A Progress Report on the Early-Season Form of Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski

As something of a long-awaited capture for Bayern Munich and their ever-conquering board, Robert Lewandowski joined the Bavarian club this season as a trophy in itself. Bayern were already one of the best teams in the world and now they had one of the best forwards in the world to compliment them.

Of course, the Polish star arrived under some amount of scrutiny. Yet again Bayern had poached a top talent from their Bundesliga rivals, Borussia Dortmund, in a timeless practice that we've seen from the Munich side for at least the past two decades. 

But then as the old saying goes, "all is fair in love and war" and somewhere between those two scenarios lies football. A sport that can at times seem impeccably cruel to some and devilishly delightful to others. 

To truly grade Lewandowski on his early-season form at Bayern we will have to naturally compare him to two other strikers of similar stature and ability: His predecessor Mario Mandzukic and the player himself when playing in the black and yellow of Dortmund. 

Here we can deduce just how well the Polish striker is doing compared to the man he replaced and of course with how well he did at his former club. One will tell us how well he's doing at his new club, while the other will likely explain just how far he's come since last season. 

According to Transfermarkt.com, Lewandowski has scored five goals and made four assists in 12 appearances for Pep Guardiola's side this season. He also made 3.2 shots per game and 1.4 key passes, on average, in each match he's featured in. 

Having played seven Bundesliga games so far this season, it would then make sense to compare the Polish striker's start to life at Bayern with his own league form of last season as well as Mandzukic's form. 

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Looking at the graph above, which shows the goals and assists for Lewandowski in his first seven league games for Bayern, Dortmund and then Mandzukic's first seven league games last season, we can see a notable contrast between all three. 

The most notable difference is the slight drop in form from the Polish striker between his time at Dortmund and his time at Bayern. Not only had he scored two fewer goals, but he recorded two fewer assists as well. Meaning in just seven games, Lewandowski had already contributed four extra goals for Dortmund by this point last year. 

We would then take into account the fact that the striker needs time to adjust to his new club, city and, most importantly, the players around him each week. Yet such an excuse tends to fall on deaf ears when you arrive at Bayern. After all, he is amongst better players now and shouldn't really be struggling to find chances in front of goal. 

Some consolation for any eagle-eyed Bayern fans will of course come from comparing Lewandowski's form to that of former Bayern striker, Mandzukic. 

The Croatian forward was always incredibly useful for Bayern last season as they marched to another league title, yet it always seemed as though the club had plans to upgrade on the lone striker. Now they have Lewandowski and as we can see from the graph he has made a notable difference.

Although both strikers have scored the same amount of goals by this point in the season, the Polish forward has already bagged two league assists. A telling feature of Lewandowski's game and perhaps the main reason Guardiola was so desperate to bring him to the club.

Lewandowski may not have reached his old Dortmund form just yet, but he has already proven to be an addition to what Mandzukic brought to this team. 

However, that in itself will not save this talented forward from the criticism of fans and board members alike if his form doesn't continue to get better and better. Bayern need a goalscoring forward to match the best in Europe and five goals in 12 games across all competitions is a ratio that simply won't cut it.