Bayern Munich, who have had their winter break since the team’s 2-1 win against VfL Wolfsburg on December 20, are back in action on Friday night. They will look to get the calendar year off to a good start, as they face TSG Hoffenheim on Matchday 17 of the Bundesliga season. Last Word on Football brings you our Bayern Munich predicted lineup for that game.
Bayern Munich Predicted Lineup vs. TSG Hoffenheim
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Bayern Munich Have Lined Up Recently
In the Wolfsburg game, the Bavarians started with an almost last-resort squad. Manuel Neuer was in goal, as Konrad Laimer and Alphonso Davies played in the outside back positions. Dayot Upamecano played centre-back alongside Kim Min-jae. Youngster Aleksandar Pavlović and Raphael Guerreiro once again needed to replace Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich in the holding midfield roles. Meanwhile, Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala, Thomas Müller, and Harry Kane were the front four.
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That in itself does not look like a bad lineup per se, but the problem was that there were almost no first-team substitutes on the bench. In fact, coach Thomas Tuchel only made two substitutions out of a possible five. He brought on Matthijs de Ligt for Müller after the hour mark and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in place of Musiala in the second half added time. This alone shows how thin the Bayern squad was at the time and remains to be today.
Bayern Munich Recent Form and Tactics
That last game before the winter break brought Bayern its third consecutive competitive win. The team have had a friendly 1-1 draw with FC Basel this past weekend, but with players just returning from the winter break, any talk of form is purely academic.
As far as tactics and formations are concerned, there has been some tinkering on Tuchel’s part recently. The team started the Wolfsburg game in a 4-4-2 formation while changing it to a 3-5-2 during the second half. Still, the 4-2-3-1 will likely remain the coach’s formation of choice whenever possible. That said, we all know how fluid formations are in modern football.
Bayern Munich Injuries to Consider
Serge Gnabry and Bouna Sarr remain on the long-term injury list of the team. Backup goalkeeper Daniel Peretz also joins them for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Kim and Noussair Mazraoui are both away on international duty and expected to be gone for the best part of a month.
Bayern Munich Predicted Lineup vs TSG Hoffenheim
Neuer, Laimer, de Ligt, Upamecano, Davies , Kimmich, Goretzka, Müller, Musiala, ,Sané , Kane.
