On Sunday, the Bundesliga said goodbye to the 68-day winter break. The 2022/23 season has so far reserved some surprises. But one thing should surprise no one: FC Bayern Munich hails them once again from the top of the table after 15 match days. There is no doubt that the course has been much more difficult for the record champions than in previous years. Now, in November, it seems that the eleventh consecutive Scudetto is just a question of form.
Bayern challenge the resistance
In mid-September, the blessing of the house on Säbener Straße was still crooked. Bayern had not won four league games in a row by that point. At the latest after the surprising 1-0 defeat against FC Augsburg and the fall to fifth place in the table, coach Julian Nagelsmann was also heavily criticized. There was talk of discord within the squad and a certain unease with the 35-year-old’s management style. Many have already seen the end of Bayern’s dominance coming.
Since then, seven wins from eight league games followed, 22 out of 24 possible points and a goal difference of 30:7. Only the 2-2 draw after the 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund dampened the atmosphere a bit. Apart from that, the Munich team dominated their opponents at will and celebrated victories against Bayer Leverkusen (4:0), SC Freiburg (5:0), Mainz 05 (6:2) and Werder Bremen (6:1 ).
Best offense, best defense
After 15 games, Bayern have already scored 49 goals. Extrapolated, they are well on their way to breaking the magic mark of 100 goals by the end of the season. Concerns expressed meanwhile that Robert Lewandowski’s departure had weakened Bayern’s offensive too much have long since been forgotten.
With only 13 goals conceded, the record champions also have the best defense in the Bundesliga. With this dominance in all parts of the squad, Bayern have now pulled a four-point lead from a five-point deficit at the top of the table after matchday seven. It seems unlikely that Julian Nagelsmann’s team will be sidetracked again in the new year.
There is no competition again
Bayern’s temporary slump could have been an opportunity for their league rivals to carve out an early lead and capitalize on it later on. However, none succeeded. Borussia Dortmund have never been consistent enough and have recently completely lost ground with defeats to VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach. The yellow and blacks are now nine points behind the Monaco team.
RB Leipzig returned to the top flight on an eight-game unbeaten run before the winter break. Due to the weak start to the season, the Saxons still lack a lot to really attack Bayern. Only SC Freiburg and Union Berlin were able to keep the league leaders in check for a long time in the first half of the season. However, the two surprising teams have recently shown that they lack the sheer quality and consistency of a potential title contender.
And so the situation in the Bundesliga can probably best be summed up with a modification of a much-quoted saying by English legend Gary Lineker: 18 teams chase a ball over 34 match days – and in the end Bayern wins.
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