Should Kovac have given Bayern's kids a chance in the cup?
October 30, 2018
As the rain lashed down on the Stadion an der Bremer Brücke, one or two of Bayern's senior players could be forgiven for wondering if they might have been excused the 625-kilometer (388 miles) trip northwest on Tuesday night.
Joshua Kimmich and Robert Lewandowski — the two outfield players Niko Kovac has turned to the most this season — were wrapped up battling the cold alongside their Croatian coach, but otherwise this was the most senior side Bayern had available.
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The quality showed early on, with the home side struggling to even chase the shadows. Sandro Wagner could've given Bayern the lead in the fourth minute and he did in the eighth, tapping in a cross from Renato Sanches. Five minutes later the game looked over, Thomas Müller scoring from the spot after Sanches was hauled down.
The spot kick was the German forward's first goal since September 1 but, when another penalty was awarded in the 23rd minute, it was Sanches who hammered it against the bar. The likely explanation was that, having got his goal, Müller (or perhaps Kovac) wanted to boost the still-fragile confidence of the Portuguese midfielder.
Building self-esteem in Müller and Sanches, bedding in Leon Goretzka and giving Wagner the chance to fill his boots makes sense. But did the Bavarians really need to be quite so close to full strength? It could be argued that, after a somewhat turbulent time of late, and an unconvincing 1-0 win over SV Drochtersen/Assel in the first round, they did.
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But the weight of history, the league pyramid and the the enormous chasm in resources and ability suggests the opposite. And another injury, this time to Thiago, calls further into question the need to start so many key men.
Old heads valued higher than fresh legs
It's perhaps a little churlish to question a coach for winning a game when his team recently spent a chunk of time failing to do just — it's fairly certain Messrs. Hoeness and Rummenigge would think so — but this felt like a night tailor-made for a sprinkling of the youngsters that the club have invested so much time and money in.
Goalkeeper Christian Früchtl, winger Jeong Woo-yeong, Meritan Shabani (who made his debut against Kovac's Frankfurt side earlier this year) and young midfielder Paul Will were on the bench. Shabani came on with 30 seconds of normal time remaining, the others watched as Kimmich and Serge Gnabry were sent on ahead of them.
Perhaps it could be argued that the problems the hosts caused their illustrious visitors in the second half, with Linus Mayer's 50th minute strike sending the 18-time cup winners towards panic, justified the selection of wise heads. But there's an obvious flip side.
There's little denying Bayern are an aging side and there's also little denying that their top brass don't want to spend as heavily as those around them in Europe. So they must entrust those they seek to develop. And there will be few fixtures better to give rising talents their first taste of the professional game.
Pathways not always open
"Today a 21-year-old in the professional team is often already one of the established players," said Jochen Sauer, the head of the Bayern's €70 million ($79 m) youth campus, when it opened last year. "Today you're with the pros aged 16 or 17."
Sanches, a big-money import from Benfica, was, at 21, the youngest Bayern player to feature in any meaningful way on Tuesday. David Alaba, 26, is the last youth product to become a first-team regular. Kovac started with five men 30 or over.
If he learned anything from those approaching the twilight of their careers, it's that one or two are starting to lose what once made them great and one or two are falling even further behind the men they are sometimes called to replace.
Having masterminded victory for unfancied Frankfurt in this competition last season, Kovac may reasonably claim that he knows exactly what it takes to do it again. He may also feel that his main responsibility is to the present, not the future.
At this point, despite four wins in a row, both are problematic. Müller said afterwards the players "need to have a long hard think" while Kovac declared himself "dissatisfied" with the display after the penalty miss.
As well he might. Perhaps a dash of youthful fearlessness might have brightened this sloppy, energy-sapping display and perhaps it might do the same in other competitions. It certainly isn't doing rivals Borussia Dortmund much harm.