Bayern Munich may have scored 20 goals in four Bundesliga games, but director of sport Matthias Sammer is unimpressed with their latest lopsided victory.
Bayern started the month with a 2-0 win at Stuttgart, then drubbed Hamburg 8-0, thrashed Paderborn 6-0 and on Friday ran out 4-1 winners at home to Cologne to leave them 11 points clear.
Cologne coach Peter Stoeger came to Munich hoping for a miracle, but Bayern scored from just their fourth corner after 2min 22 seconds.
Bastian Schweinsteiger’s bullet header put Bayern ahead before Franck Ribery added their second inside 10 minutes at the Allianz Arena.
But Bayern took their foot off the gas and allowed Cologne to hit back when Nigeria striker Anthony Ujah produced a superb header on the stroke of half-time.
The score boosted the visitors until Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski added to the hosts’ tally in the second-half.
Sammer insists the defending champions should not have allowed Cologne back into the game.
“We made a very good impression in the first 25 minutes and were very consistent, but that we almost were pegged back to 2-2 and that shouldn’t have happened,” said Sammer.
“We should never be dependent on what an opponent does, but on what we do.
“We’re happy that we won, but we can’t get carried away with ourselves.”
Robben added to his tally as the league’s top scorer with 17 goals in 19 games ahead of Lewandowski (11), Mario Goetze and Thomas Mueller (both on nine goals).
The 31-year-old Robben is in superb form and picked up his eighth assist of the season with a cross which allowed Lewandowski to chest the ball over the line for their fourth.
But Robben said the victory was down to Bayern’s Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who pulled off a string of good saves to deny Cologne’s attack in the second half.
“It was a weird game, we started well, went 2-0 up and you think that we’d push on from there,” said the fleet-footed Dutchman.
“But in the last 10 minutes of the first half we slowed down and conceded a goal at the worst time, so you go into the break without feeling good.
“We didn’t start the second half very well, but I must say Manuel Neuer brought us the win, it was amazing how he managed to keep their shots out.”
Coach Pep Guardiola relied on his customary three-prong emphasis to describe Cologne as a “very, very, very” difficult side.
“We started well, lost a bit of control, but after Arjen made it 3-1, it was a completely different game,” said the Spaniard.
“We won today, because of Manu (Neuer’s) two exceptional saves.”
Bayern are set to score a few more goals when they host second division Eintracht Braunschweig on Wednesday with a place in the German Cup quarter-finals at stake. – Agence France-Presse
