Bayern Munich Vs. Schalke 04: Hosts Unable To Conjure Up Swift Response

There has been plenty of whistling around the Allianz Arena since Schalke 04 took an early lead, and little of it has come from the referee, Mr. Florian Meyer. Instead, it’s been Bayern Munich fans expressing their displeasure with the scoreline and their side’s performance in the first half. The Munich faithful can be quite fickle, but they have a bit more cause to complain in this match than they usually do: Bayern have not been playing well so far, and Schalke look prepared to pick their hosts off on the counterattack, just as Borussia Dortmund did this past weekend.

FCB have had plenty of possession, but Mario Gómez and Thomas Müller have both mistimed their runs, wasting chances to pull level. Bayern have found little success playing through the middle, and Arjen Robben has not been involved nearly as much as Louis van Gaal would hope. Schalke have been content to sit deep, waiting for another set-piece opportunity or a chance on the break. They’ve had both in the twenty minutes since taking the lead; Jefferson Farfán’s poor shot wasted a counter-attacking chance around the twenty-five minute mark, and Thomas Müller cleared a header from a corner kick off the line just after the half-hour mark.