🎇 New Year's Resolutions for ... Bayern Munich | OneFootball

It’s fair to say 2020 was a good year for Bayern Munich, at least on the pitch.

The won the treble last season, and ended the year top of the Bundesliga as they chase yet another league title.

Still, they can’t rest on their laurels, so here’s what they need to do in 2021…

One thing they need to do more of

Bayern score plenty of goals, but their reliance on Robert Lewandowski is only increasing. They need to spread the goals around the team and wean themselves off the Pole just a little bit.

The 32-year-old scored 25% of their Bundesliga goals in 2018/19, 34% of their Bundesliga goals in 2019/20, and has scored 44% of their Bundesliga goals in 2020/21 so far.

There’s nothing wrong with your star striker scoring a lot, but it becomes a problem if he has an injury or a poor run of form at some point. Without his strikes, Bayern would have lost each of their last three league matches before Christmas.

One thing they need to do less of

Stop going behind! Bayern have conceded the opening goal in each of their last seven Bundesliga outings.

Being Bayern, they’ve come back to win four and draw three of those. On the one hand, it’s a sign of their strength. On the other, it’s allowed Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig to remain within  touching distance.

With 19 goals conceded in 13 league games so far, Hansi Flick’s side only have the seventh best defensive record in the league. There’s room for improvement, and it needs to start with how they begin matches.

One position they need to strengthen

Centre-back will be a huge talking point this summer. Jérôme Boateng and David Alaba are both expected to leave for free come the end of the season.

Behind them in the position, Lucas Hernandez still doesn’t look entirely comfortable and Niklas Süle has not been able to regain his place after returning from almost a year out injured in September.

At least one fresh face will be needed and Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano is sure to be a target.

One player they need to get rid of

The Bayern squad isn’t exactly deep, so anyone who is sold will need to be replaced, and it’s not easy finding replacements for these players.

However, it’s fair to say Douglas Costa has made almost no impact since re-joining on loan from Juventus and it would be a huge surprise to see Bayern take up their option to buy him.

Their target(s) for 2021 should be …

Refresh the defence. As we already said, they’ll have no choice at centre-back, while someone who can actually compete with Benjamin Pavard (rather than Bouna Sarr) at right-back would be a fine addition.

They can rebuild there now while Thomas Müller (31) and Robert Lewandowski (32) are still on the top of their game, otherwise, two years from now, they’ll have to spend fortunes to refresh at both ends of the pitch.

Beyond that, the short term aims will be the same as ever: win, win, win. A ninth consecutive Bundesliga, a third consecutive DFB Pokal and a second successive Champions League title all await.