Vincent Kompany ahnte womöglich, dass dieser letzte Teil des Arbeitstages in Birmingham unangenehm werden könnte, so unangenehm fast wie die gut 90 Minuten zuvor für seine Mannschaft. Die hatte zum ersten Mal seit sieben Jahren ein Champions-League-Vorrundenspiel verloren, und er seine erste Partie als Trainer des Bayern.
Wie es so ist im Fußball, wird dann plötzlich in Frage gestellt, wofür es zuvor noch viel Lob gegeben hat. Aber Kompany versuchte, dieses 0:1 bei Aston Villa erst einmal als Zwischenfall zu moderieren. „Wir sind weit davon entfernt, das jetzt als Trend zu sehen“, sagte der Belgier nach dem zweiten nicht gewonnen Spiel innerhalb von drei Tagen.
Unaufgeregt zu bleiben nach so einem Abend ist nicht so schlecht. Aber es gibt auch keinen Grund zur Sorge. Nach der letzten Vorrunden-Niederlage in der Königsklasse war der Trainer entlassen worden, das muss Kompany natürlich nicht befürchten, denn anders als im September 2017 beim 0:3 in Paris unter Carlo Ancelotti war der Auftritt im Villa Park ja keiner zum Vergessen.
Duran schaut und trifft gegen Neuer
Die Mannschaft hat das gemacht, was sie die ersten sieben Pflichtspiele auch getan hat, aber manchmal nicht ganz so konzentriert, so konsequent. „Wir hatten keine hundertprozentige Aktivität gegen den Ball“, sagte Sportvorstand Max Eberl. Und dann passiert eben, was in der 75. Minute passiert ist.
“I could have maybe stood two meters further back,” said Neuer. “But that’s our game.” That’s Kompany’s game. Joshua Kimmich also didn’t want to see any positional errors on the part of Bayern captain Neuer. “We often benefit from the fact that he is so high” – because Neuer acts like an eleventh field player and often intercepts attacks well in front of his goal.
There had been a lot of talk in these first few weeks of the season about this high pressing that Kompany prefers. About the opportunities, but also about the risks. But the opponents didn’t know how to help themselves at first, not even champions Bayer Leverkusen managed to exploit the weaknesses that this system harbors last Saturday.
The fact that Aston Villa could do better than the seven teams before it was only a little surprising at first glance. After all, the club is playing in the premier class again for the first time in 41 years and is not necessarily one of the haute volée of the Premier League.
However, there is a coach on the English bench who has earned a reputation as a Bayern terror in recent years after victories with Paris St. Germain and Villarreal over Munich. Unai Emery has ordered his team to repeatedly play long balls into the interfaces from a compact defense – and in doing so also gave the Bundesliga leaders’ next opponent, Eintracht Frankfurt, an effective tool on Sunday.
But that alone would hardly have led to success, a repeat of the results of the 1982 European Cup final against Bayern if the German record champions had managed to exploit their dominance better. “We didn’t implement our game 100 percent,” admitted Kimmich.
After a good initial phase, Kompany said, “we lost the pace a bit”. His team would have done better again in the second half. But like against Leverkusen, Bayern failed to create many chances to score. “But those who had it were 100%,” said Kimmich.
Especially in the final phase, when first Serge Gnabry was denied by the brilliant goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and then Harry Kane. The striker, who had some successful appearances at Villa Park with his former club Tottenham Hotspur, was more concerned with winning the ball than finishing on Wednesday and only shot at goal twice, once of which he was offside.
“We will learn from this game,” Kompany is sure. The team first and foremost. It has been seen that “we cannot win at this level with a few percent less,” said Eberl. But there is no doubt that the coach will remain true to himself, his style and possession football with risky pressing on this uncomfortable night in Birmingham. “If we keep playing like this,” he emphasized, “we will win a lot of games.” But sometimes a lot of wins at FC Bayern are not enough.
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