Vincent Kompany has identified the open midfield as the source behind Bayern Munich’s

 Bayern Munich’s recent matches have been littered with sloppy conceded goals and some lackluster defensive displays, with the defensive collapses in the 4-3 Bundesliga win against Holstein Kiel and 3-0 loss to Feyenoord in the Champions League the nadir of defensive performances. Given Bayern had seemingly fixed their defensive issues following the 4-1 loss to FC Barcelona, to see the defense falter again is a little disappointing. Is this downturn due to defensive rotation? Defensive injuries? The re-introduction of long term injured players? Or is the problem something more structural?

According to a report from Sport Bild (via @iMiaSanMia), head coach Vincent Kompany believes the latter is correct:

In his analysis of the goals recently conceded, especially through counters, Vincent Kompany has identified that the problem lies in the central midfield being too open, which leads to Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae being exposed. The coach, however, didn’t mention names and didn’t criticize any of the players directly.

If there is one weakness to the Aleksandar Pavlović-Joshua Kimmich midfield, which is becoming more and more prevalent under Kompany, it could be that both struggle to cover large spaces. Could that weakness have something to do with it? Would that mean personnel would need to change? Perhaps João Palhinha might get his shot? Crazier things have happened.