Bayern Munich 5-0 Schalke 04: 3 Key observations from the match
Bayern Munich thrashed Schalke 5-0 in a one-sided Bundesliga encounter at the Allianz Arena last night to move to the second place in the league table. It was Bayern’s fifth consecutive Bundesliga win, and they now have 39 points from 19 matches. They trail league leaders RB Leipzig by a solitary point.On the other hand, Schalke remained fifth with 33 points from 19 matches.
Bayern dominated the match from the very beginning. Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller scored for the home side in the first half, while Leon Goretzka, Thiago Alcantara and Serge Gnabry found the back of the net in the second half.
We would now take a look at the 3 key observations from the game:
#1 Schalke had no answer to Bayern’s free-flowing passing football
As mentioned earlier, Bayern were the dominating team from the very beginning and pegged Schalke back to their own half with their free-flowing passing football. They had more than 60% ball possession in the first half, and Schalke could only make some insipid counter-attacking moves.
Bayern played a high line from the very beginning, and their centre-backs, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba, played diagonal balls to their full-backs, Alphonso Davies and Benjamin Pavard. Davies mainly stayed in the opposition half, and sent numerous crosses into the opposition penalty box. Davies primarily played as a wing-back, and did not have to fall back to his own half very often as Schalke made very few attacking moves.
Bayern’s forwards, Lewandowski, Muller and Ivan Perisic, also exchanged passes among themsleves to make things difficult for Schalke in their defensive third. Moreover, Schalke defended very deep and their midfielders could not exert their presence in the middle third. The Bayern players played quick passes almost at will, and had a stranglehold on the proceedings throughout the match.