Gladbach vs. Bayern

Toothless trident in attack

Goals are the objective in football. That's stating the obvious, of course. But despite Bayern's impressive approach to goal, there was a standout lack of potency in attack on Sunday against Gladbach.

That sounds odd considering the recruitment of the league's top striker for the past few seasons in ex-Dortmund ace Robert Lewandowski. What looks more alarming is the Polish forward's tendency – or his direct instructions – to hog the wide-lines of the penalty box.

It can be a powerful advantage for a center forward to drift across to a full-back, normally smaller in size and weaker in aerial abilities, when a direct ball is coming into the box. But Lewandowski looked almost obliged to be in a wide-position, looking to create a one-on-one situation that simply wasn't forthcoming against either Julian Korb or Oscar Wendt.

Likewise, Thomas Müller looked ineffective in attack. In truth, he was rarely involved for the Bavarians. Although starting in an inside-right position, the German acted as a central striker at times in the game when Lewandowski decided to move out of his most effective area of the pitch.

Perhaps one of Guardiola's concepts is for Lewandowski to drag the central defender out of position and allow Müller to roam in a type of “space-investigating” manner. But interestingly, for the first-half especially, it was Mario Götze who caused the most discomfort for the opposition.

Götze's outstanding intelligence in the game and his intuitive moves into areas of space when his midfield colleagues dropped deeper to pick up possession were quietly impactful, despite a lack of purpose ahead of him.

That's something that Pep could tinker with a little more.

Alaba, pressing and Gladbach's discipline

In contrast to Lewandowski, one player coming into his own under Bayern coach Pep Guardiola is David Alaba. Versatility hasn't been a hindrance to the Austrian, who has seamlessly moved from left-back to central-midfield this season. He even had a spell at center back before the start of the campaign.

It's a position he is familiar with from his time spent with the Austrian national team, albeit in a more offensive role. Instead, he and teammate Philipp Lahm acted on Sunday as possession buffers, creating a situation that hindered the Foals from pressing relentlessly high up-field.

When Dante had the ball in the left central-defensive position, the instinctive movement for Gladbach's Andre Hahn would be to push up and close the space next to Juan Bernat, the young Spanish left-back. That way, the forward could cut off the obvious supply line for the Brazilian.

But throw-in the option of Alaba, dropping deep from a central-left position to take the ball into feet, and that can easily tempt the likes of Christoph Kramer or Granit Xhaka from midfield to come out of position. You know what could happen next, of course.

To their credit, Gladbach remained compact and refused to be lured into this trap. It was outstanding in-game intelligence from the home side who moved out of their four-pronged attack to shape up closer to 4-4-2 or 4-5-1.

There's often a stigma attached to teams being "disciplined," especially in an era where defensive football is labelled "anti-football." But, Gladbach and Lucien Favre made this part of their game count.

A match-winner between the sticks

There's a common calculation made with title-winning and cup-challenging sides that a good goalkeeper can win 10 to 15 points per season. Well, Manuel Neuer maybe guarantees Bayern double that in a season.

The German World Cup-winning keeper again produced a string of sublime saves on Sunday, denying Gladbach at the last hurdle to keep the Foals at bay. Even in profound drubbings, such as that dished out to Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday night, Neuer impacted the match in crucial moments, giving the opposition little momentum before Bayern strike into a rhythm.

At Borussia-Park, Neuer's quick reactions stopped Max Kruse in his tracks, as Gladbach launched a rapid counter-attack, stemming from a cleared corner-kick.

And the 28-year-old denied Favre's men again in the 51st minute in a similar fashion: Kruse and Hahn combined to devastating effect against Benatia and Dante, the former teeing up the right-winger for the finish, only for Neuer to arrange his feet swiftly and get down to deny an almost perfect shot from the former Augsburg man.

He made another excellent stop from a cross-come-shot late in the match, but his actions against Raffael and Herrmann, where he accelerated quickly off his goal-line, also showed his class. Neuer's reading of the game is unprecedented for a goalkeeper – but that's something we've known for some time.

Still, after Sunday's match in Mönchengladbach, how long can Neuer spare Bayern's blushes?