In the second half on Saturday, Bayern Munich was comfortably leading Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0, but things would unravel from there.
Sure, the Bavarians still walked away with three points via a 3-2 victory, but a foul in the box committed by Harry Kane and reckless and sloppy pass from Joshua Kimmich to a stationary Kim Min-jae allowed Die Adler to have some hope.
This is how we described the play in the Daily Schmankerl:
In the 86th minute, Kimmich played an absolutely horrendous ball across the face
of the from deep on the right side. The pass was awful, but Kim Min-jae also failed to make any effort to get the ball, which left Arnaud Kalimuendo to pick up the scraps and make it 3-2. What a sloppy, terrible play for Bayern Munich.
After the match, Kimmich defended his decision on the play (via @iMiaSanMia):
Interviewer: Would it have made more sense to just clear the ball instead of passing it to Kim, which caused a goal?
Joshua Kimmich: “Generally, yes. But on the other hand, it’s our style of play that we want to play football, that even when we’re under pressure we try to find a solution through our passing game. If we regularly rely on long clearances, then the opponents will press us more and more. So we should definitely maintain this DNA.”
Bayern Munich board member for sport Max Eberl did not seem to agree with Kimmich and said the play was not necessary — especially to adhere to any sense of ideals or philosophy (via @iMiaSanMia):
Max Eberl contradicts Kimmich and says Frankfurt’s second goal was caused by ‘excessive idealism’: “We could have done without that. There are moments where you just have to clear the ball. I know you want to solve a lot of things through build-up play, but that was a bit too much. Minjae had nothing to do with the goal – the entire play was a mess.”
BFW Analysis
Let’s be clear — Kimmich was 100% at fault for the goal. However, Kim could have done more to bail out the awful decision by his teammate. As has been an issue at times in the past, Kim did not appear to be aware that Kalimuendo was closing in on him quickly. While the Korean defender was not at fault, he could have been a hero for saving his teammate’s hide.
Think of it in the same way a goalkeeper can sometimes bail out a defender who is badly beaten with a monster save. If the opposing player scores, it is not the fault of the goalkeeper, but he might have been able to do more to prevent it.
There was no heroic effort on this goal and Kimmich will have to own that mess that he alone created. What might be most concerning is that Kimmich is failing to acknowledge that he just made a terrible decision. A player with his experience should just know better…and be better.
Given the propensity for mistakes that Kimmich has had in recent weeks, it is fair to wonder if his ankle is still bothering him as has been theorized by fans. The veteran still does not look fully like himself after injuring his ankle all the way back in November. Without any significant downtime, it is hard to know if he ever fully healed. To the naked eye, Kimmich does not appear to look as mobile or agile as he did before the injury. Not being 100% physically, can affect how you process the game mentally.
The last two weeks have shown some poor decision-making and execution from Kimmich. Hopefully, this is a mini-slump and not a sign that his ankle injury is still impacting his play.
