BAYERN MUNICH  (Germany)
2     TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
1
   
(1) (0)
  Date : –  Saturday 3rd August 2024
Kick off : –  12.03 (UK time); 20.03 (local time)
  Competition : –  Coupang Play Series
Venue : –  Seoul World Cup Stadium
  Crowd : –  63,496
  Referee : –  Dae-Yong Kim (South Korea) Linesmen : – Mr. . ??; Mr. . ??
  Fourth official : – 
  Weather : –  Warm, humid
  Spurs kicked off the first half
  Playing time : –   90 + 10 minutes

 

BAYERN MUNICH TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
      Vidovic  03m 18s   Porro  65m 02s  (Assist Bissouma)
      Goretzka  55m 26s   
  CARDS
    Goretzka  (foul on Bervall)  50   Spence  (foul on Gnabry)  42
   

 

BAYERN MUNICH TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
1.   Manuel NEUER  (c)  (  26.   Sven ULRICH  46)   1.   Guglielmo VICARIO  (  40.  Brandon AUSTIN  74)
     
23.   Sacha BOEY  (  40.   Noussair MAZRAUOI  68)   23.   Pedro PORRO   (  55.   George ABBOTT  79)  
3.   Kim MIN-JAE  (  15.   Eric DIER  55)   6.   Radu DRAGUSIN  (  12.   Emerson ROYAL  46)  
44.   Josip STANISIC  (  47.   Noel ASEKO  81)   33.   Ben DAVIES  (  4.   Oliver SKIPP  64)  
22.   Raphael GUERRERO  (  48.   Adam AZNOU  55)   24.   Djed SPENCE     (  2.   63.  Jamie DONLEY 64)  
      
7.   Serge GNABRY  (  32.   Adin LICINA  46)   14.   Archie GRAY  (  8.   Yves BISSOUMA  46 
6.   Joshua KIMMICH  (  8.   Leon GORETZKA  46    )   10.   James MADDISON   (  15.   Lucas BERGVALL  46) 
25   Thomas MULLER  (  27.   Konrad LAIMER  46)   29.   Pape Matar SARR  (  45.   Alfie DEVINE  64)  
45.   Aleksandar PAVLOVIC  (  16.    Joao PALHINHA  46)     
46.   Gabriel VIDOVIC    (  17.   Bryan ZARGOZA  46)   22.   Brennan JOHNSON  (  59.   Mikey MOORE  46)  
21.   Dejan KULUSEVSKI  (  62.   Will LANKSHEAR 75)  
39   Mathys TEL  (  31.   Nestory IRANKUNDA  68)   7.   Heung-Min SON  (c)  (  16.   Timo WERNER  75)  
  
Substitutes Substitutes
  35.   Max SCHMITT 41   Alfie WHITEMAN
  33.   Javier FERNANDEZ 46.   Luca GUNTER
  73.   Tyrese HALL
  27.   Manor SOLOMON
  36.   Alejo VELIZ
  44.   Dane SCARLETT

    = Assist        =  Goal scored       =  Own goal scored

Manager : –  Vincent Kompany Manager : –  Ange Postecoglou
Kit Supplier : – adidas Kit Supplier : – Nike
Shirt Sponsor : –  T-Mobile Shirt Sponsor : – AIA
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : –  Allianz Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Kraken
Colours : –  Dark green and turquoise pattern with light orange logos, black shorts, black socks
Colours : –  White shirt with navy blue sleeves; Navy blue shorts, White socks with navy blue turnover

 

MATCH REPORT
  Two strong sides took to the field for this pre-season friendly, but they had to wait until K-Pop band New Jeans had the honour of kicking off.  Former Spurs defender/midfielder Eric Dier started on the bench, as did their new signing from Fulham Joao Palhinha, while there were three changes for the Spurs team from the last game with starts for Maddison, Dragusin and Spance

It was Bayern who had the first opening with a cross-field ball that caught out Djed Spence playing at left-back, Serge Gnabry getting in behind him but hitting his shot narrowly over the bar.  They didn’t have to wait long until they took the lead as Vicario played a suicidal pass out to Djed Spence in the D with little chance of doing much with it had it got to him, but Gnabry was quick to nick the ball off him.  While Guglielmo redeemed himself by stopping Gnabry’s shot with his foot, it came out to Vidovic, who kept the ball low and through the keeper’s legs to open the scoring within four minutes.  While the tactic to play the ball out is one that the team will persist with, it is important to appreciate when that will not work.  It was just what Spurs didn’t need and what the crowd didn’t really need was the “Can-Can” blasted out at full volume to signify the goal being scored.

While Bayern looked sharper, it was Spurs who had the next chance with Son typically coming inside onto his right foot, but his shot was too high.  Sonny was getting involved in everything at this stage, robbing the ball in midfield and sending Sarr forward.  The young midfielder played the ball left to Dejan Kulusevski, who twisted Min-Jae inside out before having a shot that was blocked for a corner.   The Spurs supporting sections of the crowd were in good voice, with several Tottenham songs ringing around the stadium.

There was a gegen-press from Bayern, making it difficult for Tottenham to play their passing game, but the Germans were also a danger on the break, with one attack through the left ending with Tel coming inside to hit a powerful low drive that Vicario did well to beat out.  While the match was being played in warm conditions, it was odd that Bayern were time-wasting from about the tenth minute, but when they played they caused problems.  A break down the right saw one of their players run over the ball giving Gnabry space to shoot, but it came off Dragusin’s back and fortunately went wide for a corner, which Min-Jae won with a header on his knees, but Vicario took it low down in front of the line.  When they picked off a pass from Archie Gray in midfield, it was Heung-Min Son who raced back to ensure that Tel’s cross didn’t get to Gnabry in the six-yard box.

Tottenham were having to go long to avoid the press, but it wasn’t proving too successful and when they played the ball on the ground, Bayern got players back behind the ball very quickly.  Min-Jae had put three or four heavy challenges in on Spurs players, as he doesn’t possess the greatest amount of pace, so his theory is to take players out before they can get past him and one challenge into Kulusevski’s back required a spell of physio before the game could continue.  The stadium announcer developed an annoying habit of shouting out a player’s name when they had a shot or put the ball out for a goal-kick.

It was becoming a good work-out for our defence, who were fully occupied during this 45 minutes.  Tel shot wide of the far post from the right, then Gnabry shooting wide from the right past the far post, before Tel was slipped into the box, but tamely poked his shot well wide as Vicario came out to meet him.  Guerrero had a shot just before half-time that went off for a throw-in on Tottenham’s left followed by his name being announced and mass cheers from the crowd !!  Oddly, Spence was booked for accidently tripping Gnabry as he moved past him, but when Djed had been brought down in similar fashion earlier in the game, nothing was given, let alone a booking.

Substitutions at half-time were -3 in Bayern’s favour, with one Palhinha clattering Johnson in the first few seconds.  Spurs were finding their way around the press in the first few minutes and Bayern were committing cynical fouls to stop any progress, one for Goretzka earned him a  booking.  When we passed it out through Spence, who took a return ball from Bissouma and raced forward, Laimer, who had just come on looked as though he was running in quicksand, giving up in the end.  Vicario had to be alert to save from a Zaragoza shot from a tight angle on the right and a couple of corners for Bayern followed, but came to nothing.

Much against the run of play, Bayern went 2-0 ahead when Tel went forward and Zaragoza ran across him to the left in the box, making space for Goretzka to come through the middle.  His first shot was well saved by Vicario, but the ball came back out to him and he lifted it into the roof of the net form inside the six-yard box.  It was a blow as we had started the half much better, but the German side always have the ability to open you up.

Spurs almost hit back straight away carving open an opportunity for Son, bbu his shot went straight at Ulrich and then just before the hour, Bayern substitute Eric Dier played a loose pass and Son put Pape Matar Sarr into the box, but the German keeper closed him down quickly to block his shot.   Dejan also went close when he squeezed out a shot froma  central position with the ball going just wide of the keeper’s right hand post.  Bayern were playing it like a Champions League final, being excessively physical and when Son was clattered the referee played advantage, as Bissouma had the ball.  His forward pass to the right gave Pedro Porro the chance to move forward and unleashing an early shot that powerfully flashed past the keeper before he had a chance to react.  It was a goal out of nothing, but something that Porro is able to do.

It put Spurs back into the game and they almost pulled level when Porro’s pass to Bergvall saw him shake off a tackle on the 18 yard line and then shoot just wide with the goal yawning in front of him.  Sonny was getting frustrated by the constant fouls on him by Boey, who this time held onto him in a rugby tackle, but the referee seemed to think this was OK although he had already put people in the book for less.  Only some perceptive defending by Kulusevski prevented Zaragoza getting through onto a long pass.  

With 15 minutes left, Spurs made four more subs and play got a bit strung out but were still looking for an equaliser, which could have come had someone got on the end of Mikey Moore’s low ball that went right through the penalty area without a Tottenham player being able to get a touch on it.  Despite dominating the majority of the second half, Bayern almost grabbed another goal when Irankunda got into the area on the left and tried to beat Austin at his near post, but the Spurs keeper pushed it around the post for a corner and when that was cleared the Bayern sub had another go, but it was straight at Brandon.   Irankunda again brought a dive out of Austin then he pulled a shot low across the keeper and then Aznou tried the same from a similar position but his his wide of the far post.  Zaragoza was quick, so quite why he kept getting caught offside was a mystery and then when he did get in, Austin kept out his shot from a narrow angle and then went down under challenge from Emerson Royal, wanting a penalty.  The Brazilian immediately forcefully told him why it wasn’t and then followed that up with an exchange after the final whistle.

In truth, Tottenham could have been five or six behind by half-time, such was the energy and creativity that Bayern put into their game, which meant we couldn’t get going very often.  The pressure that they put on the Spurs player in possession meant that the ball was either won or turned over far too often and this will be something that we will have to face a lot once the season gets underway.  The way they approached the game is perhaps the way that winners do, but for a pre-season friendly, there was a certain degree of leniency allowed them, with Goretzka lucky that this wasn’t “proper” match, as he came close to picking up a second yellow soon after his first and before he scored.  

Although it was the first defeat of pre-season, it was against the toughest opposition so far and perhaps the intensive training the players have been undertaking in Japan and South Korea has taken its toll and they will prefer the mild conditions when they get back home.  The match wasn’t without positives.  The intense pressure the defence was put under will provide some learning as managers these days focus on the “suffering” that the team will go through in certain phases of a match, so Ange might be pleased to have had that test.  Also the way the younger players performed in the second half must have pleased him.  Lucas Bergvall looks strong enough to cope in the midfield against a top team and Mikey Moore showed a few nice touches, with George Abbott energetic in his short time on the pitch.  Will Lankshear didn’t have much opportunity to shine, but Alfie Devine linked play well and being on front the kick-off, Djed Spence did himself no harm, playing out of position on the left.

There will be seven days of planning how to combat the same opponents back at the THS next Saturday.  Our internationals will have returned by then and there may be some movement in and out of the squad in the coming days, so it will be a different task when Bayern roll into N17.  One that may well give us some pointers to how ready the team will be for the Premier League opener at Leicester City.

Ian Jones