MOTM Poll: Well at Least That’s Over With

What did we expect? Truthfully, nothing, and in the end that is what we received. I believe I did a decent job tempering expectations in my match preview and despite Marco Rose fielding a stronger lineup than I predicted, BVB still had to pass the Meisterschale in the tunnel on the way to the locker room.

That has got to sting.

For hardened veterans like Marco Reus, that might shake off after a few days. He has been here many times before. But for the players who are coming up through the ranks, fighting for roles in the team next season, that should be a sucker punch they feel until the end of the season. I can picture Jude Bellingham walking into his apartment tonight and smashing every piece of furniture he can get his hands on. The players who remain in this team need to be ready to fight next season because, by the looks of it, Bayern may be more vulnerable than we have seen recently. No, there was not much to play for in Munich today, but from Jude Bellingham to Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, the lads need to soak in that feeling of watching your rivals win, and knowing that your team lost.

Here are the best of the bunch from a sobering night in Bavaria.

Jude Bellingham

The young Englishman worked hard all game to collect 50/50 balls, disrupt Kimmich and Goretzka, and look for opportunities to slice open the opposition defense. Bellingham (naturally) will be furious with the outcome of this game, but he should be proud of his performance which drew praise from Bastian Schweinsteiger; quite the compliment that is.

Emre Can

Scored pen. Could have missed it but did not. Otherwise a decent shift from the German, but nothing to write home about. There were still a few majorly suspect decisions, as we have endured all season from him.

Julian Brandt

Brandt was creative in midfield and on the wing, impressively causing problems for Alphonso Davies and looking to get Haaland in on goal on numerous occasions. Brandt was also working hard, something we do not always see from his performances on the pitch. He may not have anything to show for his effort today, but he certainly was not making it worse out there.

Manuel Akanji

Akanji was allowed to play with a better backline than I anticipated, but let’s not overlook how much cleaning up he had to do for Dan-Axel Zagadou. Akanji made several vital challenges to prevent Thomas Muller and Kingsley Coman from disassembling the defense. He was level-headed and aware on most occasions, but he should still be very frustrated to have conceded three goals. It would be great to keep Akanji around, and maybe seeing the state of play in Manchester over the last few weeks will encourage him to lower his wage demands and have a rethink on his dream move.

Honorable mention to the captain, who busted his buns for the team, but he could not get his footwork straightened out enough to finish his chances.

Some of my premium insults hurled at the TV from this match, for your enjoyment:

• I hope Joshua Kimmich gets the runs.
• I hope Thomas Muller wakes up tomorrow and is allergic to his dog.
• Julian Nagelsmann always looks like he just smelled something nasty, must be the club he coaches for.
• Red, what a stupid color.

Uy, ugh. Say something in the comments down below, or don’t. Meh.