FC Girondins de Bordeaux vs. FC Bayern Munich: Preview

By: Luke | October 20th, 2009

Wednesday night takes us to Aquitaine, where FC Bayern Munich will try to break out of a rough patch of form (beating Freiburg doesn’t count!) against FC Girondins de Bordeaux. The match will kick off at 2:45 p.m. EST, and we’ll run a live blog here at the Bayern Offside.

Flank stakes
A key concern for Bayern going into the match will be the position of left back. With mediocre Edson Braafheid expected to miss the match, Daniel Pranjic had been expected to step in. However, on Tuesday the club’s official website speculated that Philipp Lahm may move back to the left and Hamit Altintop could make the starting 11 at right back. Although Altintop has routinely started at right back for Turkey, he’s never seen action there for Bayern, save for friendly matches or preseason tournaments. I would actually welcome this development. When you get right down to it, Pranjic isn’t any more a natural left back than Altintop is a right back. They’re similar in that they’ve mainly played the position for their national teams. Perhaps I’m just a little more swayed by my memory of Altintop’s laser beam against Anderlecht in the UEFA Cup a couple seasons back. That’s the kind of impact we need right now. Beyond this question, Louis van Gaal seems content to stay with his 4-4-2 alignment and starters from Freiburg last weekend.

Not yet under the table
Bordeaux is perhaps in even more rickety shape than Bayern. They’ve lost two consecutive Ligue 1 matches, by a combined result of 1-4. The only mitigating factor may be that these were both away matches. Fortunately, Bordeaux was without a defeat in the league prior to that, and still sit 3rd, only a point off the league lead. Bordeaux have not conceded a goal at home since the opening Ligue 1 match of the season.

Bored, ohh?
Reading the statistical line for Bordeaux, one will be struck by the similarities to the Bavarians. Last weekend, with 66% of possession against Auxerre, they managed 3 shots on goal. This was actually an improvement as the identical possession percentage yielded 2 shots on goal the week before. Taking the longer view on the season, it is clear that one of the main problems for Bordeaux has been creating quality chances out of possession dominance. In every one of their matches this season in Ligue 1, they have had the majority of possession, but only 33% of their total shots have been on goal. This compares to 41% for Bayern over the course of the Bundesliga campaign.

A similar though more depressing ratio applies to Bordeaux and Bayern in the Champions League: Bordeaux has put a measley 27% of shots on goal (off of an average possession of 53.5%); Bayern have put 32% on goal from an average of 58% possession.

Heroes in the air
More than half of Bordeaux’s Ligue 1 goals have been via header. So once again, this is where Daniel Van Buyten needs to shine. I’ve been encouraged that he seems to have remembered how tall he is, and is finally playing like it. I’ll be keeping an eye on the aerial battle early, knowing it could be of particular importance.

Something to shoot for?
You look at these two teams, relatively on the same course, and one feels, something has got to give. So is this the night everything breaks loose for both sides, and we see a 3-3 thriller? Actually, no. Although this is a match that could easily be won by either side off of one rather lucky shot, I’m afraid we’re going to be treated to another scoreless 90 minutes.