Jonathan Tah is supposed to solve Bavaria’s defense problems. With impressive stature, passport security and leadership qualities, he brings everything that is needed. But a shortcoming remains.
What do Jonathan Tah, Min-Jae Kim, Matthijs de Ligt, Hiroki Ito and Eric dier have in common? Except that they were or are all central defenders of Bayern, not too much. The top club from Munich has been dealing with its central defense for years and trying out a wide variety of player types.
De ligt, kim, dier, ito – something always didn’t fit
The defense giant and clearer de Ligt were brought into the team for almost 70 million, but his passing game was dissatisfied. The honest worker Eric dier, who was able to defend very respectably, stabilized the back chain, but was mercilessly picked in the champions League as a weak point in the game structure. Kim was won for 50 million from Naples, who has an exceptionally good passing game, a good header game – but is a right foot and was prone to errors, especially in counterattacks. And you got Hiroki ito. The strong left foot could not stay healthy in Munich.
Why Tah fits perfectly in Kompanys system
So now Jonathan Tah comes to Säbener Strasse. He is the next in this illustrious list, which should finally be the solution to the Munich defense worries. Tah combines many skills that the others only partially had. It has a similarly impressive stature as de Ligt and is an absolute exception in air duels. This is of great importance in Company’s game system, after all, the counterattacks – which often start with high and wide balls – were the largest weak point in the Munich. A weakness that you im Quarter -finals of the Champions League against Inter Milan cost the progress.
He has an excellent positional game and is used to moving up to prevent counterattacks early. It is technically very strong, can bring wide balls to a teammate precisely and is no one in the game structure that will be picked out as a weak point. With a pass rate of over 93 percent, it is absolutely reliable.
Problem of injuries: Tahs impressive balance sheet
Tah – unlike Kim – has proven this reliability on the defensive for years. During his time at Bayern in the home league, Kim made six serious mistakes, according to the statistics portal FBRRF.com, which made the opponent directly. At Tah you have to add up the past six seasons for this number.
And then there is the problem of injury at Bayern: Tah seems almost indestructible. In the past seven seasons, Tah has missed five games from Bayer Leverkusen, four of them due to illness, only one thing because of lighter physical complaints. The muscular problems with which Tah had to fight at the beginning of his career seem to be defeated.
Boss instead of boss: Will Tah be the new defense boss?
And then there is the question of the position of the head of defense, which has taken dayot upamecano last season. But so far he has not been a really convincing boss at Bayern. Rather a boss. Tah was the undisputed leader of the back team at Leverkusen for years. And so it is now hoped in Munich that Tah also takes a leadership position with his new employer: “He is a guy who takes responsibility,” praised Max Eberl Tah when the transfer officially announced on Thursday, May 29.
Central defense of FC Bayern: a shortcoming remains
However, one question still remains to be clarified: Where will the new number 4 of the Munich -based company appear? With all the properties that Tah combines, he cannot call a coveted characteristic: he is not a left foot. Even if he knows how to handle his weaker foot quite elegantly – Tah feels more comfortable on the right central defender position. Just like the (right feet) Kim, Upamecano and Josip Stanisic. In the national team, Tah regularly plays on the left next to Antonio Rüdiger, but Tah is possibly deprived of a little of its fit through this position.
The perfect central defender, which has been well aware of in Munich in recent years, may not exist. However, the overall package Jonathan Tah comes very close to the ideal type of the central defender, the company needs for his game system. An end to the large construction site FC Bayern interior defense may be in sight.
Source: BR24Sport on radio 29.05.2025 – 10:55 a.m.
