Coach of DFB Pokal opponents Viktoria Köln thinks Bayern are better without Lewandowski
With 21 goals scored in 5 games, Bayern Munich have proven so far that their attack can also do well without Robert Lewandowski. But that remains to be seen, of course.
FC Bayern will be facing Viktoria Köln in the first round of DFB Pokal on Wednesday evening, 31st August. Before that, Bayern faced Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday which ended up in a 1-1 draw. Bayern struggled to score against Gladbach, not because of their inability to create chances, but because Gladbach had Yann Sommer saving every shot while being bombarded with balls in all corners.
This „new“ Bayern also caught the eyes of the Pokal opponents‘ coach, Olaf Janssen. Although many said that Bayern were missing Lewandowski up front, the coach of Viktoria Köln sees it differently. According to him, Bayern have become more ‚unpredictable‘.
„Lewandowski not being at Bayern is to their advantage. I watched all five competitive games of Bayern in detail and you can feel one thing above all. Julian [Nagelsmann] and Bayern have totally found each other“, said Janssen in an interview for SPORT1 ahead of the cup fixture against Bayern.
„In the beginning, it was a bit tricky for Nagelsmann with his position, possession game, and conviction to bring tactical procedures into his team.“
Viktoria’s coach makes it clear that this is also down to Nagelsmann’s work after working on his mistakes from the past season. According to him, Nagelsmann has found the way how Bayern ‚works‘ and how the players should play, something that was not possible when Lewandowski was at Bayern because of the heavy dependence of the team on him.
„I don’t want to pin this on Lewy, but what you can see is that the Bavarians are now much more flexible and the group is being integrated much more. You can clearly see it.“
„Julian [Nagelsmann] has probably questioned himself more and now approaches certain things differently. They are now brutally difficult to defend, and this flexibility makes Bayern very unpredictable, and this is Julian’s game. The game got better without Lewy.“, continued the Viktoria coach.
