Nagelsmann and Goretzka urge Bayern to become more ruthless
Bayern Munich’s Julian Nagelsmann and Leon Goretzka urged their team to be more ruthless after a 2-1 victory over Stuttgart on Saturday.
Bayern had a two-goal lead at Mercedes-Benz Arena after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting added to Matthijs de Ligt’s first-half opener.
The visitors took their foot off the gas at that point, and it almost backfired as Juan Jose Perea pulled one back late on and Tanguy Coulibaly headed inches wide in added time.
Despite finishing with an expected goals (xG) return of 2.30 compared to 0.67 for Stuttgart, Nagelsmann admitted Bayern nearly blew it.
“After going 2-0 up, we had several counter-attacks we didn’t finish well,” he told Sky Sport. “We had the game under control, but if you concede late on, things gets tight again.
“We have to finish our chances better and go for the third goal, then we’d kill it off.”
Goretzka, who had a game-high xG of 0.54 despite not scoring, agreed with his manager.
“We made a few mistakes after going 2-0 up,” he said. “The opponent didn’t believe they could get something out of the game after going 2-0 down.
“We have to act accordingly, but we didn’t manage to do that in the last 15 minutes.”
Thomas Muller, whose assist for Choupo-Moting’sgoal marked his 300th direct goal involvement in the Bundesliga, sought to find silver linings in his team’s slow finish.
“We’re happy. We won and we’re top of the table again,” Muller said. “When FC Bayern is up there, I always have a good feeling.
“The fact that the game got tight at the end is maybe a good test for the Champions League game against PSG.”
Bayern leads that last-16 tie against PSG 1-0 going into Wednesday’s second leg at the Allianz Arena, thanks to Kingsley Coman’s goal in the reverse fixture.
When asked if he plans to use the same lineup that started against Stuttgart, Nagelsmann remained tight-lipped.
“I have to analyse and see how PSG are doing, then I’ll decide,” he said.
Bayern has now won four of their last five league games and has a goal difference advantage over Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table.
