A 4-0 win draws in the first reflex to praise the offensive of a team. Nothing else happened after Bayern's dominant success in the top match against Borussia Dortmund. Double goalscorer Robert Lewandowski and the resurgent Thomas Müller were then in focus.
If you take a look at the statistics, it shows: Bavaria's victory was mainly due to a strong defensive performance. Our grading system SPIX summarizes the relevant statistics and compares the performance of all Bundesliga pros based on the values. Bayern's players stood out above all in two values: the "defensive team strength" and the "ball conquest". Both are categories that actually did not belong to the Bavarian strength this season.
Coach Hansi Flick was in the past week apparently coaching the behavior in pressing. The Bayern put the BVB permanently under pressure, chasing the opponent, quickly conquered the ball back. Joshua Kimmich said after the game, "We clearly set who gets started and who we call - with aggression and a certain amount of risk."
This risk paid off. For the first time since September Bayern remained in a Bundesliga game without conceding. Accordingly, they make up a large part of the defenders in our top eleven.
David Abrahams Rempler against Christian Streich overshadowed the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and SC Freiburg. However, there was also a football game - and one in which the Frankfurt did not do so bad. Although they had to be outnumbered after a yellow-red card against Gelson Fernandes a half-time, they had the better chances. That Freiburg won 1-0 at the end was due to a late goal by Nils Petersen - and to Mark Flekken . Freiburg's keeper was the strongest goalkeeper of the weekend with six saves.
The central defense of Bavaria was due to barriers (Jérôme Boateng) and injuries (Lucas Hernández, Niklas Süle) practically by itself. Although Javi Martínez and David Alaba formed only the third time the central defensive duo of Bayern, they harmonized surprisingly well: Alaba sticking out as a passport, Martínez as Albräumer. 92% of Alaba's passports arrived, he even initiated a chance. Martínez won both the duels he led and caught two passes. They had a high proportion of the fact that the Bayern allowed only two Dortmund shots.
A lasting legacy of former Bayern coach Niko Kovac is likely to have retrained Alphonso Davies to full-back. As a left-back, Davies scored a SPIX score of 100 at the weekend, which means that no full-back has had better statistics over the past two seasons. With five won duels, two intercepted passes and twelve won second balls he convinced especially as a balleroberer. Gladbach's Rami Bensebaini, on the other hand, has achieved the feat of being in the top eleven despite a yellow-red card - thanks to a goal and five intercepted passports.
In his first weeks as a Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann was on the desperate search for a defensive midfielder. With the return of the long-time injured Kevin Kampl has solved this problem. In the 4-2 victory against Hertha BSC Kampls values were both defensive and offensively above average. He even managed a hit - and thus the jump into the top eleven.
Kingsley Coman did what a Kingsley Coman does over the weekend. The wing dribbler dropped his opponent four times and prepared as many finals. Impressive were his defensive values: Three of his four tackles were successful, and he also caught an opponent's pass. Bremen's Leonardo Bittencourt scored an even higher SPIX value in the ball conquest (98), he also succeeded in 1: 3 against Mönchengladbach Werder's only goal. He had to suffer quite a bit: the Gladbacher fouled him a total of eight times.
Thomas Müller's difficult relationship with former coach Kovac is no secret. Müller often sat on the bench this season, rarely was he allowed to play his beloved ten-position. Kovac's successor Flick puts him back in the attacking midfield. Muller promptly found his way back to his old strength: as a ten-man he conducted his colleagues, got involved in the game everywhere, prepared two goals. For the first time this season he is in the top eleven.
Rouwen Hennings is the life insurance of Fortuna Dusseldorf. After his three-pack in 3: 3 against Schalke Hennings stands at nine goals this season. His teammates scored six goals together. Henning's goal kill is all the more astounding as that the 32-year-old has been able to achieve only eight Bundesliga goals in his entire career so far.
That Timo meets Werner , however, would hardly surprise anyone. Against Hertha the Leipzig scored two goals and prepared another goal. The striker is thirteen in the game in his last four competitive appearances. In the upcoming internationals against Belarus and Northern Ireland Werner can prove that he also meets in the DFB jersey.
