<b>“Having a successful women’s team would suit Bayern very well”</b>
One week after the Women’s Bundesliga’s opening game of the second half of the season we talk to Sven from the terrific podcast “<a href="https://lotteserbinnen.de/">LottesErbinnen</a>” about FC Bayern’s women’s team, a preliminary assessment of their season so far, and the ambitions for the rest of the season.<strong>Bayern’s women went into the winter break sitting in third place behind VfL Wolfsburg and TSG Hoffenheim. After the first matchday of the second half, they are now level on points with Hoffenheim. How do you rate the women’s season so far?</strong>Perhaps the best way to describe it is “neither fish nor fowl”. On the one hand, new players had to be integrated and old ones replaced. In addition, with Jens Scheuer a new coach arrived before the beginning of the season. All of this, as we all know, takes time to gel. Nevertheless, the team, measured by its quality, has rarely been able to play convincingly. Too often, they missed far too many of their chances. <a href="#a-lot-of-people-actually-hoped-that-scheuer-could-take-the-team-to-the-next-level"></a>“A lot of people actually hoped that Scheuer could take the team to the next level.”<strong>Before the season Jens Scheuer joined Bayern as the women team’s new head coach coming from Freiburg. How do you assess Scheuer’s time at the helm so far? What has changed most under him compared to his predecessor Wörle?</strong> From my point of view not much has changed. And that is regrettable. Actually, many people hoped that Scheuer could take the team to the next level, which is necessary to be able to compete with Wolfsburg for the DFB-Pokal and championship. Scheuer’s predecessor Wörle was said to have no plan B. With Scheuer, I could not even recognize a plan of any description so far. Even if you rarely need a plan B as a coach of FC Bayern women. <strong>What kind of football does he play? Has he taken a noticeable step in the right direction with his team?</strong>Unfortunately, I cannot see that. I’m not a coach, I’m not a tactician and I’m not Scheuer. But in the second half of 2019 I often scratched my head in amazement seeing his tactical and personnel choices. Repeatedly, he used some of the players out of position and on top of that comes his choice to rotate in goal. Sometimes Schlüter was number 1, sometimes it was Benkarth. All in all, to me the team seemed to lack confidence. This was especially noticeable in the games against Wolfsburg. <a href="https://miasanrot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/Jens_Scheuer-975x650-1.jpg">Media</a><strong>Jens Scheuer in his first season as coach of FC Bayern women.</strong>
(Image: Sven Beyrich / El Loko Photo)Apart from that I can’t see any big difference to predecessor Wörle as far as the playing style is concerned. With the combinational play skills of such players as Magull and Dallmann you should actually be able to play your way through tightly organized and deep sitting opponents. But so far I have seen too little of that. Also Bayern don’t take advantage of the qualities of their fast wingers enough for me. They could choose to get through to the byline down the flanks more often if playing through the center doesn’t work. <a href="#nationally-bayern-is-in-an-even-better-position-than-their-big-rivals-from-wolfsburg"></a><strong>“Nationally, Bayern is in an even better position than their big rivals from Wolfsburg”</strong><strong>As far as men’s football is concerned, Bayern are the undisputed leaders in Germany. How do you rate Bayern’s women squad by national and international standards?</strong>The squad has consisted almost exclusively of their respective nation’s international players in recent years. But even though Giulia Gewinn, for example, was voted the best young player at last year’s World Cup, there is still no single player in the squad that I would currently rank among the top 50 in the world. Looking at the squad on…
One week after the Women’s Bundesliga’s opening game of the second half of the season we talk to Sven from the terrific podcast “<a href="https://lotteserbinnen.de/">LottesErbinnen</a>” about FC Bayern’s women’s team, a preliminary assessment of their season so far, and the ambitions for the rest of the season.<strong>Bayern’s women went into the winter break sitting in third place behind VfL Wolfsburg and TSG Hoffenheim. After the first matchday of the second half, they are now level on points with Hoffenheim. How do you rate the women’s season so far?</strong>Perhaps the best way to describe it is “neither fish nor fowl”. On the one hand, new players had to be integrated and old ones replaced. In addition, with Jens Scheuer a new coach arrived before the beginning of the season. All of this, as we all know, takes time to gel. Nevertheless, the team, measured by its quality, has rarely been able to play convincingly. Too often, they missed far too many of their chances. <a href="#a-lot-of-people-actually-hoped-that-scheuer-could-take-the-team-to-the-next-level"></a>“A lot of people actually hoped that Scheuer could take the team to the next level.”<strong>Before the season Jens Scheuer joined Bayern as the women team’s new head coach coming from Freiburg. How do you assess Scheuer’s time at the helm so far? What has changed most under him compared to his predecessor Wörle?</strong> From my point of view not much has changed. And that is regrettable. Actually, many people hoped that Scheuer could take the team to the next level, which is necessary to be able to compete with Wolfsburg for the DFB-Pokal and championship. Scheuer’s predecessor Wörle was said to have no plan B. With Scheuer, I could not even recognize a plan of any description so far. Even if you rarely need a plan B as a coach of FC Bayern women. <strong>What kind of football does he play? Has he taken a noticeable step in the right direction with his team?</strong>Unfortunately, I cannot see that. I’m not a coach, I’m not a tactician and I’m not Scheuer. But in the second half of 2019 I often scratched my head in amazement seeing his tactical and personnel choices. Repeatedly, he used some of the players out of position and on top of that comes his choice to rotate in goal. Sometimes Schlüter was number 1, sometimes it was Benkarth. All in all, to me the team seemed to lack confidence. This was especially noticeable in the games against Wolfsburg. <a href="https://miasanrot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/Jens_Scheuer-975x650-1.jpg">Media</a><strong>Jens Scheuer in his first season as coach of FC Bayern women.</strong>
(Image: Sven Beyrich / El Loko Photo)Apart from that I can’t see any big difference to predecessor Wörle as far as the playing style is concerned. With the combinational play skills of such players as Magull and Dallmann you should actually be able to play your way through tightly organized and deep sitting opponents. But so far I have seen too little of that. Also Bayern don’t take advantage of the qualities of their fast wingers enough for me. They could choose to get through to the byline down the flanks more often if playing through the center doesn’t work. <a href="#nationally-bayern-is-in-an-even-better-position-than-their-big-rivals-from-wolfsburg"></a><strong>“Nationally, Bayern is in an even better position than their big rivals from Wolfsburg”</strong><strong>As far as men’s football is concerned, Bayern are the undisputed leaders in Germany. How do you rate Bayern’s women squad by national and international standards?</strong>The squad has consisted almost exclusively of their respective nation’s international players in recent years. But even though Giulia Gewinn, for example, was voted the best young player at last year’s World Cup, there is still no single player in the squad that I would currently rank among the top 50 in the world. Looking at the squad on…