Thomas Muller might not be as crucial to Bayern Munich as he once was.
Indeed, he has featured only 12 times in the Bundesliga this season, making just nine starts.
Yet his next appearance, set to come against Bochum on Saturday, will see him overtake his namesake – the late, great Gerd Muller – for the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club by an outfield player, with 428.
Ahead of breaking the record, he has started 371 of his 427 Bundesliga matches, tasting victory on 307 occasions and losing only 47 times. He has won 11 titles and has a 12th in his sights this year.
Since making his Bundesliga bow in 2008, Muller has played more times in the competition than any other player, while he has directly contributed to 296 goals (140 goals, 156 assists), 23 more than second-ranked Robert Lewandowski (238 goals, 35 assists).
Lewandowski and Muller formed a formidable duo at Bayern, though the latter has not always had an easy ride at the club.
To celebrate his impending achievement, Stats Perform takes a look at Muller's Bayern journey, one which has also included two Champions League triumphs.
Tipped for the top? Not so much
"Thomas Muller can't beat you with his close ball control. He can't beat you with his pace. And he can't beat you with his dribbling skills. He just beats you."
Those were the words of German sports journalist and author Uli Hesse when he described Muller in an article originally published in Eight By Eight magazine and then re-published by The Guardian.
Muller has never had the blinding pace of peak Cristiano Ronaldo; the imperious skill of Lionel Messi or the exquisite finishing prowess of Lewandowski. Perhaps that is why he is never really considered among the pantheon of modern-day greats?
But in fairness, that was never truly expected of him. Indeed, a year before he shot to stardom at the 2010 World Cup, Muller had made just five senior appearances, totalling 40 minutes, scoring once.
Yet in 2009, when it seemed as though Muller – not quite a number 10, not quite a striker – would be loaned out, Louis van Gaal installed him as a first-team regular. He featured in every Bundesliga game that season, scoring 13 times and providing six assists. "In my team, Muller always plays," said Van Gaal.
Muller carried that form into the World Cup, finishing the tournament as one of four top scorers with five goals as a young, exciting Germany side reached the semi-finals.
The 4-2-3-1 in which Muller had thrived at Bayern, where he was flanked by Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, was in vogue in South Africa, and along with Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski, he excelled behind club-mate Miroslav Klose.
Muller played every league game in the following two seasons, scoring 19 times, laying on a further 18 goals and creating 118 chances. He earned the nickname "Raumdeuter" – "an interpreter of space".
Even still, Muller was not the star of that Bayern side. Those were on the flanks, in the form of Robben and Ribery, and then up front when Lewandowski joined, yet over the next three seasons he put up brilliant numbers, hitting 20+ combined goals and assists in each campaign through to 2015-16.
As part of that span, he helped Bayern to Champions League glory in 2013, beating Lewandowski and Dortmund in the final at Wembley.
Hard times hit
Pep Guardiola had certainly got the best out of Muller, who netted 20 Bundesliga goals in the Spaniard's final season in Munich. Yet under Carlo Ancelotti, he failed to spark, at least in front of goal.
Muller went 999 minutes without a Bundesliga goal and only scored five times in the top tier in Ancelotti's sole full season at Bayern (2016-17), underperforming his expected goals (xG) of 7.8. He finished the season with 12 league assists, however – a career-best at that stage.
If that hinted at what was to come from Muller Mk.II (more on that to come), there was no doubting "Raumdeuter's" shine had worn off slightly, with Thiago Alcantara often preferred in an advanced midfield role.
Muller defended Ancelotti when the Italian was dismissed in September 2017, though it was reported he was one of five senior players to demand a change in coach.
Jupp Heynckes took charge and Muller finished the campaign with 22 goal involvements, only two less than in the 2012-13 season in which Heynckes guided Bayern to the treble.
But matters did not improve in the 2018-19 season, in which Muller was deemed surplus to requirements by Germany coach Joachim Low and he struggled for his best form at club level under Niko Kovac.
Muller's time comes again
A second coming arrived in the pandemic-hit 2019-20 campaign; Kovac was sacked, Hansi Flick took over, and Muller was back at his best, relishing a second Champions League triumph, as Paris Saint-Germain were beaten in the final.
Yes, the goal tallies weren't as high as in his early 2010s peak, but in the three seasons between 2019-20 and 2021-22, Muller provided 57 assists in the league.
His accumulative expected assists (xA) stood at 38, suggesting he benefitted from the expert finishing of Lewandowski and Co., but he engineered 261 chances across 97 appearances (2.7 per game). Not bad.
The "Raumdeuter" was back. Whether playing behind Lewandowski, or on the right-hand side of Bayern's four-man attacking unit, he caused constant havoc, while in the 2020-21 season he also boasted his best shot conversion rate (21.6).
This season has not gone as smoothly as Muller would have hoped. Lewandowski's departure to Barcelona deprived him of his partner in crime, and Julian Nagelsmann has often gone with Jamal Musiala, Germany's next big hope, as a number 10.
Injuries haven't helped either and Muller endured a difficult campaign as Germany crashed out of the World Cup.
Will there be a third coming? Maybe not. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end. But ahead of his record-breaking appearance, there's no doubt "Raumdeuter" has to go down as one of Bayern's greatest.
Eddie Howe staying grounded after Newcastle’s ‘amazing night’ against PSG
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe will not allow Newcastle to get ahead of themselves despite seeing them dismantle Champions League giants Paris St Germain.
The 4-1 victory over the 2020 runners-up at St James’ Park took the Magpies – playing in the competition for the first time in 20 years – to the top of Group F after two games.
However, head coach Howe was refusing to be carried away by a performance and a result which brought back memories of the club’s 3-2 Champions League win over Barcelona 26 years ago.
Howe, who inherited a Newcastle side seemingly heading for the Sky Bet Championship less than two years ago, said: “Going from the difficult moment we were in to now, it’s a great lesson for us not to get ahead of ourselves.
“We’ve come a long way in a short period of time, but we want to keep going and we take nothing for granted. Amazing night, but we’ve got to continue to work hard from here.
“It goes without saying we hope that gives us that belief that we need to be successful in this competition. Against Milan in our first game, there was an element of us not quite hitting the levels that we expected of ourselves.
“But I think it’s only by doing that you can truly prove to yourself that you can do it consistently, and I think today will go a long way towards proving that.
“But as I said, there are so many difficult games to come in this competition. It’s a small step forward, but there’s still a long, long way to go.
“The next game in this competition will be hugely important, but that goes to the back of our minds now as we focus back on to the Premier League and West Ham.”
The Magpies got off to a dream start when Bruno Guimaraes picked off Marquinhos’ ill-judged ball out of defence and although Gianluigi Donnarumma saved Alexander Isak’s initial shot, Miguel Almiron followed up to score.
Dan Burn made it 2-0 with a towering header six minutes before the break, after a lengthy VAR check, and Sean Longstaff put the Magpies in dreamland five minutes after the restart.
Lucas Hernandez’s 56th-minute header sparked something of a fightback, but ultimately it amounted to little and Fabian Schar smashed home a fourth in stoppage time to cement a remarkable win.
Howe was particularly pleased for Geordies Burn and Longstaff, lifelong supporters of the club they now represent with such distinction.
He said: “I really do respect the Geordies who have had life-long associations with the club and understand what it means to play for Newcastle and have a unique experience, really, so for Sean to score and play how he did and for Dan, they’re amazing moments in their careers.”
A crowd of 52,009 witnessed a remarkable night on Tyneside, although the visiting fans, some of whom briefly caused troubled as they were escorted to the stadium by police, left less than impressed by what superstar Kylian Mbappe and his team-mates produced on the pitch.
Asked if he took responsibility for the performance, PSG boss Luis Enrique said: “Yes absolutely, there’s no doubt about that, I’m the first person to be responsible for what happened this evening. Of course I’m responsible for it.
“I think the outcome of the game was fair, although the scoreline was perhaps a little bit too much in their favour, not really a fair reflection.
“But of course we made such careless mistakes which led to their goals and when you play at this level, you can’t afford to do that.”
Wales defender Ben Cabango limps out of Swansea’s win over Norwich
Swansea centre-back Ben Cabango has given Wales boss Rob Page another injury worry after he limped out of his side’s 2-1 home win over Norwich in the Championship.
Wales are already without Aaron Ramsey and Brennan Johnson for the vital Euro 2024 qualifier with Croatia on October 15 and Swansea boss Michael Duff confirmed Cabango suffered a hamstring issue after he went off in the second half of his club’s victory on Wednesday night.
“Ben did the right thing in coming off. He felt something in his hamstring in the first half and then again later on,” said Duff.
“If he isn’t fit for the weekend, then I don’t think he’ll be able to go off to play for Wales during the international window.”
The win gave Duff’s new-look side a haul of 10 points from a possible 12 in their last four Championship matches having failed to win in any of their opening seven games in all competitions.
“I was delighted with the result and the performance. We started with real intent and the first goal came from a high press,” said Duff.
“Then their goal came from us getting our press wrong. In the second half we defended our box well and got the winner.
“Norwich are one of the best teams in the league and we finished very strongly against them. The fans really got behind us in the added six minutes at the end because our lads were out on their feet.”
Norwich boss David Wagner was “very disappointed” after seeing his side fail to press home their advantage in the second half.
“We didn’t do our job properly in each box, goals change games and we didn’t take our chances,” said Wagner.
“That’s three away defeats in a row now and we lost a game that we could have won. We have to be better in both boxes.
“After two away defeats in a row we knew we had a chance to pick up some points in an important game. It was there for us, but we didn’t do our job.
“Obviously the result is very disappointing. Performance-wise, first half we were not good, second half we were much better.
“Second half we have to kill the game. We had enough very good opportunities until 75-80 minutes.
“After that they put pressure on us with set-pieces. If you don’t kill the game, then one situation can cost you.
“It’s very frustrating that we were not clinical in both boxes today and have not won a game we had opportunities to win at 1-1.”
Mark Robins proud of brave Coventry win over Blackburn
Mark Robins praised his brave Coventry side after they earned a narrow 1-0 victory over Blackburn at the CBS Arena.
Record signing Haji Wright nodded in on 85 minutes after Yasin Ayari’s effort had rebounded off the crossbar.
The Sky Blues had already hit the woodwork twice through Matty Godden and Bobby Thomas, while James Hill’s thunderous effort came back off the woodwork in the first half for Blackburn.
It meant back-to-back wins for the first time this season for Coventry, who beat QPR 3-1 at the weekend thanks to a brace from Ellis Simms.
“We started the brighter of the teams, had loads of energy, tried to execute what we wanted to do and did it pretty successfully to start with,” explained Robins.
“They got control in the second half of the first half and had a lot of possession and they can do that to you.
“You’ve got to be brave, work really hard to try and play through them and if you can do that and the first pass is a really good pass, then you can take out the majority of the team.
“With the pace of Ellis and Haji you can cause them problems and it looked that way. We had the spell in the second half when we created a lot more chances.
“The header is a brilliant header from Haji and he gets a lot of power on it and just waits for the right moment and the timing is perfect.
“It gives us a lead, having conceded a goal at the other end I thought he was going to give. Ben Wilson has got the ball in both hands and he has kicked the ball out of his hands by Moran.
“They are a good side and they will probably get fed up of hearing it, because they have played some really good teams now.
“I think they are a really good team and we’ve done really well to get the three points. Back-to-back wins for the first time this season which is really welcome.”
Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson was defiant after his Rovers side suffered a fourth loss on the bounce, as well as seeing a goal disallowed when Andrew Moran was adjudged to have kicked the ball out of Ben Wilson’s hands before tapping in.
“Disappointed with the result of course, I actually saw a really good team, great spirit and togetherness against a good opponent in an away game,” said the Dane.
“I think we were quite solid in everything we did with the ball, without the ball, we created chances and we had big moments where we probably should have done better.
“We need to be more clinical in the box to get results but I think the boys have played an excellent game so if we keep on doing this then we will get some results.
“From my distance it was a strange situation wasn’t it? The referee had no clue if it was a goal or not, the linesman did nothing and after a short chat suddenly it was a free kick.
“I haven’t seen it back, then after that we have an extremely big moment, maybe one or two against one with the goalkeeper, then we are leading 1-0, but a good performance from my players for sure.
“We are doing a lot of good things, we have been giving too easy goals away, I think we were quite solid today mostly and we have created plenty of goal chances to win games, but of course we need to score.”
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