FCB succeeds in liberating: Nagelsmann dances wild Cancan on the razor blade

With the 4-0 win against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, FC Bayern Munich shot itself out of the crisis.

FCB succeeds in liberating: Nagelsmann dances wild Cancan on the razor blade

With the 4-0 win against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, FC Bayern Munich shot itself out of the crisis. This success is a great relief for Julian Nagelsmann, but there is still a long way to go. The record champion between required patience and great self-demand.

"Jabadabadu" - less than three minutes were played when the goal music rang out for the first time in the Allianz Arena. On the right side, the man who was already seen as the great hope, dribbled his way into the penalty area: Jamal Musiala. The 19-year-old served Leroy Sané and suddenly everything at Bayern Munich was "Jabadabadu" again.

The 2:0 and the 3:0 were not long in coming either. It seemed as if the Munich were in the flow, as if a knot had burst. "Strong Bavarians" was mentioned in the half-time analysis by "DAZN". Almost every shot by the record champion landed in the Leverkusen net. In the attack third, Julian Nagelsmann's team sometimes combined quickly, precisely and powerfully. Everything that was missing against FC Augsburg and in the previous Bundesliga games.

But is the thrashing of a Werkself, who is also in crisis, really the turning point of a crisis? What about Julian Nagelsmann after the "Krisico" and before the "classic" hit against Borussia Dortmund? Friday evening was able to provide a few answers, but by no means all.

Julian Nagelsmann is someone who "soaks up criticism" and with whom you can communicate well, said Oliver Kahn before the game on "DAZN". At least Nagelsmann changed some details of his tactical orientation against Leverkusen. The nine position was the most discussed. In the first few weeks, Robert Lewandowski's departure was offset by a flexible 4-2-2-2 formation, with two players splitting the roles of the Pole - mostly Sadio Mané and Serge Gnabry.

The coach then deviated from this and switched to a 4-2-3-1, in which Mané and then Thomas Müller acted as strikers. The earnings crisis followed. Cause and effect seemed clear. The change in formation didn't have that much of an impact, at least on the average positions of the players. Apparently, the slight shifts were enough to take some momentum out of the attacking game. Nagelsmann returned to the 4-2-2-2 against Leverkusen.

His most important change is likely to be away from any numbers. Bayern acted a little broader overall. Especially in the last third they pulled the field apart. This allowed more transfers to be played, which put the deep Leverkusen block under pressure.

In addition, Nagelsmann may have been dissatisfied with the intensity in recent weeks. Both with and against the ball, Bayern seemed lethargic and passive in some phases of the game. The series champion gave a different picture against Leverkusen: high pressing, sometimes fast combinations, courage to take risks.

The pressing in particular has been a problem in recent weeks. In the first half against FC Barcelona, ​​Bayern sometimes let themselves be pushed into their own half. In the Bundesliga, too, they had significantly fewer ball wins in the attacking third. That was a central element under Hansi Flick in particular: high pressure and short distances to the goal when winning the ball.

There haven't been that many pressing or counter-pressing moments this season. On average, Munich put their opponents in the Bundesliga under around ten times less pressure than in recent seasons. This is also due to the fact that Munich play more controlled overall and have an average of five percent more ball possession than last season. But it's also because some of them have shied away from the risk.

The 2-0 win against Leverkusen was once again the result of a quick offensive switchover. Bayern pushed well forward and consistently presented the guests' options. Especially when opponents are defending deeply, pressing and counter-pressing can be tried and tested means of cracking the bolt.

To a certain extent, Nagelsmann has proved that he is capable of learning and accepting criticism. His adjustments against Leverkusen all make sense given the problems of the previous weeks.

How important this success is for him personally was shown by his calmness after the game. With a slight grin, he pointed out that looking at his players didn't make him feel disrespected. There has been a lot of talk about dissatisfaction in the Bayern dressing room in recent days.

Apparently a result-driven reaction from the outside, if you believe the words of the trainer. At least the willingness of the players who played against Leverkusen supports his thesis. It could have been tight for him if he hadn't won that game. But after this performance, Nagelsmann's chair should wobble much less.

It will still be exciting how he distributes the minutes of the game in the coming weeks. The broad squad requires special care. Before the international break, there were signs of unrest from dissatisfied players. For example, Ryan Gravenberch only got a few minutes against Leverkusen.

It is also true that the Werkself were desolate opponents. As clear as the result is, the goals came from two clear goalkeeping errors by Lukas Hradecky and deflected shots. Otherwise there were only ten deals in the first round. Goal probability calculated by different expected goals models: between 0.5 and 0.75. Not intoxicating.

In the second half it was a different game because of the quick goals. Leverkusen was obviously the opponent that Bayern and Nagelsmann in particular needed. Because a fair classification also includes the fact that the Munich team has seemed increasingly paralyzed in recent weeks.

Paralyzed by the criticism and the unrest, paralyzed above all by the lack of results. With this 4-0 win, Munich buys important time for the learning process of the coach, but also for the team, who have to relearn the offensive game without Lewandowski. In view of these framework conditions, the team's appearance was a step in the right direction.

But if someone now says that this game was a sportive turnaround, then that can only refer to the result. It was also evident against Leverkusen that Bayern are finding it difficult to score high-quality deals from good positions at the moment.

But that is exactly what is ultimately decisive in football: the result. Especially in the second half, Bayern showed a joy in playing that they didn't have recently. The precision of their own actions was also different. Compared to the last few games, Nagelsmann's team went deeper and took more risks - perhaps because Leverkusen never posed the necessary danger of being able to endanger them.

It should not be pretended that Bayern had recently forgotten how to play football. "Bayern Munich is in a crisis that I would like to be in with my team," said Leverkusen's Kerem Demirbay after the 4-0 defeat. The force of the criticism is very special in Munich in such phases. The club is currently in an unfamiliar situation. On the one hand, patience is required. With the coach, but also with the players. The caesura after the Lewandowski change is unsurprisingly large. On the other hand, the demand on oneself demands results.

The fact is, however, that Bayern had enough chances to win the games against Augsburg, Stuttgart, Union and Gladbach. They just didn't use them. Everything went well for the subscription champions against Leverkusen from the start. Whether the knot has actually burst as a result will only become apparent in the coming games. Against Viktoria Pilsen, but especially then in Dortmund. Nagelsmann and the newly sorted team will certainly need some more time to be able to consistently put their own ideas on the pitch.

"Jabdadabadu" is by no means everything for Bayern, even after the 4-0 win over Leverkusen. But the team has at least been able to prove to the public that they want to go down this path with the coach. In the Allianz Arena, Cancan is danced again. Under these circumstances, there shouldn’t be a trainer dismissal so quickly on Säbener Straße.