…Eyebrows were raised when the unproven Belgian was named as Thomas Tuchel’s successor, but he’s already drawing comparisons with Pep Guardiola
Bayern Munich’s search for Thomas Tuchel’s successor was such a farce that they even ended up asking the outbound coach to reconsider his decision to step down, after being embarrassingly snubbed by Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, Ralf Rangnick and Oliver Glasner.
It still came as a colossal shock, though, when the desperate Bavarians named Vincent Kompany as their new manager on May 29, given the Belgian had just failed dismally to keep Burnley in the Premier League, with the Clarets having conceded 78 goals – and scored only 41 – while amassing a paltry 24 points last season.
Several pundits and former players were astounded by the appointment – but not Pep Guardiola. “I have the biggest admiration for his work, personality and expertise,” the Manchester City boss said of his former captain, who had also coached hometown club Anderlecht before moving to Turf Moor. “It doesn’t matter that he got relegated with Burnley.”
Bayern agreed, and it looks like they were right to ignore the naysayers, with Kompany having made a record-breaking start to his tenure at the Allianz Arena.
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‘Back in the days of Guardiola’
Guardiola’s public and private backing played a significant role in Bayern’s decision to hire Kompany. “He was full of praise,” supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge subsequently revealed, “and his opinion means a lot to us.” Of course, that’s not in the least bit surprising.
Guardiola doesn’t just know Kompany well from their time together at the Etihad; he remains one of the most revered coaches in Bayern’s history, having won three consecutive titles and two doubles during his three-year spell in charge between 2013 and 2016.
Indeed, some connected with the club still believe that the football played under Pep ranks as the most beautiful ever witnessed in Munich, so the Bayern board are quite rightly feeling rather chuffed with themselves right now given Werder Bremen’s bewildered sporting director Clemens Fritz admitted after Saturday’s 5-0 loss at home to Kompany’s side, “I felt like I was back in the days under Guardiola.”
It’s easy to understand why, too. Bayern’s performance at the Weserstadion was truly extraordinary, as utterly dominant a display as one is ever likely to see in one of Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues. Not only did the visitors score five unanswered goals, they didn’t allow their hosts a single attempt on goal, resulting in Bremen ending the game with an expected goals (xG) total of 0.0.
“Bayern played with a lot of intensity and had incredible ball control,” Fritz said. “In the recent past, Bayern always gave you phases where you could gain possession of the ball and find your own structure. But there was such an intensity that even in the 88th minute, Kompany was still pushing his players from the sideline, and the players also wanted to keep going. This counter-pressing didn’t give us any time to breathe.”
Kane the key
Bayern’s brilliance in Bremen was no anomaly either, as their rout of Bremen came at the end of a week in which they’d also hammered Holstein Kiel 6-1 and recorded a historic 9-2 victory over Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League opener.
In total, the Bavarians have scored a staggering 29 goals in six successive wins in all competitions under Kompany, and conceded just five, making this the best start by any coach in the history of the club. Otto Rehhagel, Jupp Heynckes (in his fourth spell), Carlo Ancelotti and Niko Kovac all managed to win their first six games at the helm, but Kompany leads the way on goal difference (+24).
Unsurprisingly, Harry Kane has been integral to Bayern’s fantastic, free-scoring form. The England striker may have disappointed at Euro 2024, but he is already back breaking records at the Allianz Arena. Just over a year after arriving in Munich, he has become the highest-scoring Englishman in Bundesliga history (and the Champions League), while he has already hit two hat-tricks this season, one of which came in a four-goal haul against Dinamo.
There is, thus, every chance that Kane could not only finally break his trophy curse, but also better last season’s haul of 44 goals in just 45 games, particularly as he’s now playing in front of not just one outstanding young attacker – but two.
‘Special talent’
In an alternative world, one in which Manchester United are capable of recruiting top-quality players, Kane could be playing alongside Michael Olise at Old Trafford. In reality, though, they’ve both ended up at the Allianz Arena – and the early signs are that the pair are going to tear defences apart this season along with Jamal Musiala.
Kane has never been slow to heap praise upon Musiala, believing the Germany international to be an outstanding prospect capable of becoming a truly “frightening” player. Olise, though, has just as much world-class potential. One would be hard pressed to find a player more ill at ease in front of a microphone. He is a man of few words – but many attacking attributes.
The France international has been directly involved in eight goals so far this season, scoring five himself, and, working in tandem with Musiala, is already provoking comparisons with legendary Bayern duo Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.
As Kompany said, “His start at Bayern couldn’t be much better. He just has to keep going this way. But I don’t have the feeling that he’s a player who feels much pressure. He just enjoys football and he’s a special talent.”
Enduring class
It would be wrong, though, to attribute Kompany’s early success to new arrivals such as Olise, given there were only two other major summer signings and Hiroki Ito has yet to see a single minute of action due to injury, while Joao Palhinha has started just one game.
Of greater significance has been Kompany’s use of the existing talent at his disposal, and Joshua Kimmich in particular. Tuchel famously felt that the versatile Germany international was better deployed at right-back than as a defensive midfielder, but Kompany is reaping the rewards of playing Kimmich in his preferred position in front of the back four.
Consequently, the 29-year-old is back running the show for Bayern. Kimmich has completed more passes, created more chances and won more possession than any of his team-mates so far this season. By complete contrast, fellow midfielder Leon Goretzka has featured just twice and for a grand total of 10 minutes. However, he did come off the bench to score against Dinamo, much to the obvious delight of his team-mates.
“He is important for us and popular within the squad,” Kompany acknowledged afterwards. “There is no way to get into the team if you don’t do everything you can for it.”
Rotation paying off
The net result is a group of players working incredibly hard and competing fiercely for places. Indeed, one of the notable aspects of Kompany’s reign so far has been his willingness to rotate. He’s already used 22 players this season, and 19 of them have started games.
“He’s managing the situation very, very well,” Eberl enthused. “He’s making full use of the squad, all of whom we will need come the end of the season.”
The obvious challenge facing Kompany is keeping everyone happy and there have been some reports that certain players believe his communication skills leave a lot to be required. Kicker even claimed that the starting line-up for the game against Holstein Kiel was revealed via WhatsApp, much to the alleged bemusement of certain leading figures in the dressing room.
However, the atmosphere at the Allianz Arena is overwhelmingly positive right now. Veteran forward Thomas Muller even joked that the players didn’t even have to start downing beers to “get the mood going” during their recent visit to Oktoberfest because they’re already buzzing because of their winning run.
Tougher tests ahead
Of course, crisis is never far away at Bayern. It’s certainly significant that two of the four managers to have previously won their first six games at the club, Ancelotti and Kovac, were sacked less than 18 months into the job, and there are lingering doubts over the strength of Kompany’s defence.
The Belgian has denied that he was against the sale of Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United, but it is looking like an ill-advised decision with Ito out injured and Bayern forced to rely on error-prone centre-backs Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, particularly as Kompany likes to play a high line.
We’ll only really find out how good Bayern really are over the next month, starting on Saturday when they take on the team that denied them a 12th consecutive German title by going the entire Bundesliga season defeated, Bayer Leverkusen.
What’s undeniable, though, is that Bayern are perfectly primed going into the top-of-the-table clash in Munich. Olise, Kane and Kimmich are all flying, while Kompany has already silenced the critics who questioned his coaching credentials.
After all, he’s not just won every game to date; he’s also provoked comparisons with Pep. As starts go, it really doesn’t get any better than that at Bayern.
Goal
