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Bayern backlash could be brutal
Bochum v Bayern Munich
Sunday 27 October, 14:30
Live on Sky Sports
At Bayern Munich, every defeat is a disaster, but a 4-1 thrashing by Barcelona and the former Bayern coach Hansi Flick has rung alarm bells loud and clear. Bayern were on the wrong end of a lethal finishing display in Catalunya, as Rafinha bagged a hat-trick and Barca scored with all four of their shots on target.
The German media pulled no punches. BILD called the performance "shameful and worrying", while kicker labelled it as a "debacle". All eyes were on new coach Vincent Kompany's high-risk approach, which left far too much space in behind the defensive line. Centre-backs Dayot Upamecano and Min-Jae Kim are being exposed time and time again, and against elite opposition, I'm not sure Bayern have the personnel to play the way Kompany wants them to.
However, against mid-ranking or poor sides in the Bundesliga, Bayern can use that system to fill their boots. The rekordmeister have netted six goals against Holstein Kiel, five at Werder Bremen and three at Wolfsburg. They are joint-top of the table going into this weekend, and last weekend Harry Kane bagged a hat-trick as Stuttgart were demolished 4-0.
Kane's goalscoring figures are beyond belief. He already has six Bundesliga hat-tricks, he has netted 58 goals in 56 Bayern games in all competitions, and this season he already has 14 goals in 11 games.
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I don't expect the England captain to show any mercy to Bochum here. The Ruhr club actually won this fixture last season, but they hastily sacked coach Thomas Letsch a few weeks later after a poor run of form, and they have been paying the price for that injudicious behaviour ever since.
Caretaker boss Heiko Butscher nearly got them relegated, and summer recruit Peter Zeidler was a disaster. The former St Gallen boss didn't deliver a single league victory, and now former Osnabrück boss and Bochum assistant coach Markus Feldhoff has been asked to pick up the pieces until a permanent solution is found.
I'll back Bayern to win, Over 3.5 Goals and Kane to score at 11/102.11 on the Sportsbook's Bet Builder.
Back Bayern to win, Over 3.5 Goals and Kane to score @
Stuttgart starlet to bounce back
Stuttgart v Holstein Kiel
Saturday 26 October, 14:30
Stuttgart finally got their just desserts in the Champions League on Tuesday, as they produced a very impressive 1-0 win at Juventus. They had played well without reward at Real Madrid on Matchday One, and having had a goal harshly disallowed and missed a penalty in Turin, VfB finally forced home a stoppage-time winner through El Bilal Toure.
The man who missed the penalty - attacking midfielder Enzo Millot - is one of Stuttgart's rising stars. The 22-year-old helped France reach the Olympic final in Paris, and he has already netted five goals in all competitions. The former Monaco starlet's movement is very clever, and he has a burst of pace that consistently takes him into scoring positions.
I expect Stuttgart to make lots of chances and score plenty of goals against a Holstein Kiel side that is really struggling at this level. The Storks have claimed a paltry two points from their seven games, and they have conceded 21 goals at an average of three per match. Only a couple of their defenders have previous Bundesliga experience, and frankly it shows.
Millot is a generous 6/42.50 here on the Sportsbook to score at any time, and with strikers Ermedin Demirovic and Deniz Undav prohibitively short, Millot is worth backing.
Back Enzo Millot to score @
Go Jonny, go, go, go
Mainz v Borussia Mönchengladbach
Friday 25 October, 19:30
Live on Sky Sports
These are heady days for Mainz striker Jonathan Burkardt. He made his debut for Germany earlier this month, a "goosebumps moment" as he described it, and he is in terrific form in the Bundesliga. The speedy forward has already scored five Bundesliga goals this term, and has 13 league strikes across the whole of 2024.
Mainz are yet to win at home this term, and they were kept at arm's length pretty comfortably by RB Leipzig last weekend, but I expect things to change against inconsistent Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday night. The Foals haven't managed back-to-back league wins in the same campaign since March 2022, which is a feeble record for a club of their stature, and they have won just three of their last 28 Bundesliga away matches.
Gladbach have big defensive problems. Nico Elvedi is experienced, but his partner Ko Itakura had a nightmare in the last away game at Augsburg, and the Japanese defender can be inconsistent. Full-backs Luca Netz and Joe Scally have talent and potential, but they are incredibly young still, and they don't always get enough protection from the players ahead of them.
Even though Burkardt is yet to score a goal at home this term, that's a statistical quirk that I expect to be remedied soon, and his price of 2.982/1 to score at any time is just too big to ignore.
Back Jonathan Burkardt to score @