Harry Kane was replaced with cramp nine minutes from time, but he may also be suffering from football vertigo, dizzy with Bayern Munich’s high possession statistics.
The champions’ 72 percent dominance in the noisy Weserstadion was a million miles removed from the minimalist ‘sufferball’ the 30-year-old forward had to endure under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte in the last four year. Obviously it takes some time to get used to.
Kane’s eyes lit up afterwards, gushing about the pace and quality of the players around him. But until Werder Bremen opened up the pursuit of an equalizer after the break, the control and space they gave their opponents in midfield presented their own challenges for the England captain.
Having found Leroy Sane with a marked through ball for the opener early on, Kane spent the rest of the half struggling to find his new team-mates, with the home side barricaded inside their own box.
When the striker was retained with 30 minutes remaining in Saturday’s 3-0 Super Cup defeat in Leipzig, wingers Serge Gnabry and Sane switched sides to their natural sides, with the aim of providing service Kane. The scheme resulted in a lot of rushed, pathetic crosses from impossible angles, all trying too hard. On Friday night, Thomas Tuchel reverted to Bayern’s traditional set-up of the last decade with two inverted wide players, forcing both them and his new recruit to adapt to each other.
It took a long time. Timings, passes and runs fail to align properly. The last ball failed to land like a punchline delivered in a foreign language. Things are very small, not so much lost but reduced in translation. This is certainly not “The Harry Kane team” Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola referred to a few years ago. Not yet.
Harry Kane, Bayern Munich and an incredible summer…
But that’s not a problem either. Thanks to Kane’s neat assist, Bayern have both the lead and a self-assured swagger that has been surprisingly absent from their game for most of the calendar year. His trial-and-error positioning, mostly in the inside-right channel, didn’t lead to many personal shooting opportunities but he targeted the Werder back line effectively and held the ball up well to allow for powerful attacks. that midfield that shines all around. he. Until he opened his account in the second half, it seemed that the €100million man could be upstaged in his league debut by a great Jamal Musiala or the great Kingsley Coman, an unstoppable marvel at the deception and dynamism of the left.
“I’m a No 9, first and foremost,” Kane reminded an international army of interlocutors who all asked about the selfless side of his game. But one can also feel joy and relief in his realization that he does not have to do everything himself in front of the goal of this team.
After Tuchel’s scathing criticism last week – “It’s like we haven’t trained at all for four weeks” – the Bayern manager is in a more generous mood this season, gently dismissing the idea that Kane and the team. always be on the same page. “I’m not sure they need to find each other,” the 49-year-old said. “We have a good mix between playing possession and quick transitions, with good solutions in the middle spaces. Harry is good there. He holds the ball very strongly. He provides depth by being center forward. And he always influences the defense, they are always busy with his quick movement. He is very intelligent in everything he does and very accurate.”
Tuchel was particularly impressed with Kane’s “clean first touch and calm finish” for Bayern’s second goal, which effectively killed off the uneven contender two-thirds of the way into the second half. Once, Kane had space for a run straight down the middle after some great interplay between Alphonso Davies and Coman pulled Werder back three and goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka had no chance. It looks like a counterattack but it’s not; Bayern will be looking to make more than quick attacking moves to keep Kane in goal in the coming weeks.
Tactical fine-tuning will take a lot of time – stronger opponents than Werder, who are eyed for a relegation battle in evidence on Friday, are yet to come. But if Tuchel’s long, effusive monologue about his new forward is to be believed, Kane has had a less obvious but far more impact on a team that needed not just goals but inspiration and leadership last season. “The way he trains, the way he goes on the pitch… he’s very humble, he radiates joy in training and has a lot of quality to boot,” Tuchel said. “It’s very impressive. He will make each of the players around him better by attracting a lot of attention to himself. It was a great debut.”
Hard to argue with that after a 4-0 win (Sane’s second and a fantastic late strike from Mathys Tel completed the scoring). Most importantly, it puts the rest of the league on notice. Once he and Bayern really come together, their dominance could reach new heights.
(Top photo: Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)