Bayern Munich will host St. Pauli in a Bundesliga match just days after losing to Arsenal 3-1 in the Champions League.
For Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany, St. Pauli is not a team that should be taken lightly despite its poor record this season.
“I think the most important thing for us is that we don’t differentiate between Arsenal and St. Pauli in our preparation. Sure, we’re playing at home, not away, but when we look at St. Pauli, we also see what they’re doing well. It was tough for us against them twice recently; they fought hard. We’re keeping that in mind; we know it won’t be easy – even though they’ve lost eight games. The Bayern game might be different for them too – a game like that puts less pressure on you when you’re at the bottom of the table. That could be a positive for St. Pauli,” said Kompany (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We never want to lose, we don’t accept it and we don’t like it. But it’s about the reaction at a certain stage of the season, about the game against Arsenal and now against St. Pauli. It’s all a process to prepare ourselves so we’re there in the big moments later in the season.”
Kompany said that being able to study the tape from the Arsenal match should help squad improve on the things that caused issues during the Champions League game.
“It certainly helped to rewatch the game. I think after one game it’s straight on to the next – but we can’t move on without learning. For the first hour, we were solid, we were on equal terms away in London. The last half hour wasn’t our level anymore, Arsenal got into the game better and deservedly won. It wasn’t a question of the 90 minutes, but of the last 30,” said Kompany.
One of those problems was with set pieces, but Kompany thinks that the concern is being overstated.
“We’ve been a solid team at set pieces over the past 18 months. We’re going through a phase now – and I want us to find the right solutions and build ourselves up so that this might become our greatest strength. When the ball comes in and there’s chaos, you have to jump and head the ball away. I don’t want us to question everything; this is the phase we’re in, and it’s right to discuss it – but we’ll resolve the situation and put a stop to it,” Kompany said. “Of course, we always learn from every situation. I want us to attack and score a lot of goals. But we’re also training box defending and set pieces. There’s not much more we can do on the pitch; we have little time to train, but we’re still trying to get it all in. Therefore, we have to do a lot of video analysis – and we have to get through this phase and then put together a run where it looks solid. You can’t wish for it – we have to be there and react. It’s normal that this is a topic right now – and until we solve it, it will remain so.”
As far as who will play? Kompany did not give any inkling as to how much he will rotate.
“It depends on the final training session, who will be able to participate and who has problems. There are no [new] injuries, we’re just looking at minor details and hope that the energy will be 100 percent there for tomorrow,” Kompany noted.
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