz 05 2-1 VfL Bochum
• Werder Bremen 1-3 Wolfsburg
• Schalke 04 1-1 FC Köln
• Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 Borussia Dortmund

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Prediction Records

• Overall Bundesliga record: 75-76
• DFL-Supercup record: 1-0
• DFB-Pokal record: 2-0
• Champions League record: 5-1
• World Cup overall record: 38-25
• WWU overall record: 121-102
• Guest predictions: 7-5