Thomas Tuchel is no more. After all the names that had, at least some managerial success behind them at the time of their arrival on the bench of the Bavarian club before him, the new coach, Vincent Kompany, comes without previous coaching successes. In Anderlecht, he reached the final of the cup, and got Burnley promoted to the Premiership and was relegated the season after that.
Vincent Kompany comes to Munich after the Bavarian club ended the season without a trophy. The goals are clear. Get the league title back to the Allianz Arena and fight for the Champions League. All this in a specific dressing room that has, so far, managed to chew up and spit out even bigger coaching names than the Belgian is.
A new era in Bayern
The first thing that Kompany set out to solve after his arrival was the transfer window. Loan players Bryan Zaragoza and Eric Dier were bought, pre-arranged wonderkid Nestory Irankunda was signed, and Kompany brought in three more players during the season. Feyenoord defender Lutsharel Geertruida was signed in the last days of the summer transfer window. The Dutchman took a place in the first 11 at right back. Lee Kang-In (loan) and Miguel Gutierrez were signed on the last day of the winter transfer window. The Korean did not really play well, and Gutierrez became the starting left back.
The main goal has been achieved. The Bundesliga was conquered with a 15-point lead over Leipzig, but their dominance on home turf was spoiled by Augsburg, who kicked them out in the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal. Revenge against last year’s champions from Leverkusen was served in the form of two league victories (2:0, 3:1), and Die Schwarzroten finished the season in fourth place.
Vincent Kompany had a successful first season in terms of results. Despite winning only one trophy, Bayern were competitive in all competitions. The Champions League also showed that. They went directly to the round of 16, knocking out Aston Villa, Milan and Inter in that order, only to lose to Manchester City in the final.
Breakthrough season for Vincent Kompany?
The extended first season continued in the USA at the Club World Championship. Bayern went through the group without major problems, but again Man City was better in the semi-finals. Kompany once again failed to outwit Guardiola, under whom he played for three years. The citizens went all the way and took the title.
Before the new season, the offensive part of the team was identified as the weakest, i.e. the part in which reinforcements are needed. Gnabry and Tel left the club. That’s why they brought in five players, all five in the attacking positions. Of them, four came during the summer: Julián Alvarez, Ismael Saibari, Roony Bardghji and Armando Broja, and Santiago Giménez was signed in the winter. All the players who play in the position of striker, winger or offensive midfielder.
It led to a dominant season in the Bundesliga. In 34 league games, they recorded 31 victories and only one defeat. With 95 points, they were 23 points ahead the first runner-up.
But the dominance did not stop there. The DFB-Pokal was also won, and the only small blemish on the season was the loss to Augsburg in the Supercup at the beginning of the season.
If that’s the only blemish… it means that the defeat didn’t even happen in the Champions League. The student finally beat the teacher, i.e. Kompany beat Guardiola, but in the quarter-finals. After that, Inter fell, and in the final, Milan after extra time.
The triple crown rounded off Vincent Kompany’s second season at Bayern, which, in itself, was enough to mark his tenure in Bavaria as a success already.
Staying on the throne or a step back?
Bayern won everything last season, so they started with preparations for the defense of the triple crown. The transfer window ended with 70 million net spent. A total of 192m was paid out, and 123m euros were collected from sales. The biggest sales were Alexander Nübel and Noussair Mazraoui, and they signed Ilkay Gündogan, Gabri Veiga, Christian Früchtl, Anatolii Trubin and Nico Williams.
After a lot of changes, they were unable to repeat such a successful season. The dominance in the Bundesliga, which was won this year with 92 points, was maintained. That’s three points less than last season, but the advantage over the runner-up was bigger. Freiburg remained on 64 points, 28 less than the new-old champion.
The season started with a double Supercup title (UEFA and DFL), but they failed in the other two competitions. In the DFB-Pokal, they were eliminated in the third round, and have been eliminated by Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Vincent Kompany – a managerial star in the making?
Vincent Kompany had three very successful seasons at Bayern. He won a total of seven trophies, returning dominance on home turf to Bavaria, and he was very successful in Europe as well.
Does this mean that Bayern, after several seasons and even more coaches, has found its long-term solution? Or did Football Manager not convey the Hollywood spirit well enough to this virtual Bayern dressing room? Time will tell.
