Two goals, two assists: New boy Michael Olise leads the way in Werder rout

In his first press conference for Bayern Munich, Michael Olise required less than seven minutes to introduce himself at his new club. Now, the 21-year-old achieved a few more possibly record-breaking statistics. During Bayern's emphatic 5-0 victory against Werder Bremen on day one of Munich's Oktoberfest, Olise was involved in each of the first four goals. Bayern have now celebrated four wins in four Bundesliga games, three of them away from home. The last time Bayern showed such dominance away from home at the start of a Bundesliga season was 10 years ago during the 2015/16 campaign.

Werder stunned 

Nobody seemed more astonished about the ice-cold, dominant style of entertaining football Bayern provided than Werder. You could feel the confidence with which Bayern had travelled to the north of Germany all the way up to row Z of Bremen's Weserstadium: Bayern refused to lose even one individual or aerial duel, seemed to win every single sprint, showed great concentration, and fought hard right from the start of this one-sided encounter. Following a 6-1 win against Kiel and the 9-2 thumping of Zagreb in the Champions League, the Reds were brimming with confidence and left no doubt they were determined to continue this high-scoring series against Bremen.

Vincent Kompany opted to replace Raphael Guerreiro and Serge Gnabry with Konrad Laimer and Kingsley Coman. More surprisingly, Sven Ulreich appeared in the starting formation instead of Manuel Neuer. Bayern's number one had felt a minor reaction in his thigh during warm-up, and Kompany did not want to take any risks. 

However, none of these changes affected Bayern's superiority in any way. Right from the start, only one team played football. With their high-press system and long spells of possession, the visitors pressured Bremen's goal right from the very start. It seemed only a matter of time before the home team’s bubble of hopes would burst. While the impressive Konrad Laimer only hit the cross-bar early on (8'), the Bayern fans counted down the minutes before their team would score. Following a loss of possession by ex-FCB man Mitchell Weiser against Alphonso Davies, Harry Kane passed the ball on to Olise who buried the ball past Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer. Only nine minutes later, Olise played a different role and provided his first assist of the day. Following a beautiful solo-run by the young Frenchman who left several defenders in his wake with astonishing ease, Jamal Musiala only had to side-foot the ball over the line (32'). “We understand each other really well. We speak a lot,” Musiala said about his new team mate after the final whistle. “The more games we play together, the better the chemistry.” Opposition defences around Europe have certainly heard better news in the past.

'That is Bayern Munich!'

Bremen managed to somehow survive the onslaught and, like an inured boxer, not only made it to the half-time whistle but actually returned to the pitch somewhat better organised. However, the home team were still unable to deliver a single shot on Bayern's goal throughout the course of the full 90 minutes - due to Bayern's strong defensive work. “Minjae and Upa gave outstanding performances today,” Board Member for Sport Max Eberl entthused. However, not only the defenders, but the entire team deserved praise for this remarkable defensive display. “The one time Bremen did make it into our box, Michael Olise of all people cleared. That is Bayern Munich,” Eberl said delightedly.

Even better for Bayern, at the other end of the pitch Harry Kane made it 3-0 after 57 minutes. His 41st Bundesliga goal came after another assist by the outstanding Olise, obviously. If Bremen had gained some hope from their previous attacking move, the home team's defence now fell apart like a deck of cards toppling off a bench in the Paulaner tent at Munich's Oktoberfest. “If all you're doing is running after the ball,” Max Eberl analysed, “you eventually lose motivation.” Bremen head coach Ole Werner agreed: “Compared to the quality of the opposition, we were inferior in all areas today.”

Two goals and two assists

And now, it was time for the Bremen coach and his players to really suffer as the Bayern players increasingly enjoyed the game and their goal-scoring prowess. Following a rebound, man of the match Olise made it 4-0 for Bayern. Olise had thus been involved in all four Bayern goals up to this moment (60'). At the same time, this was his fifth goal in three games. But apart from scoring and assisting at will, Olise posted another convincing statistic: the striker won a remarkable 65% of his individual duels. “We managed to keep a clean sheet,” Vincent Kompany observed, “also because of our strikers.” Bayern's head coach couldn't have asked for “a better game than today's .”

'The lads just want to play'

Ten minutes after he had come on, Serge Gnabry scored the final goal of the day, making it 5-0 and contributing to another impressive record. The last time Bayern scored 20 competitive goals within a week was in August 2021 (3-2 against FC Köln, 12-0 against Bremer SV, 5-0 against Hertha). And the Reds nearly made it 21 when Joshua Kimmich hit the post just before the end. “We have lads in the squad who just want to play football,” commented Eberl. who was already looking forward to Munich's traditional Oktoberfest visit the next day. “After a win like that, they're allowed to drink a beer or two tomorrow.” As an exception to Bayern's new rule, however, we shouldn't expect new signing Michael Olise to break more records during that appearance.

The post-match reaction: