Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany was adamant before Wednesday’s 3-1 win away to FC Cologne that goals, milestones and records belong to players rather than coaches. He was particularly keen to swat aside comparisons between himself and his boss at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola.
After all, it was the great Guardiola who, in 2013-14, presided over the best-ever Hinrunde (first half of a season) record. That Kompany has broken the record set by his old coach — albeit only on goal difference to a new landmark — is not going to cause the Belgian go high or low.
Bayern now have bagged 66 goals and are almost certain to smash to smithereens their own record of 101 goals across a single campaign, set in 1971-72 in the heyday of Gerd Müller.
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Their modern-day Müller, Harry Kane, for once failed to score in midweek and although far from Bayern’s most dominant performance of the season, Kicker magazine had every justification in emblazoning die Plattmacher on the Thursday front cover. Bayern are indeed the steamrollers this term, and no one will get in their way.
Kim Min-Jae received the player of the match award on the back of a key intervention at 1-1 against Cologne midfielder Jakub Kaminski and then what turned out to be the decisive goal. It served as a reminder, if it were needed, that Bayern have quality up and down the pitch.
Even with a host of absences through illness and injuries, and at the time of writing, some concern over Konrad Laimer’s status, the Bavarians are simply too strong.
RB Leipzig away on Saturday wears the look of one of the sternest tests this season for the Rekordmeister, but no one will be surprised if they come through it with another victory.
Borussia Dortmund remain Bayern’s closest pursuers and quietly completed their best Hinrunde since 2018-19 after overcoming Werder Bremen 3-0.
It sounds emphatic enough, but it was in effect an Arbeitssieg, a win that necessitated plenty of hard graft. The big headline was produced late in the game by underperforming striker Serhou Guirassy, who came off the bench to net his first Bundesliga goal in seven matches.
BVB under Niko Kovač have that hard-to-beat quality about them, as evidenced by a run going back to last season in the Bundesliga of one defeat in 25, with that loss being a narrow one in Munich.
But tellingly, Kovač admitted this week that Dortmund are not really in a position to attack Bayern. It feels like a belt-and-braces operation, and finishing as the best of the rest is the main league target.
When United States international Giovanni Reyna left Dortmund for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer, there was hope among American fans that this would mean guaranteed starts for a player undoubtedly talented, yet with a question mark firmly implanted above him.
As it has turned out, Reyna has started four league games and come on as a substitute eight times, in what is also a crucial World Cup season. In the 5-1 thrashing suffered by Gladbach away to TSG Hoffenheim on Wednesday, coach Eugen Polanski kept him on the sidelines for the entire 90 minutes.
Perhaps, though, that defeat might actually help Reyna’s personal situation, and he needs assistance right now. I say that because other players are jumping ahead of him in the internal pecking order, not least 17-year-old sensation Wael Mohya and a revitalized Florian Neuhaus.
Also, just ask anyone who watches Gladbach week in and week out. There is considerable Luft nach oben (room for improvement) and Reyna is running out of time. There are 17 Bundesliga matches before the home tournament of his dreams. Reyna must view this as the challenge of his career so far.
VfB Stuttgart’s dramatic 3-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in Tuesday’s Kracher summed up the opposite directions these two colossal clubs are heading in. Stuttgart have been arguably the most exciting, most daring team to watch so far in this new calendar year.
Their poised and clinical pressing had rendered Leverkusen punchless on Saturday and the wild Schlagabtausch (exchange of blows) in midweek saw die Schwaben take care of another potentially tough nut.
Aesthetically, with Deniz Undav and Jamie Leweling providing constant headaches for opponents, there is a lot to admire about Sebastian Hoeneß and his constellation. Now they have Ermedin Demirovic fit and firing again into the bargain.
Eintracht shipped a whopping 36 goals in the Hinrunde and six in the past two matches.
Their goalkeeping situation is fragile, with the decision to revert to the young Brazilian Kauã Santos after giving Michael Zetterer the gloves not paying dividends. That striker Younes Ebnoutalib, who made a spectacular scoring debut against Dortmund, will be out for several weeks, has done nothing to lift the gloom on the Main.
Looking for a Trainerdiskussion (a debate about whether a coach should remain in post)? I’ll give you two to watch out for.
For starters, there’s the permanent powder keg in Köln, where Lukas Kwasniok has seen his team go eight matches without winning.
Already unpopular with a section of the Kurve (the loudest part of the fan scene), the former Paderborn coach could find himself in very hot water if Effzeh lose on Saturday against a direct rival, Mainz.
It feels a bit too early to begin saying likewise about Bremen’s Horst Steffen, another coach who stepped up from the 2. Bundesliga last season. Steffen embodied expansive style of play with his old club Elversberg and came within a whisker of getting them promoted.
However, Bremen have picked up just two points from six games and Friday’s home match against beleaguered Frankfurt promises to be something of an emotional fireball.
