Bayern Munich are back: Vincent Kompany's tactical tweaks are paying off as Harry Kane finds new role in search of first-ever trophy

Many of Bayern's struggles under Tuchel came from a lack of cohesion both on and off the ball. There was plenty of firepower in the ranks, though seldom the teamwork needed to do an appropriate enough job in both boxes.

It was the task at the defensive end which gave the German coach most problems. Having been famed for tightening up Chelsea's leaky backline so quickly they won the Champions League within five months of his arrival, Tuchel was under pressure to do the same in Munich, only to find solutions lacking. With his job on the line, Tuchel lobbied for the January arrivals of Eric Dier and Sacha Boey to try and steady the ship. There was short-term promise, but nothing more.

Bayern's recruitment, once near-faultless, all of a sudden was viewed as disastrous. Their bank-breaking deal to bring in Kim Min-jae, the 2022-23 Serie A Defender of the Year and a Scudetto-winner with Napoli, appeared to have backfired after a string of calamitous performances, which eventually led to Tuchel blaming the South Korean for their 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals. Questions also remained over Dayot Upamecano, who hadn't kicked on as hoped at club level despite some more promising displays with the France national team.

Tuchel's second and final season at Bayern ended in European heartache and a third-place Bundesliga finish behind runaway, superhuman leaders Bayer Leverkusen - acceptable - and surprise package Stuttgart - less acceptable.

Kompany's remit was clear. He had to instil an attacking identity, lean on youth a little bit more, and sort out the messy defence. In essence, he had to improve everything left for him by Tuchel, who handed over the keys to the club with the willingness of a realtor who had duped a none-the-wiser couple into buying a haunted house.

Reshaping the back four saw Bayern move for Stuttgart's Hiroki Ito and finalise Dier's permanent signing on a free transfer after his initial loan from Tottenham. Josip Stanisic's return from title-winners Leverkusen also bolstered Kompany's options, and the promise to move Joshua Kimmich back into midfield opened up other avenues for his positional rivals at right-back.

Baby steps were appreciated by supporters in Bavaria, only for the club to tip away that goodwill when they chose to sell Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United - a decision so unpopular that over 60,000 people signed a petition protesting this call.

"We all want Matthijs de Ligt to stay at FC Bayern Munich!" the petition read. "He has proven that he's a world-class defender, probably the best in our squad. There is a reason why he was elected as our best player in the 2022-23 season. Furthermore, he is only 24 years old and has a bright future ahead, which he is going to use to fulfil his huge potential.

"Despite his young age, Matthijs is already very mature and has a great mentality which will definitely make him a leading figure in defence and probably a competitor for captaincy in some years. His ability to speak English, German and Dutch fluently would help him a lot for that. When 19, he led Ajax to the Champions League semi finals as captain.

"Selling Matthijs de Ligt would be an absolutely horrible decision and we would definitely regret it. That's why we use our voice to call attention that we will NOT make this mistake!"

Those pleas, however, fell on deaf ears, and De Ligt joined Noussair Mazraoui in swapping the Allianz Arena for Old Trafford.

There were a few teething issues for Bayern to begin their first season with Kompany at the helm. With Michael Olise joining from Crystal Palace and the sensational Jamal Musiala more involved in build-up, their attacking upside was quickly realised, but was counteracted and balanced back out a little by their limit-pushing offside trap.

How sustainable the team's aggressive pressing was became another factor for consideration. A new manager bounce, albeit one to open a campaign rather than midway through it, produced an uptick in attacking urgency and movement on the ball, but not off of it in the other direction.

Nonetheless, Kompany was swiftly praised for his efforts in establishing a new identity, even if much of the team's core remained the same from the previous term. The cons listed against the Belgian upon arrival in southern Germany were regarding his strict man-management and gung-co carelessness, yet these concerns eased through the opening months of his tenure.

There were some notably high-scoring wins to boot too, including a 9-2 mauling of Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and successive victories by five goals in September Bundesliga matches, and by the time they met Barcelona at the end of October, talk was bubbling over their prospects of conquering Europe.

In the battle of the exciting upstarts who we didn't know if they were the real thing or not, Barcelona prevailed. That's putting it lightly, actually. They smashed Bayern 4-1 at their temporary home on the Montjuic mountaintop.

Barca - coached by ex-Bayern boss Hansi Flick and undertaking his own redemption arc - scythed through their visitors again and again, while Kompany's side failed to beat the hosts' devilish offside trap. A competitive first half was followed by a one-sided second, and the head coach was punchy with his assessment when speaking to German media after the final whistle.

"There are no excuses," Kompany said. "What's important is that we learn from this game. This game won't decide our season. Why there was such a big difference between the first and second half is something we need to look at."

Ironically, this may have actually turned out to be the game which did decide Bayern's season, in a twisted and convoluted sense.

Since being taught that lesson by Barca, Bayern have put together a remarkable run of seven clean sheets in a row, their best run since 2011 when they went 10 matches without conceding at the very start of a season in which they reached the first of two back-to-back Champions League finals.

Kompany has dismissed notions that he has made his team more pragmatic in that time, instead pointing back to the greater efficiency with their pressing. After their 1-0 win against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, he said, "Rather than change, I'd say you tweak and adapt things. Individual positioning, individual habits, always to recover. We want to be compact and the distance between the lines to be small."

The two players who have taken their game to the next level are centre-backs Kim and Upamecano, who have done superbly well to make the De Ligt saga seem a lifetime ago.

Kompany said of his starting defensive duo, "I watched training in the first week, and it wasn't fun for our forwards. And if it's not fun for the forwards in training, then you know you've got something there. And then the performance, that always comes with a bit of confidence and time."

The noises out of Bayern are that this tightening up at the back has been a collective effort, with even striker Harry Kane involved. An energetic presser in his youth, the England captain altered that habit in his final few years at Tottenham when it was evident his body couldn't cope with that sort of work load any longer, with best friend Son Heung-min often deployed to do run the hard yards for him.

Kompany said, "Of course, they [Kim and Upamecano] don't defend alone. Harry Kane is involved; everyone is involved, and that's why it's so successful at the moment." Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who himself looks 10 years younger on this run, added, "It comes down to our mentality and the confidence, not just from the back line, but the whole team. The attacking players are just as pleased with a 1-0 win and a clean sheet. This mentality and focus in every defensive action is setting us apart right now."

Kane himself, in a retort to criticism from Dietmar Hamann, has insisted he is thinking more about the team and making sacrifices off the ball in order to piece convincing wins together. The only senior Bayern player without a trophy in his cabinet, the 31-year-old is showing a desire to change his ways and pick up winning habits in his long pursuit of glory. And yet he has still contributed a whopping 20 goals and nine assists through 18 club games this season despite this evolution.

Bayern's next test comes against a Dortmund team going through dissimilar transition, one splintered by inconsistency - they haven't won successive Bundesliga games all season - and revolt. Kompany and his faithful troops have a massive chance to begin running away with the title.