SportsLessons For Coach Flick From Embarrassing Bayern Loss

Lessons For Coach Flick From Embarrassing Bayern Loss

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BEVERLY HILLS, January 14, (THEWILL) – As Bundesliga’s juggernauts and UEFA Champions League holders Bayern Munich begin to come to terms with their shocking defeat to German second division club Holstein Kiel in the German Cup competition, team coach Hansi Flick has quickly taken the positive lane.

Flick’s immediate response is that, as terrible as the loss is especially as it ends any dreams Bayern may have had of repeating last season’s trophy treble, his side must learn from what is their earliest German Cup exit in 20 years.

And, who better than him to see the lessons involved. It is the first time the German football giants will be knocked out of a Cup competition since he took charge in November 2019, not to mention the fact that it had to come at the hands of a club in the lower division.

“We are extremely disappointed, we wanted to defend the treble. There are no excuses left – lots of games, too little rest,” a deflated Flick commented after Bayern’s ouster.

Flick was alluding to what is the case across football in the era of a worldwide coronavirus scourge: a tightly packed fixture list. This season, the congestion has meant his team plays every few days in the different competitions that they are competing in.

Although, with the champions having one less Cup to worry about, they are slightly unburdened as a result, Flick was quick to point out areas that require improvements.

“We have to be more compact in defence, protect the central midfield better and apply more pressure.”

For a club that ploughed through last season’s UCL unbeaten and took every trophy in every competition they were entered in, it is both modest and instructive to see their coach humbly facing the facts of their recent form and decidedly focused on what needs to be done to improve.

The stats prove Flick knows what he is saying. This season, Bayern has conceded 24 league goals. That tally of goals is more than any of the other top six clubs in the Bundesliga. They have only remained on top because of the scoring prowess of their deadly strikers up front. Yet, as the exit from the German Cup proves, something needs to be done to the defense.

There still remains the fact that time is not on their side. Although their next UCL fixture, a last 16 game against Serie A club Lazio is still five weeks away, domestic league ties are coming hard and fast giving them no vacation to fix their porous defence for the defense of both the Bundesliga and UCL trophies.

The attacking combination of the Kiel side were ice cold in taking their chances and exposing the defensive vulnerabilities of Bayern whose 2-1 lead evaporated as a lapse in concentration allowed Kiel captain Hauke Wahl to head in a last-gasp equaliser and force the match into extra time.

In the end, the second division side held their nerve for a deservedly triumphant 6-5 victory in the penalty shoot-out that followed after a winner could not be decided in regulation time with the scores levelled at 2-2.

The thoroughly pleased Kiel fans made their excitement felt outside the stadium, blaring car horns and setting off fireworks to celebrate the unexpected victory.

Kiel becomes the first non-Bundesliga club to knock Bayern out in the second round of the German Cup since the 2000/01 Season, when Germany’s fourth-tier side Magdeburg achieved that feat.

Perhaps it was fitting therefore for Kiel’s 32-year-old coach, Ole Werner, beaming with pleasure to quip: “Something like this happens perhaps once in a lifetime.”

As hinted on earlier, there is no time to recover on the sidelines. Bayern needs to swing back into action as a tricky home tie against Freiburg awaits them on Sunday. The visitors will have seen what Kiel accomplished and they come to the Allianz Arena on a club-record five-game winning streak in the league.

Bayern will have to have a strong backline ready by Sunday. Flick will have to make sure the lessons from the ouster are well learnt in time for that.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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