Lothar Matthus hits back at Bayern Munich critics, though no one better than Robert Lewandowski

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Bayern Munich have stumbled to successive 1-1 league draws against teams ranked at the time second in the Bundesliga, and the critics are circling. The Athletic wrote in their Champions League preview that Bayern have not been their usual dominant selves in the Bundesliga this season as if they had not watched any of the blistering start to 2022/23. And of course, the loudest voices are going for the lowest-hanging fruit, tying Bayerns scoring dip to the departure of Robert Lewandowski this summer to FC Barcelona.

Not Lothar Matthus! The Bavarian legend isnt afraid to speak his mind when he has criticisms to make, but this time hes coming to his old clubs defense. Via Az:

Yew [Gladbach keeper] Yann Sommer does not hold so, the game goes out 8:1, then you do not look for Lewandowski, said[Lothar] with regard to the recent home match of the German record champion against Borussia Mnchengladbach (1:1) to the Sport-Informations-Dienst (SID).

Memories are indeed short in football, and its as if many have forgotten that Bayern galloped out of the gates this season their seventeen league goals leads the Bundesliga, and the next closest are Union Berlin, who earned last weekends scrappy draw against the Rekordmeister. One heroic keepers performance an all-timer, at that and one failing game against an in-form team. Is that really enough to justify the boo birds?

Not in the overall context of coach Julian Nagelsmanns project, Matthus argues. Bayerns striker-less vision presented this year has been compelling.

You now have other options and play a different kind of soccer, Matthus points out. You no longer have someone who is constantly present in the penalty area, but others who push or sprint in there.

The new style should in fact be the one favored by Nagelsmann anyway, who burst onto the coaching scene without the luxury of a traditional star-powered nine. Matthus therefore understands completely why Bayern didnt go after the traditional profile in this transfer window.

But thats not a knock on Lewandowski himself. The Polish hitman is enjoying life in La Liga and hitting his stride again as well as showing the Spanish giants how its done.

There is no one better, Matthus said of Bayerns former striker.

Lewandowski is gone, though, and there’s no changing that now. Still, perhaps we can accept the change of direction without reaching for tired narratives at the earliest opportunity. In that regard, Matthus is setting the tone in the world of football punishment.

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