New coach, new momentum? What Bayern need to watch out for against Werder | OneFootball

FC Bayern Munich face SV Werder Bremen away from home on Saturday afternoon (3:30pm, live on Sky). It’s a real traditional duel in the Bundesliga, but the omens could hardly be more different

The record champions go into this match as league leaders and have had a very satisfying season to date with only minor wobbles. The hosts from the Weser started the season in good spirits, but recently changed their coach because they are in a negative spiral

Bremen have gone eleven Bundesliga games without a win, the longest run of any current Bundesliga side. That figure alone illustrates why a change was needed at Bayern’s opponents. Daniel Thioune took over from Horst Steffen and lost his first game in Freiburg 1-0

Werder Bremen: New momentum with Thioune?

Bremen are now clearly hoping for a coaching effect. The Freiburg game in the familiarisation phase between team and coach has not allowed many conclusions to be drawn so far. From Werder’s point of view, the entire training week before the Bayern game had to be used to work on the content and implement the typical Thioune virtues

But what are the typical Thioune virtues anyway? The coach, who has experience in the second division, relies on flexible formations, but the core of the game often remains relatively identical. Thioune is not a coach who constantly demands intensive pressing, but rather relies on good compactness. Gaps should be consistently closed, the outfield players have to work at the back, whether as wing-backs or classic wingers

photo: IMAGO

The opponent is not constantly approached aggressively, the pressing tends to focus on a few, but promising opportunities. Thioune is also not a classic possession coach, but always tries to set up his teams as variably as possible. Chances should be created from the flat build-up as well as from the switching behaviour. Compactness, not maximum intensity, but good flexibility: this is how Thioune’s concept can be summarized

What FC Bayern must bear in mind against Bremen

That sounds interesting in theory, of course, but in practice it didn’t always work, especially at Thioune’s last stop in Düsseldorf. Too often the games drifted off course, too often they became an open exchange of blows, which is why too many goals were conceded in the end despite the compactness maxim. FC Bayern have a number of tasks to complete against Werder Bremen in order to secure a win

Their opponents from Bremen will initially be aiming to keep a clean sheet and make occasional pinpricks forward. An early goal would immediately trigger the uncertainty in the Werder defence, so Vincent Kompany’s team would be well advised to attack right at the start of the game

The second key in this game will be good counter-attacking defence – on the one hand, to prevent Werder from getting into the game in the first place, and on the other, because that is the biggest problem alongside defending from resting balls. Bayern have conceded seven goals in their last five league games and have not even kept their own goal clean

In short, it will be important for FC Bayern to build on the second half of the Leipzig game in particular and adapt to the fact that Werder Bremen will suddenly change both their system and their approach over the course of the game. If they can do that, then there’s not much standing in the way of another Bundesliga win, coaching effect or not.