9,307 fans filled with anticipation packed into the Waldstadion an der Kaiserlinde to witness SV Elversberg’s first-ever competitive match against Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga newcomers were hoping to produce another astonishing performance after back-to-back league victories, but despite a valiant effort, Vincent Wagner’s side were outclassed by Die Rekordmeister.
Here are the takeaways from Bayern’s 2-1 win.
Has Vincent Kompany’s hesitancy to rotate been vindicated?
Vincent Kompany has exceeded expectations during his two-year spell managing Bayern, but
even the Belgian manager isn’t immune from criticism — his reluctance to rotate key players constantly spotlighted. However, the 2025/26 German Football Manager of the Year may be proving exactly why he doesn’t rotate as often as some would like.
Kompany made seven changes to his champagne eleven that beat FK Bodø/Glimt 5-0 in the opening round of the Champions League — the changes were felt.
Bayern carried a fragile 1-0 lead into half-time after failing to stamp their authority onto the game. Kompany’s rotated side just couldn’t shift out of second gear. The lacklustre performance was no doubt inspired by the widespread rotation, further evidenced by Bayern’s immediate dominance after the introduction of Alphonso Davies, Jamal Musiala, Joshua Kimmich, and Luis Díaz.
Was Kompany wrong to rotate? No. Should he have played his full-strength side? No. Rotation and rest are still of vital importance, but even with a deeper squad, the 40-year-old trainer will have to find a balance between too much and too little.
Please just buy a left winger already
Bayern started their transfer window pursuing Anthony Gordon — a player who could provide cover on the wing and striker, two areas of the pitch crying out for cover. Ultimately, the transfer was deemed too expensive, with Gordon preferring a move to Barcelona regardless. Bayern then decided against signing a left wing, choosing instead to trust Arijon Ibrahimović to cover the flank and striker—an experiment that didn’t take long to implode. Bayern now face the first half of the season with an attack that is still too thin.
Don’t get me wrong, Ismael Saibari, Nathaniel Brown, and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye were all good signings, but were they really priority positions? I’m not entirely convinced.
So far, Saibari and Brown have spent just about as much time plugging holes in the attack as playing in their natural positions. Elversberg was a good example in Saibari’s case in particular, being forced out to the left flank where he was not terrible but ultimately redundant. He can play striker. He can play left wing. But he isn’t either of those positions.
This isn’t an attack on Saibari or Brown; they are first-team quality depth pieces. However, this is a massive question that needs to be answered: why didn’t they buy a left winger or striker?
The newly-promoted Bundesliga sides are no joke this season
FC Schalke 04 and Elversberg, and to a lesser extent SC Paderborn 07, have enjoyed fantastic starts to their Bundesliga campaigns. Schalke sit 11th after three games, snagging an impressive point against Bayern last weekend, while sixth-placed Elversberg only narrowly lose their unbeaten streak after falling to Vincent Kompany’s men.
The most impressive part about the Die Schwarz-Weißen and Die Königsblauen is that they are playing good football. It isn’t sexy, possession-based football, but rather disciplined, opportunistic football. A poignant reminder that the only thing that there is no “correct” way to play football. If it gets results, it’s good.
Schalke and Elversberg were easy wins on paper for Bayern, but they caused Die Rekordmeister all sorts of discomfort—Bayern will not be the last.
Rapid-fire Bonus Observations
- It was lovely to see Lennart Karl’s name on the scoresheet, although he may have regretted shushing the crowd as a celebration after being verbally abused every time he got the ball thereafter.
- Maurice Krattenmacher’s goal was superb. He joins the list of former academy players to score against Bayern.
- What is up with Luis Díaz? That back-heel attempt reminded me of when Mario Balotelli tried something similar on-on-one with the keeper and got hooked immediately afterwards.
- Give Kane the Ballon d’Or.
- Olise’s cheeky chip would have been marvelous had it not hit the woodwork!
- This is completely unrelated, and forgive me if a lot of people have made this observation already, but I was reading up a bit on Tim Binder and he could totally be Tom Bischof’s clone.
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