Matchday 3: Bayern Munich isn’t the Problem

By: Jan | August 29th, 2007

Altin Lala - Lucio It didn’t come as much of a surprise that Bayern Munich very comfortably won their home match 3-0 against Hannover 96 this weekend. Bayern Munich hasn’t yet played against a club, that could be considered a true benchmark. Hansa Rostock lost all three matches and is already the hottest relegation candidate, Hannover 96 had been dominated almost as bad by Hamburg at home on matchday 1 and Werder Bremen in its current shape doesn’t count either. And that’s the problem.

When Uli Hoeneß was in the final stages of his expensive squad renewal programme, a common argument by cautious pundits and Bayern’s direct competitors was, that this squad will need time to get to know each other and to play and harmonise together as a team etc. As we all know by now, that wasn’t the case. Instead it’s VfB Stuttgart and Werder Bremen who lost the balance and harmony in their squads. They admittedly had to deal with quite a few injuries, which is unfortunate. Yet, this means Bayern Munich moved five points clear of both teams, who already have some catching up to do. At least they didn’t lose the plot completely and booked their first three points of the season this weekend, with slim and unconvincing 1-0 victories - it’s a start.

Hamburg and Schalke, the two other main contenders in my book, conserved the good form they had prior to the summer, which unfortunately didn’t stop them from loosing points this weekend. Hamburg lost to Bochum 2-1 and Schalke was held to a 1-1 draw in Wolfsburg. Hamburg was at a disadvantage though, given the fact that 8 players were playing for their national teams on Wednesday, and the match in Bochum was on Friday. More bad news came in the form of an undeserved red card for Vincent Kompany, one of Hamburg’s best players, who will now miss the next match. Schalke on the other hand simply couldn’t capitalise on their chances. They dominated the match, were the better team and nonetheless fell behind due to one perfect free kick by Jacek Krzynowek. Altintop managed to equalise late in the game, but that was it. So now, Bayern also moved three and four points clear of Hamburg and Schalke.

As we see, it doesn’t or it won’t matter whether Bayern win or loose against one of the big teams, as long as they consistently and convincingly beat all the minnows, and as long as their competitors consistently and unconvincingly slip up against inferior opposition along the way. It’s a bit frustrating. If you leave Bayern out of the equation, the league is actually quite balanced and open at the moment, which is worth much less without a tight title race. That being said, the next two matchdays should provide the true benchmarks for Bayern, that I bemoaned had been missing so far. They will play against Hamburg in Hamburg on Sunday, and then at home against Schalke the following week.

Here is stating the obvious: we should know more by then.

P.S.: Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen finally bagged their first three points as well with convincing 3-0 victories over Cottbus and Karlsruhe respectively.