Bayern Munich started a Bundesliga season with a 2-2 draw with Hamburg. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski assisted Bayern Munich to lead 2-0 after 16 minutes of the game but Hamburg clawed back to level terms to the end of the match. Here's the player by player analysis of Bayern.
Michael Rensing, GK (picture, yellow jersey): This was not his day. He did not have any chance to prove himself to be the number one goalkeeper in the team because either the attack was cleared away before he needed to make saves, or it was a definite goal. He was powerless to stop those 2 goals as the back 4 made mistake from the first goal, and the penalty was too good to stop from the second goal. However, he was quite stable and his ball handling was pretty good. Cheer up boy!!
Christian Lell, DR: Well, well, well, when will he finish his holiday?? Same as last Sunday, his body was in the pitch but his mind was still in holiday. He lost his position couple of times and let the opposition made shots. Also, his attack seemed to be useless as he could not make any threats in the right flank. Furthermore, he needlessly conceded a penalty and led the team couldn't able to win the game. So this match he failed to prove himself to be the regular starter in the team and to be the successor of Willy Sagnol.
Lucio, DC: Not pretty good in this match. Yes he made tackles and couple of clearance, but his marking made problem to the team defense. The first conceded goal from Bayern was because he lost his marker, Jose Guerrero, to let him score an easy header. In fact since he joined Bayern Munich, he could not gain his best form from Bayer Leverkusen, so this is what Jürgen Klinsmann has to think about.
Daniel van Buyten, DC: He had an average game. He did not make any crucial mistake of the game, but this was what at least to do. He proved himself he was good at aerial ability but he could not prove himself in terms of agility. He was a pretty slow player, and he could not delay any counter attacks from the opposition. This is what Klinsmann needs to think abot as well, but, as Breno is away for the Olympics and Martin Demichelis is injured, these two centre backs will have one more chance to prove themselves.
Philipp Lahm, DL: He was the best defender in this match. His positioning and his attacking runs helped the team a lot. He limited the space from the right flank from Hamburg could let Ze Roberto made more attacks. Also, his left flank attacking runs could bring more variation to the team. This was a good game to him, keep it on kid!!
Mark van Bommel, DMC: He did not show up himself in the camera too much during the match, but it didn't mean he played badly. He could limit the space of the centre field for the Hamburg defense so the others could not set up an effective attacks. This is what the defensive midfielder needed to do. We could not see him from the TV screen, but he made lots of efforts. He got a yellow card during the game, but he could get away with that one if the referee was not that tight. Generally he could prove himself to be a good captain.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, RW (picture): HE IS BACK!!! After the Euro 08, his confident is back. He scored the first goal of Bundesliga Season 2008-2009 confidently and he made lots of threatening run during the match. He did a good job in the right flank and he proved himself he can be the regular starter this season. A credit to Klinsmann as well as I believe he gave lots of faith to Schweinsteiger before the match so he did his best. Sadly his performance dropped as he started to get tired in the later 2nd half, maybe it was because he was not recovered from the summer tournament. However, the team must keep him at all costs!!!!
Ze Roberto, LW: He was back in his best position, left wing. When he joined Bayern for the first time, he was assigned to play at this position and he did a nice job. So this time he was asked to play at this position, there was no problem for him. He could keep his good form in last season, made lots of runs, passes, and tackles during the match and he could keep it before he was substituted. It was very unlucky that he could score in 5th minute of the game, just blame why he was borned with such a short legs!! By the way, he was one of the best players in the match.
Toni Kroos, AMC (picture, red jersey): He was assigned in the attacking midfielder position. Once again he proved himself this position should be his best position. He did lots of through balls during the match, as he was asked to do so. In the later 2nd half of the game, he played at the flank and his performance dropped. As I said before, he needed to be the match winner every single time if he wanted to be the best player in the world. This time he could not, so he still had long way to go. I still have faith on him as he is only 18 and he can do what Zinedine Zidane did. He is a brightest star in Germany no doubt, and he can be one of the best players in the world. Come on kid!!
Miroslav Klose, ST: He did try a lot, but his confident was not back. He made some runs and shots in the game but he did not get anything from it. It was all about confidence. I understand he is not fit in all around the year and he needed time to pickup the form. However, as a player in big team like Bayern, they won't wait for him. Luca Toni is now injured so he can keep playing, but it is not guaranteed his starting place after Toni is recovered because Klinsmann is the coach who will drop anyone out, no matter who you are.
Lukas Podolski, ST: He was another guy who gained back his confident after Euro 08, and converted it into the team. He confidently scored the penalty and he had the threats to the opposition. However, sometimes he was not calm enough as he wasted chances to extend the lead and it ended up the team failed to win. Apart from this, he was a new man comparing with last season. Keep on going Lukas!!
Tim Borowski (sub, for Schweinsteiger): He did not contribute too much when he was substituted, and it was quite obvious that he did not get into the team, even though he made some tackles and runs in the game.
Thomas Müller (sub, for Klose): He did not have chances to perform himself. As the situation of the deadlock like this, nobody would expect he could create magic in his 11 minutes performance in the match.
Andreas Ottl (sub, for Ze Roberto): He was substituted only because the team were out of gas and needed someone fit to hold on the possession.
Overall: Season starting sickeness was affecting the team in this match. It seemed they had a great form but they couldn't hold on to it due to their match fitness was not ready. Look at the bright side, Hamburg last 2 seasons were controlling Bayern Munich in all means, but this time Bayern controlled the match and Hamburg did not have much chances generally. It was not a bad start for Bayern as Hamburg was a very tough team to beat even though the team was in full strength. Keep on going team, as I have faith on the bright new Bayern Munich.
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