Bayern Munich attacker Thomas Müller registered 24 league assists in the 2021 calendar year, more than any other player across Europe ’ s top five leagues. But how and when does he do the damage ? The easy answer is : about constantly. After all, those 24 assists came in just 36 appearances. Scratch beneath the surface a little, however, and it is possible to see Müller ’ s favorite positions for teeing up his teammates, american samoa well as with which foot and at which times during games.

We ’ ll start with the when. Dividing matches into 15-minute windows, Müller ’ s leanest spells in 2021 were in the orifice quarter of an hour with equitable two assists and in the close up 15 minutes with one. In between times he recorded six ( between minutes 16-30 ), seven ( 31-45 ), five ( 46-60 ) and three ( 61-75 ). Watch : All of Müller ‘s Bundesliga assists in 2021 Do his relatively barren periods bookending his games mean he is behind out of the blocks and agile to tire ? improbable. More probable is that teams tend to sit deep against Bayern early on – making them tougher to break down when defenders still have fully energy reserves. once the Reds hit their rut and spaces begin to appear, Müller strikes. Bayern ’ s matches are besides much decided hanker before the close stages, so Müller – work done for the day – is regularly taken off to give him a snorkel ahead of the next bet on. In 2021 the Bayern No.25 was substituted off 17 times after minute 61, a fact that goes a long way to explain his relatively meager end product in those match phases. But his otherwise astonishing returns are no accident. Müller finished as the Bundesliga ’ second help king in the past two seasons, setting a new criminal record in 2020/21 with 21, having posted 18 in the previous campaign. He is on 13 already in 2021/22, a new league phonograph record for the first half of a season since detailed data collection began in 1992 ( Bayer Leverkusen ’ sulfur Florian Wirtz is his airless rival with eight ), while he has besides created more chances ( 54 ) and clear-cut opportunities ( 10 ) for teammates than any other player in the Bundesliga this term. It is that consistency that truly separates Müller from the rest. In the entirety of 2021 he never went more than three games without providing an aid. between 13 March and 20 April he even went on a five-game spree in which he set up a teammate to score in every outing cross Matchdays 25 and 29, tallying six assists in the action. The Bavarian native has done even better this season, only drawing a blank on Matchday 15 in an differently perfect ply between Matchdays 8 and 17 in which he registered 11 provisions. then if we know when he likes to do it, why can ’ thymine teams stop him ? Well, that brings us to the how and where . Robert Lewandowski was the beneficiary of eight of Müller ’ s 24 Bundesliga assists last class.

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“ He ‘s got great quality and was constantly one of the most unmanageable players to prepare to face as an adversary, ” said Bayern head coach julian Nagelsmann at the starting signal of this temper, recalling his clock trying to find solutions for Müller while in charge of Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig. “ You barely ca n’t pick him up because he ‘s got this incredible feel for space. ” There ’ s the keystone bible : outer space. The self-styled ‘ Raumdeuter ’, or space interpreter, apparently lines up behind Robert Lewandowski in a central position in a 4-2-3-1 formation. But he is given license to roam, to feel the tingle of his spidey-sense and seek out the areas where he can hurt opponents. Of his 24 league assists, six came from the right fender, four from the entrust wing and 14 from cardinal positions. yet even in the latter class there is a huge come of variation in localization : he was inside the center circle for two of them, inside the box for four, on the edge of the sphere of just outside for three, and in the center third of the enemy half for five.

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overall, 16 assists were made with his right foot, six with his leave and two with his head. Eight have created goals for Lewandowski, four for Serge Gnabry, three each for Jamal Musiala, Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane, two for Kingsley Coman and one for Dayot Upamecano. In other words, such brilliant volatility means the entire confrontation half is Müller ’ second playground. And he is very a lot the schoolyard bully. We ’ rhenium entirely half-joking. For a actor who once quipped that he “ never gets hurt because I don ’ t have any muscles, ” he is deceptively potent. Müller out-fought and out-muscled both Hoffenheim ’ s Chris Richards on Matchday 9 and Borussia Dortmund ’ randomness Mats Hummels on Matchday 14 to set up goals for Lewandowski. Watch : All of Müller ‘s league goals in 2021 Add into the shuffle his 10 Bundesliga goals in 2021 and what you ’ re faced with is a grim, all-out assault. And Nagelsmann recently highlighted another trait that makes Müller so unplayable : his reading of the plot and sense of anticipation. “ He ’ s a bang-up musician, a capital mentality, ” the Bayern supremo told ESPN when asked about Müller after the attacker made a milestone 400th Bundesliga appearance in the Matchday 17 wallow over Wolfsburg. “ It ’ s interest because it ’ s not nice that we don ’ t have fans in the stadium, but if there is one positive to come out of it then it ’ randomness that we can hear Thomas. He ’ second very, identical clever. He ’ s like a coach on the sales talk . Müller is famed for being the most vocal player on the peddle for Bayern – but even then opposition defenders find it unvoiced to keep track of him.

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“ He recognises unlike situations, how to solve unlike problems. He tries to convince players to attack in the like way he did. He ’ s brainy. In the second half he defended a moment deep, but you see the gamble for Lewandowski before Serge [ Gnabry ] goes deep into the box – even before the ball is passed to him, he screamed : ‘ Serge go deep. ’ He sees the situation five seconds before it actually happens. ” so is there any way to stop Müller ? Well, not in truth. In addition to all of the above seeking answers to the when, where and how, there is besides the question of why. And it is arguably this that is the samara. What motivates Müller ? deoxyadenosine monophosphate bum as it might sound, he good loves playing football. “ We have a very attack doctrine, ” Müller told bundesliga.com after teeing up the undoer for Goretzka in the 2-1 Matchday 11 victory over Freiburg. Watch: Müller on Bayern ‘s attacking doctrine “ The most enjoyable matter is to score goals and when you have the ability in your team, and you can feel that you ’ rhenium always capable of creating goalscoring chances, then you don ’ t want to stop.

“ That ’ second why we ’ ra always looking for the next finish, and the following one and the future one. That ’ s how you end up in those situations. Hansi Flick demanded it of us and julian Nagelsmann is besides a coach who is all about attacking football. ” With the second half of the season about to kick off, buckle up for the following few episodes of the Müller appearance .