Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jonathan Tah obliged against Heidenheim. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bayern Munich.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Levi Colwill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Dayot Upamecano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Mainz 05; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Marked 8.57 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Michael Olise is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joshua Kimmich provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
6 goals in one match, Michael Olise on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Bayern Munich and St. Pauli.
Levi Colwill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3‑0, and Michael Olise took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Bayern Munich tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Michael Olise takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Olise provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Joshua Kimmich scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bayern Munich can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A season average of 7.40 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Luis Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Something was said to Levi Colwill and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bayern Munich heard it as anything else.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 12 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Levi Colwill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.48, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Dayot Upamecano's mistake
Heidenheim will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bayern Munich were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bayern Munich heard it as anything else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bayern Munich and Heidenheim, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Levi Colwill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Luis Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Michael Olise was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Dayot Upamecano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Bayern Munich will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Bayern Munich can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” René Albrecht after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bayern Munich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Eintracht Frankfurt spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Eintracht Frankfurt in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bayern Munich. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Bayern Munich the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bayern Munich can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bayern Munich have let the market know Kim Min-Jae can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Bayern Munich man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jamal Musiala was the best thing in any of them.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Köln in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Manuel Neuer a promise
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bayern Munich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Michael Olise was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bayern Munich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Bayern Munich will try again when the window opens; SC Freiburg may not be selling by then.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Levi Colwill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Michael Olise was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Joshua Kimmich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The clubs have shaken hands with Mainz 05; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Bayern Munich have paid $61.9M for Levi Colwill, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bayern Munich can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with SC Freiburg is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$8.3M on the table at SC Freiburg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from Darmstadt 98 for Serge Gnabry was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
In brief
Squad13 Bayern Munich players away with their countries
SquadA move Levi Colwill would have made for nothing
Bayern Munich paid $61.9M and Chelsea took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Chelsea asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Macarthur FC had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Adrien Truffert was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorrel Hato was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Swindon Town will make the call about Chizzy Ezenwata this week. Chelsea have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Bayern Munich and Veracruz have settled on $35.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Bayern Munich have gone to Chelsea with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mainz 05 have kept their man, and Bayern Munich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $67.8M — a club that wants Levi Colwill enough to be asked twice.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bayern Munich have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 104529. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Bayern Munich has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
FC Nantes paid $47.6M and Chelsea took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The chase for Ricardo Pepi ended with $28.6M changing hands and PSV out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Everton have kept their man, and Chelsea go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chelsea can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Geovany Quenda, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ricardo Pepi is living that version at Chelsea, and it tends to show in the first month.