Klopp still can't work out Bayern without the ball. Kompany: "Next question"

By the Data Desk · Published 22 OCT 06:45

First reported by FCBinside (Vjekoslav Keskic), from DAZN's half-time analysis · 21 OCT 22:36

At half-time of Bayern 2-2 Arsenal, Jürgen Klopp sat in the DAZN studio and admitted, laughing, that he still has not fully worked out what Bayern do when they lose the ball. Around midnight Vincent Kompany was asked about it and gave the shortest answer of the night: "Da sage ich nichts dazu. Nächste Frage" (I'm not saying anything about that. Next question), dpa reports.

• Klopp, the Germany coach, was working as a DAZN pundit: "Mal ist es hybrid, dann Mann gegen Mann, dann nicht gegen den Mann. Ich lerne immer noch" (Sometimes it's hybrid, then man to man, then not man to man. I'm still learning).
• Bayern have conceded 5 goals in 6 Bundesliga games and 5 in 3 Champions League games, and 8 of those 10 came in their last 4 matches (ESPN).
• Next: SC Freiburg, third and one point behind Bayern, at home on Sunday 25 October, 16:30 UTC. Luis Díaz and Kim Min-jae are likely to miss it, according to dpa.

Klopp did not single out one player for Arsenal's opener. Eberechi Eze scored in the 25th minute after Josip Stanišić played him onside, and Klopp's reading, as quoted by FCBinside, was: "Beim Gegentor hebt einer das Abseits auf, aber vorher ist kein Druck auf den Ball" (one player plays him onside, but before that there is no pressure on the ball). What puzzled him most was Harry Kane, who "ist überall" (is everywhere), dpa quotes him, which Klopp found fine with the ball and less so without it.

He framed it with a smile, not as an attack: "Ich habe bis heute nicht abschließend verstanden, was Bayern gegen den Ball macht" (to this day I haven't fully understood what Bayern do without the ball), followed by a line about wanting to keep learning, in the words FCBinside and dpa both report. He added "ich bin nicht Papst des Fußballs" (I'm not the pope of football), that everyone can do as they like, and that he still had not fully figured it out. Kompany, asked at the press conference, did not take it further.

The scores tell a story of two halves of the season. In their first five competitive games Bayern conceded twice; since 10 October they have let in 8 in 4: 2-2 at Augsburg, 3-3 at Viking, 6-1 against Leipzig and 2-2 against Arsenal, who took 14 shots to Bayern's 13 (ESPN). Kane was still Bayern's best player going forward: he set up Alphonso Davies's equaliser and scored the penalty for 2-1 before Declan Rice made it 2-2 in the 82nd minute.

What happens next: Bayern go to Freiburg without two players who finished Wednesday early. Díaz came on in the 68th minute and went off injured in the 90th, and Kim was replaced by Jonathan Tah at half-time. Kompany hopes both are out for "vielleicht weniger als eine Woche" (maybe less than a week) and said "Ganz große Verletzungen sind aber, glaube ich, schon ausgeschlossen" (I think really big injuries have been ruled out). Freiburg have won all three home league games, 11-2 on aggregate, and a win on Sunday takes them above Bayern.