(Football news) With the Bundesliga season currently on winter break, the defending champions are on track to win their 10th Bundesliga crown as they are nine points ahead of their closest rival Dortmund. The bad news for Dortmund and non-Bayern fans is that the Bavarians have gone on to win the Meisterschale 21 times out of 24 from this position. Let us take a look at the best player, best team and the best manager so far.
Best team:
It's been business as usual for Nagelsmann since he replaced the title winning head coach Hansi Flick. Bayern have won 14 of their 17 matches so far this season, only dropping points against Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-1), Eintracht Frankfurt (1-2) and Augsburg (1-2). They also have Bundesliga's best attack with 56 goals scored and joint-meanest defence conceding 16 goals against only at the halfway stage have also come up with the goods in the UEFA Champions League, where they advanced to the last 16 with a 100 percent record. The only real jolt this season was the DFB Cup second-round exit at the hands of Gladbach. This season, not only Lewandowski has contributed with his goals but the youngsters such as Jamal Musiala and Dayot Upamecano have stepped up their game this season.
Best Player:
Ever since missing out on the Ballon d’Or, Robert Lewandowski has been in terrific form, having scored more goals (19) than any other player and he's out scoring the likes of Wolfsburg (17) and Bochum (16) who have failed to keep up with the red hot striker this season. Lewandowski has directly contributed to a goal in 14 of 17 appearances as that shows his remarkable consistency in the league. The Polish striker set a new record for Bundesliga goals in a calendar year (43), he has scored 69 goals in all competitions, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo’s highest goal scoring tally in a calendar year and he broke Gerd Muller’s 50 year record for the most goals in a calendar year in the Bundesliga. It's not only the goals that makes him the best player till now but also his all round play and link up play with Thomas Muller has been immaculate.
Best Manager:
Freiburg head coach Christian Streich has exceeded everyone's expectation by taking his team to 3rd in the table with 29 points from 17 matches after the winter break. Streich and Freiburg moved into a new state-of-the-art home stadium, which has led them to third place in the Bundesliga standings over the 2021/22 winter break. Along with Bayern, they have conceded the fewest amount of goals so far this season with 16 goals, while they have beaten the likes Borussia Dortmund, drawn with Leipzig and recorded the club’s biggest ever Bundesliga win with a 6-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. That is no accident, this team plays in his image and there is a precision in the way they slice through opposition defences and also at the same time not concede too many goals. Freiburg certainly have been the surprise package of this season and a Champions League place looks very likely for this small club from Baden Wurttemberg.
Also read: Hits and misses from the first half of La Liga 2021/22
Misses of the season:
RB Leipzig came into the season with utmost promise but Jesse Marsch couldn’t get these talented bunch of players to play together, which ultimately led to him being sacked. Leipzig have made their worst ever start to a Bundesliga season since their promotion in 2016. They are down in 10th, six points adrift of the top four as the Die Roten Bullen have recorded six wins and four draws, whilst seven defeats at the halfway point is already as many as they suffered across the entire course of Julian Nagelsmann's final season in charge. Now with Domenico Tedesco in charge of Leipzig, fans hope that the new year brings new fortunes to the club.
