Kompany: Bayern Won’t Separate Arsenal and St. Pauli in Prep — Confidence, Yet Caution Ahead of a Bundesliga Test

Kompany on Arsenal and St Pauli

Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich's coach, spoke about the upcoming match against St. Pauli on Saturday at the Allianz Arena, part of Bundesliga matchday 12, and he also analyzed the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday in the Champions League.

His press conference began by addressing how he handles St. Pauli: I think the most important thing for us is that we do not differentiate between Arsenal and St. Pauli in our preparations. Of course, we play at home, not away, but when we look at St. Pauli, we can also see what they do well.

It has been tough against them of late, even if their results have slipped. They have fought hard for a long time. We know it won't be easy, even if they have lost eight in a row. A Bayern game may be different for them too; in such matches the pressure eases when you are at the bottom. That could be a positive for St. Pauli.

World Cup Beater and Arsenal Analysis

Consider the term Weltpokalsiegerbesieger (World Cup winner beater) that St. Pauli earned after beating Bayern following Bayern’s Intercontinental Cup title in 2001. I had not heard of it before. Every win over Bayern is like winning a cup. But we won't hand anyone cups.

Turning to the Arsenal defeat: Watching the game again helped me. I think after a match it quickly shifts to the next, but we cannot move forward without learning from it. We were solid in the opening hour, even with them on equal terms away in London. But the last 30 minutes weren't our standard.

Readiness and Rebound

On the need to show the expected response, Kompany said: It's good that we can show what we have again in three days. We never want to lose. We accept defeat but we do not enjoy it. But the matter is to show a response at this stage of the season. We need to be ready for big moments to be there and to win.

About his defender Dayo Upamecano: You cannot ask him for anything. And if a mistake happens, we can't say what you should have done. Like high pressing now. In analysis later, we can say this or that was better, and then we can learn from it. But we lost, and we have to learn from that to improve. I'm sure he will use that to improve, and that's perfectly natural.

Neuer’s Errors

What mistakes did he make? I have a different take. What should a goalkeeper do? Wait for him to run at you one-on-one? Or go out and help your teammate meet him mid-field? I am somewhat surprised; this is the first time I’ve heard that this was a mistake.

And he added: In every time we decide to change the goalkeeper, we always discuss it with Manu (Neuer). We did not do that this time, and I must consider what is best for the team. We also want Jonas Orbig to develop, but the timing must be discussed calmly, and we haven't done that yet. I was focused only on St Pauli.

Weakness to Set Pieces

We’ve been a stable side on set pieces over the last 18 months. We're now in a phase where I want us to find the right solutions and build ourselves into strengths. When the ball comes and there is chaos, you must leap and head it away. I don't want us to doubt everything; we will move past this and put an end to it.

We learn from every situation. We train on defending the box and set-pieces. We need to do a lot of video analysis and get through this spell, starting a run in which things look solid. It's natural for this to be a topic of debate, and it will stay so until we draw a line under it.

Full Readiness

Regarding the squad news: We will see in the final training who can participate fully. There are no injuries. We are just watching the small things and hoping the energy will be 100% for tomorrow.

And Christoph Freund, Bayern's sporting director, on the loss to Arsenal: We never like to lose, and we don't need to, because the team is hungry and full of energy. You can feel that at every training session. Defeats are part of football; the question is how you react to them. We can put this behind us now. The next match is Saturday, which is a good thing. We'll carry on as we have in recent weeks and months.

Punchline 1: If Bayern’s press conference had a soundtrack, the chorus would be “We will not lose”—even the coffee cups would start clapping.

Punchline 2: If football were a kitchen, Bayern would be baking equal parts defense and counterattack, then serving it with a dash of optimism and a wink at the scoreboard.