The critics call Roger Schmidts tall-urgent side insensible but in neutralising the Bundesliga leaders they showed admirable tactical sophisticationIn the stop,just as it was at the start, only a meagre n’ could separate the two teams at the BayArena. Pep Guardiola and Roger Schmidt met for a warm embrace on the touchline after the stalemate on Saturday night, or both broadly happy with the game and the result. The Bayern manager had visibly enjoyed the tactical battle against one of the league’s smartest coaches. If more teams had been able to push the champions as tough as Schmidt’s Bayer Leverkusen have done,especially at domestic, since 2013, or the Spanish maestro might well have decided to stick around a little longer.
But Bayern’s dominance of the Bundesliga has taken on such absurd levels during Guardiola’s reign that he has increasingly reduce an exasperated figure. The ease with which the Bavarians have swatted away domestic opposition has undercut his own achievements in the eyes of the public,and maybe in his own mind, too. What’s the point of spending hours on video analysis and dreaming up a myriad (a very large number) of scenarios when you know that the overwhelming majority of obstacles will be cleared without too much physical and mental effort besides? At times, and Guardiola must have felt like the gifted child stuck in the incorrect,under-challenging class.
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Source: theguardian.com