Bayern Secure Rare Away Win in Bundesliga Thanks to Thomas Muller Hat-Trick

Bayern Munich continued to conquer all before them this weekend with a dominant 4-0 away to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon. 

Despite a heavy schedule in the league against the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach, as well as another Champions League clash with AS Roma midweek, Pep Guardiola's side looked up to the task of caging the Eagles and set about picking up three points. 

Yet such an impressive victory was only Bayern's second away from home this season, with the Bavarian side struggling this year to overcome opponents as convincingly as they have done in Munich. 

As we've seen from Bayern this season, whenever they've been asked to claim results on the road, a quick, technical goal is always just a few passes away, yet Guardiola's team rarely look set to keep up to such a standard for the entire 90 minutes. 

This was notable in the first half at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt on Saturday, when Franck Ribery and Robert Lewandowski were able to combine perfectly to simply slice through the Eagles back-line and assist Thomas Muller in the opening goal, yet the entire team then stood off for the remainder of the half.

This allowed Thomas Schaaf's side to recompose themselves, bring order back to the ranks and then go back and attack Bayern's defence as if the goal had never came. We saw this quite clearly when Dante was asked to make a last-ditch clearance from a Haris Seferovic cross in the 39th minute, only to be followed by an Alexander Meier free-kick minutes later, which again forced a strong save from Manuel Neuer in goal.

At times, Bayern have looked like a team who feel as though they only have to show up and score before the opposing side simply give up and accept the outcome of the game. Yet however true that may be at the Allianz Arena, when on the road, Guardiola's side must understand that their hosts will always be compelled to continue attacking. 

Michael Probst/Associated Press

Yet this weekend saw a different approach from Bayern, as Muller dragged his side to prominence and ultimately a very comfortable win with two excellent goals in the second half. 

The first came from a wonderful chipped ball from Philipp Lahm which found Ribery poaching on the Frankfurt offside trap, who duly squared the ball to the German forward. Then only minutes later another chipped ball found Muller running through on goal in one of his signature diagonal runs.

Yet despite the best efforts of Timothy Chandler, the irregular striker managed keep hold of the ball just long enough to rap a shot round Felix Wiedwald in goal. Bayern were three goals to the good in a matter of minutes. 

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Thomas Muller completes his hattrick! #Mullered http://t.co/T9zbsaxcnS

— Football Vines (@FootballVines) November 8, 2014"

The return to form for Muller—a striker who has scored only one goal in his last four league appearances according to Transfermarkt.com—ultimately proved vital to a Bayern side who have struggled to score goals on the road this season. 

Aside from the win over lowly Cologne last month, this win was the first time the Bavarian's have scored more than one goal in four away matches. Guardiola's side desperately needed a goalscorer and Muller showed up at the right place at the right time. 

Guardiola will be pleased with the win despite some notable faults in midfield without the ever-excellent David Alaba in his ranks. Lahm and Xabi Alonso did their best, but against a physical Frankfurt side, Bayern looked slightly lightweight and susceptible to closing down without their pacy Austrian midfielder.  

Schaaf, in his cunning old ways, decided that it was indeed impossible to keep pressure on Bayern and also play a deep line to keep Wiedwald safe in goal. Instead he pushed his defensive line up and made sure his midfield harassed the Bayern midfield. 

Such a move would ultimately prove fateful, as Bayern found their way late on in the second half and systematically picked their way through a retreating Frankfurt back-line on a number of occasions. Despite holding out for at least an hour, Bayern were in the end able to prove their worth and comfortably overcome their hosts on the day. 

@Sbienkowski