Former Bayern Munich and Germany great Lothar Matthäus was not happy with what he saw out of Joshua Kimmich in the fourth minute of the Rekordmeister’s Bundesliga match against SV Darmstadt 98 on Saturday.
After losing possession via a bad touch in an attempt to dribble just outside his own box, Kimmich was whistled for a red card when he hauled down Marvin Mehlem as the last man back.
It was a careless play that could have ended even worse for the Bavarians, but Darmstadt ended up taking two red cards and Bayern Munich came away unscathed.
Still, the sloppiness irked Matthäus, even if Bayern Munich did end up winning 8-0.
“He has to play the ball first. He wants to dribble as a No. 6, but you don’t dribble in these defensive areas. We learn in the U-12s, at least in my U-12s, that you don’t dribble in defensive areas. You run with the ball into the open space and pass or play a long ball,” Matthäus told Sky (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Kimmich will now miss Bayern Munich’s match against Borussia Dortmund and manager Thomas Tuchel could be grasping at straws for how to set up his midfield. Leon Goretzka is out injured and Konrad Laimer has not been consistent enough for nearly anyone to have a lot of confidence in him at this stage.
Which player will Tuchel turn to in an effort to hold down the fort in the central midfield?
Interested in more analysis of this crazy game? Is Harry Kane suffering from Erling Haaland syndrome? Why doesn’t Thomas Müller play more? We talk about all that and more in our postgame podcast! Listen to it below or on Spotify.
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