Hoffenheim 1:1 Bayern Munich: Match Review
By: Luke | August 8th, 2009The boys in red are somewhat fortunate to come away with a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim. The pace was a little slower today, and that did play into Bayern’s favor. However, a clear goal for Hoffenheim was disallowed, thanks to some brilliant playacting from Michael Rensing. Disaster was averted yet again in the 19th, when Vedad Ibisevic, showing as much rust as a Rhine barge, pushed a free header wide.
Bayern scored first in the 25th minute, with the Croatian Express linking up for the first of what should be many happy journeys. Danijel Pranjic immediately demonstrated his energetic versatility on a perfectly placed link-up to Ivica Olic, and the former Hamburg man deftly tapped the ball past a sprawling Timo Hildebrand.
I’ve got to admit folks, my ESPN 360 completely crapped out for the Hoffenheim goal. Obasi equalized for the hosts in the 41st. I’ll take Angela’s word for it, but from the replays I saw, we’re not going to be able to pin that one on Rensing.
Eckballs:
*I liked the energy Olic showed, and I was surprised that he lasted the full 90. We should feel fortunate his fitness level is where it needs to be in a situation like this.
*Pranjic was fun to watch. He showed a lot more offensive flair, and seemed to stabilize the defense when he was back.
*Mario Gomez (right) allegedly played 90 minutes today.
*Schweini or Baumjohann should have scored on a 53rd min chance, and Schweini had a very nice chance around the 60th, but that whole sequence was repeated several times today-namely, there was not enough offensive cohesion. Players were unsure of each other, and where to position themselves, decision making was just a beat slow. This is something that *will* come together.
*On another day, Captain Dutch might have left the pitch with two yellows early on. The referee let them play today, and I for one, was all for it. And to give Van Bommel some credit, he did make some very nice tackles, while mixing in his usual physical brutality. I don’t have an answer for Angela’s query, but he did not seem seriously injured.
*Let’s give Louis van Gaal some credit. He pieced together a less than ideal squad, and they played competently, if not spectacularly. I think supporters can be patiently and cautiously optimistic after this one.
Tell us what you saw (and didn’t see!) below!
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Tags: 1. Bundesliga, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Danijel Pranjic, FC Bayern Munich, Injuries, Ivica Olic, Louis van Gaal, Mario Gomez, mark van bommel, Matches, Michael Rensing, Players, Team News, Timo HildebrandSubscribe
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Comments | Add your comment
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I wasn’t happy with Van Buyten (sorry Angela). I think the cross that led to the Hoff goal should have been cleared by him. He was also quite shaky early on, but he might have settled down afterwards – at least I didn’t notice anything in particular from him.
Lahm got shredded at the start – at least twice (I forget the Hoff player). Then there were instances where Altintop had to stay back and defend deep since Lahm wasn’t around. I think it was just nerves since like Van Buyten, he settled down. Pranjic however, as Luke pointed out was quite lively.
I thought Baumjohann acquitted himself quite well at the tip of the diamond. That pass was excellently weighed and might have been meant for Olic, but Pranjic did a great job moving up as did Olic for ghosting in the middle and scoring.
Is there anyone else who thinks Bayern got really lucky with that disallowed goal early on? I thought the entire ball did crossed the line…
And Rensing, mostly not at fault for the ghost goal and actual one. Not particularly solid, but more importantly, not particularly worrisome either. It’s a start.
Finally, I think it should have been 2-2 or 3-2 for Bayern with some of the chances in the second that should have been put away. Schweini was unlucky not to score. In the end a fair result.
PS – wasn’t it more fun with the Espanol commentary as opposed to the regular clueless idiots usually speaking on the English side on ESPN?
Posted from
United States
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Forgive the English – got a sticky keyboard, and editing on the fly is quite irritating…
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United States -
And I missed Luke’s note about the disallowed goal – bad day I guess. No more comments from me.
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United States -
@A Kap – I can be a critic when needed, I just happen to have a lot of love for two of the underdogs so I’m quite use to it.
No worries. I’m not disappointed, he makes mistakes, as they all do, but he settled down after things got going. I didn’t even have spanish commentary. I would’ve welcomed that as I at least might’ve understood some of it. I had an Arab stream. Made it pretty interesting since the announcer kept calling Lahm – Lucio, Olic – Lahm and so many others. Evidently he didn’t get the note that the team has changed a little bit.I think perhaps it will take a little bit for everyone gel and then it will all work itself out. I’m not sure that Lahm was the right choice for a defensive partnership for van Buyten, but nothing can be done about it now. There were too many people, including van Bommel, falling back to cover that spot.
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United States -
Good write up Luke which I fully agree with. Other small things to touch on:
- Baumjohann was very poor. I understand LvG probably didn’t want to risk Sosa with his minor knock, but I wish he had brought on Muller much earlier and I’ll be really irritated if Baum is starting next week. I’m assuming Ribery still won’t be ready. I’d like to see Sosa play.
- Solid game from Badstuder. I’m excited for his future. He has the potential to become a great center back for us for a long time.
- Olic was shockingly good. He has had almost no training or any friendly matches and still managed to go 90 minutes. You could tell he was a bit winded in the late stages, but the guy is a workhorse and as Luke said it is awesome to see he his already this fit without any practice.
- Altintop and Schweini did ok. Schweini was strong in the 2nd half but woeful in the first. Altintop was decent throughout.
I’m sure Angela won’t enjoy this, but here comes a Van Bommel rant:
He had me kind of fooled in pre-season and I thought we could see a different player this year, but this game closed that door. Same old garbage Van Bommel. Let me sum up his play:
1-2 nice passes, 2-3 good tackles, 5+ stupid fouls, 3 terrible long balls, 3 bad touches leading to turnovers, 3 poor short passes, 20 balls played backwards, 15 minutes of whining, 1-2 yellow cards. And I present your captain: Van Dumbass.
The biggest thing that is going to dictate our season is the on-going saga that will be Van Bommel as captain forcing Tymoschuk to ride the bench. I see no positive end in sight for it besides Van Bommel getting injured or LvG doing an unexpected 180. I dont understand how we spent a ton of money to buy one of the 5 best DM’s in the world and now we’re sitting him on the bench in favor of an old thug who might be the 30th best DM in the world. Give Lahm the armband and get Tymoschuk in there. Nobody on the team needs Van Bommel’s captain qualities (which are non-existent).
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@Shane: I’m going to disagree with you, which is probably no surprise, but maybe for different reasons than you might think. Mostly on this >>Nobody on the team needs Van Bommel’s captain qualities (which are non-existent)<< The team very much needs his leadership. They’ve all expressed how much the team benefits from him being Captain and while I don’t always agree with some of the things he does during games, I don’t see anyone else stepping up and taking ownership for the team. The fact is that the Lahm’s, Schweini’s and whoever else you might expect as Captain – and they may be great Captain’s at some point – all lack the leadership that is required off the pitch. No one else on this team steps in and helps the new guys – it is always van Bommel. It is always van Bommel that the new guys are saying that he welcomed them and made them feel at home and showed them the ropes. Whether you love van Bommel or hate him, that isn’t even the issue. The fact of the matter is that none of these big name stars on the team are stepping up and taking leadership.
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Oh and I’d like to also add that it’s damn clear that the club feels pretty good about their need for him as Captain as they are the ones that chose him after observing behavior on and off the pitch for 4 weeks. Clearly they didn’t see anyone else stepping up either. And that’s all I’m going to say on the matter.
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United States -
Although some good points have been made by everybody today, c’mon, we must not jump to conclusions just yet! Hell, its only the first game of the season lets give everybody a few more opportunities before writing them off just because of one bad day at the office!
The team will still take until late September to really start gelling together. Remember we have six new players in the squad. By then we will have a clearer picture who should be playing and who should be heading to the chopping block!
Posted from
Australia
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