It didn’t take very long but the knives are being sharpened for Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich. The 4-1 defeat to Barcelona on Wednesday hasn’t helped the former Burnley manager.
Bayern and Kompany were taught a lesson by Barcelona with a superb hat-trick from Raphinha and a goal from Robert Lewandowski doing the damage. The knives are out as a result, with the likes of FCB Inside, Express and Spox all laying into Kompany today.
It was a chastening evening for Kompany, who has quickly seen the shine from positive displays again lesser opponents rubbed away by defeats in the Champions League.
The positivity that has followed since his arrival from Burnley in the summer is slowly dwindling away, even if those above him at Bayern continue to pretend there is nothing wrong.
And that can be seen across German media today following the defeat. BILD land the first blow, handing Kompany a 5 rating for the game. In their grading system, this means ‘deficient’. For comparison, Flick received a 1, the best possible score.
FCB Inside then follow this up and say Bayern ‘have to come to their senses’ and this is in regard to their style of play.
They cover how Joshua Kimmich referred to ‘Hara-kiri’ after the game, a term for ritual suicide in ancient Japan. He believed Bayern participated in that against Barcelona and FCB Inside agree, saying Bayern are ‘creating their own biggest problem’.
That is that Kompany has them playing too high and smart sides, like Barcelona and Aston Villa, are taking advantage. They accuse Bayern of ‘criminally neglecting’ to protect themselves.
They believe Bayern, and Kompany specifically, need to come to their senses and change things up or the ‘slap’ against Barcelona will not be the last. It’s even argued things could become ‘fatal’ if he remains as ‘stubborn’ as he was at Burnley.
Express build on this and say Bayern ‘embarrassed themselves’ against Barcelona and Kompany is to blame because of his ‘naïve’ tactics.
They point out that while everyone at the club has been determined to praise Kompany for his ‘spectacular offensive football’ and even likened him to Pep Guardiola, the reality is he still has plenty to learn.
They say satire became serious comment when it came to the Bayern boss but so far all he has managed is big wins against Bundesliga runners, draws against strong Bundesliga teams and defeats in the Champions League.
The 4-1 defeat exposed what everyone has been ‘smiling away’ and that is Kompany’s tactics are too naïve when coming up against the best sides. He’s already been ‘completely decoded’ and doesn’t have a plan B.
The newspaper even think Max Eberl’s comments after the game, in which he attacked journalists and told them to get coaching licenses before commenting on Kompany, show that he is rattled. They belief the reality is that Bayern remain ‘light years’ away from competing and Kompany isn’t helping that.
Spox wrap things up and say ‘a look at Burnley is worrying’ when it comes to Bayern as Kompany is making the same mistakes.
They believe he could end up repeating what happened at Turf Moor if he doesn’t adapt his system and the 4-1 defeat was well deserved. A trend is now emerging in which Bayern hammer smaller sides but get found out when they have to step up.
They’re keen to point out the criticisms of his time at Burnley and believe he is falling into the same traps in the Champions League with Bayern. That could be fatal, particularly with qualification to the knockout stages now in the balance.
