Nightmare Debut for Neuer as MGladbach Win At Bayern

Bayern Munich began their 2011/12 campaign in disastrous fashion, going down 1-0 at home to Borussia MGladbach. With the visitors managing just 1 win in 43 previous league trips to Bayern, Jupp Heynckes’ side were odds-on favourites to comfortably clinch victory at the Allianz Arena, but, despite dominating possession and having plenty more goal attempts, failed to find the net.

The match was a tale of two keepers. While Marc-André ter Stegen was in defiant mood in the opposition goal with a strings of saves frustrating Bayern, Manuel Neuer had a Bundesliga debut to forget. The hosts’ new number one misjudged a hopeful long ball from defence, allowing Igor de Camargo to nod home the only goal of the game just after the hour mark. Heynckes will now need to pick his side up for what will be a tricky away trip to Wolfsburg next Saturday afternoon.

Player Report

Ratings Summary
Bayern had an average player rating of 6.66 compared to their visitors’ 7.03. Eight MGladbach players averaged 7 or more in WhoScored.com’s ratings; they allowed Bayern the majority of the possession but a solid defensive shift throughout the side, backed by a brilliant goalkeeping performance, proved key to their shock victory.

Five Bayern players averaged more than 7, but it’s indicative of their performance that four of those were either defenders or defensive midfielders. Of their four attacking players, only Mario Gomez managed 7 or more- Robben, Muller, Kroos and substitute Ribery all failed to provide any real spark.

Man of the Match
Marc-André ter Stegen performed heroics for the visitors- the nineteen year old made a total of 7 saves as Bayern laid siege to his goal. Mario Gomez will be particularly frustrated- he had 4 shots saved by the young MGladbach keeper and failed to open his goal scoring account for the season. Ter Stegen also made 2 good claims and played 30 long balls from the back, helping launch counter attacks and earning himself a WhoScored.com rating of 8.11.

Best Tackler
Playing on the right of Bayern’s double pivot in a 4-2-3-1, Luis Gustavo had a brilliant defensive match. He made 8 tackles, more than any other player on the pitch and was also joint-top for interceptions, with MGladbach right-back matching him on 6. Gustavo also made 2 clearances, won 2 aerial duels and made 61 passes with a brilliant 93% accuracy, as he picked up a WhoScored.com rating of 8.10.

Best Dribbler
Arjen Robben made the most successful dribbles in yesterday’s match, with a total of 3 over his 90 minutes. Playing as an inverted winger on the right for Bayern, the Dutchman also had 3 shots, with just 1 on target. Robben managed 3 crosses but made just 1 key pass all game- his 70% pass accuracy was the lowest of any player in the hosts’ starting XI. 

Best Passer
Philipp Lahm was at the heart of the action more than any other player. The Bayern left-back had 134 touches and made 89 passes, the most in both respective categories. Lahm also managed 2 key passes and 1 successful dribble but his delivery from the flank was disappointing- he made 7 crosses over the 90 minutes but all were unsuccessful. He also played 12 long balls, with a fantastic 91% pass accuracy.

Lahm also impressed defensively- his 3 tackles and 5 interceptions helped him to a score of 7.49 - the second best in the Bayern side in WhoScored.com’s match ratings.

Flop
Manuel Neuer has had a difficult settling in period at his new club and this performance won’t have helped his confidence in the slightest. A misguided attempt to fist clear a long ball on the edge of the Bayern box allowed Igor de Camargo to nip in and nod home the 62nd minute winner. Bayern’s domination meant he had little to do- just 2 saves were required otherwise and in distribution, he made 20 passes with an 80% accuracy. His glaring error proved critical, though, and earned him a lowly match rating of 4.59.

Team Report

Player Positions

The position of Lahm (21) illustrates the left-back’s attacking intent and explains just why he saw so much possession for Bayern. With Toni Kroos (39) venturing from his role in the middle, Lahm was able to link up with the attacking players ahead of him time and again. On the opposite flank, Arjen Robben (10) gave more width and played slightly deeper than both Kroos and Thomas Muller. Despite playing in a double pivot, Bastian Schweinsteiger (31) foraged forward plenty, with the defensive work of Gustavo (30) allowing him a platform to attack.

For MGladbach, only two players had an average position in the opposition half. The visitors played a very narrow 4-4-2, with wingers Juan Arango (18) and Marco Reus (11) tucking in and offering little width from the flanks. As a result, much of the pair’s work was defensive- they had a combined total of 8 tackles, 4 interceptions and 4 clearances between them. Right-back Tony Jantschke (24) sat deep and offered little attacking threat, with the likes of Lahm and Muller giving him plenty of defensive work- he made 6 tackles and 6 interceptions.

Attack Zones

Bearing in mind the attacking performance of Philipp Lahm, it’s little surprise Bayern were so dominant down the left- 49% of their attacks came down this flank. 25% came through the middle and 26% down the right- perhaps explaining the fairly ineffectual performance of Arjen Robben. A more balanced ratio across the three attacking zones may help get more out of the Dutchman.

With Bayern rampant on the MGladbach right flank, the visitors saw little attacking chances here- just 26% came from the right as they spent their time on the back foot. 41% came down the left flank though; with winger Juan Arango making more passes (44) than any visiting player. Left-back Filip Daems made just 1 tackle, an indication of how less busy a game he had in comparison to Jantschke on the right. 35% came through the middle, again highlighting the narrowness of their shape yesterday afternoon.

Team Stats

Bayern’s control of the game is highlighted by a 62% possession. They made a total of 660 passes to MGladbach’s 420, with an 85% accuracy compared to the visitors’ 72%. The crossing stats are particularly revealing and show the knock-on effect of MGladbach’s narrow midfield- while Bayern made 49 crosses, their opponents made just 3.

Bayern also had more variety to their distribution, playing 93 long balls to MGladbach’s 69. For the hosts, Gustavo and Schweinsteiger player 33 long balls between them from the double pivot position. When in possession, Bayern also kept hold of the ball longer- their average pass streak was 5 to the visitors’ 3.

Bayern were completely dominant in terms of goal attempts, too. They had 14 shots in total, with 11 coming from open play and just 3 from set-pieces. While Mario Gomez -with 5 shots and 4 on target- may be the guiltiest when it came to failing to score, he at least showed a greater desire than any of his team mates- the forward was the only Bayern player to register more than 1 shot on target. He also hit the woodwork and had a goal wrongly disallowed.

MGladbach‘s lack of any real attacking intent is shown by a mere 4 goal attempts; Juan Arango managing 50% of his side‘s efforts, with 2 shots. 3 of the side’s attempts were from open play and 1 from a set-piece situation.
 
Card Situations
Both sides made 11 fouls apiece, with Luiz Gustavo (4) for Bayern and Roman Newscaster (3) for MGladbach the most culpable. There was only 1 yellow card during the course of the match, however; goal scorer Igor de Camargo picked up the only caution of the game in the 73rd minute.