Bayern Munich go from silky smooth to ragged in four short days | Andy Brassell

This Sunday was the Bayern Munich squad’s traditional drop-in to Oktoberfest. It’s an iconic scene with the players and their families, who dress up in traditional Bavarian outfits of lederhosen and toast the moment. The atmosphere is often heady. On one occasion, the story goes, Pep Guardiola spontaneously decided that he and his charges should commandeer a private jet to fly off and watch Juventus take on Roma in a Serie A top-of-the-table clash in Turin.

This time, the mood was slightly different. Manuel Neuer “could be happy”, wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Lisa Sonnabend. “He can have a drink on Sunday at the Oktoberfest, because in Wednesday’s friendly against Argentina Marc-André ter Stegen will be in the Germany goal.” The question of who should be between the sticks for the national team might still be a prickly one but normally we might have privately suggested that Neuer could get a start on the festivities on the Saturday, given Hoffenheim were the visitors to Allianz Arena.

Alfred Schreuder’s side arrived from Sinsheim having won just one of their opening six fixtures (and Werder Bremen are still trying to figure how they lost that one), having scored a measly four goals. They hardly had a record in Munich to inspire, having not won in their previous 12 visits under, in most cases, more lauded coaches that Schreuder, including Ralf Rangnick and Julian Nagelsmann. Since the Dutchman took over from Nagelsmann, critics have suggested he was really a No 2, floundering and out of his depth.

As Hoffenheim arrived to face a Bayern that were still emitting smoke after their flaming of Tottenham, it was hard to see shock potential. The champions were unbeaten this season, unbeaten in 20 league games at home and Niko Kovac made just one change from the Spurs demolition, with Thiago Alcântara coming in for the injured David Alaba.

Schreuder had given a bold press conference on Thursday. “To sit back and wait just doesn’t make sense,” he insisted. “We have a plan and we’ll get our chances.” Even if that was the case, the question remained of who would be able to take them. Hoffenheim’s best attacking player, Andrej Kramarić, has been injured and badly missed, while there was no Ishak Belfoldil either.

Enter Sargis Adamyan, a German-born Armenian international centre-forward signed on the back of 15 Bundesliga 2 goals for Jahn Regensburg last season and who, at 26, had never played a top-flight game before this term. He had never started one before Saturday. Yet by 5.20pm in Munich he was the unlikely hero of the unlikeliest of wins, as Schreuder looked every bit the seasoned head coach as he maniacally pumped both fists in front of the main stand.

Adamyan had an early chance to spring a shock, charging through and leaving Jérôme Boateng in his wake, only to lose his duel with Neuer. It was the first and last time his play hinted at any sort of greenness. Adamyan led the line admirably and after his first strike was cancelled out by the rather more familiar sight of Robert Lewandowski filling the net, he was on the end of an even more improbable twist, again giving Boateng and Niklas Süle the slip on the edge of the Bayern penalty area to guide in a crafted finish.

“I still can’t quite believe it,” Adamyan sighed. “This is a huge dream for me. I was still playing in the Regionalliga (fourth tier) two years ago,” he told Sky. “I scored a hat-trick in Hamburg last season. But I think this is a bit bigger.” You can say that again. The last time Bayern lost a Bundesliga game at home had been almost a year to the day, when they were humbled 3-0 by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the midst of the last Oktoberfest.

Hoffenheim’s victory may not have been quite as comprehensive, but it was not a smash-and-grab, and it stung Bayern. It was a result that was, in the words of Kovac, “not undeserved”. Despite ending a considerable run of invincibility, it underlined how the perception of Bayern has changed under Kovac. Teams come to Munich not as cannon fodder, but in the hope of pulling off a shock. They dare to dream big.

There was very little dreamy about Bayern’s display, as flat as their second half at Spurs had been scintillating. Four days after that result sent frissons across the European football community, they managed only just over half the amount of shots on target (four) as they had scored goals in their notable triumph. “The motivation was there,” insisted Neuer. As always when things don’t go to plan here, not everyone was on the same page. “We didn’t have the right attitude from the start,” said sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. “The boys know what’s at stake. To go into the international break with a defeat is not ideal.”

At these moments, tensions close to the surface drift into sharp focus. Javi Martínez’s evident (and understandable) annoyance at staying out of the starting line-up has become a major topic again, with his prolonged discussion with assistant coach Hansi Flick, in which the Spain midfielder appeared a little anguished, not escaping the attention. From silky smooth to ragged in four days. Neuer was absent from his goal in the closing minutes – not to get a head start to the party, but to advance to try and get on the end of a Bayern corner in a last throw of the dice. Hoffenheim’s – and Schreuder’s – plan had been more failsafe than Kovac’s.

Talking points

• Borussia Mönchengladbach, then, went top, after an early start to Sunday in more than one sense. They kicked off against Augsburg in the 1.30pm slot introduced last season to give relief to Europa League teams, but nobody seemed to let Martin Schmidt’s players know as they fell 3-0 behind in the first 13 minutes. After a stodgy start to the campaign Marco Rose’s attacking elements are clicking into gear well, with Alessane Pléa stepping up this time – he got a goal (gifted to him by an awful Tomas Koubek error) and two assists.

• Wolfsburg remain the only unbeaten team after edging past Union, 1-0, to climb into second, with a typival Wout Weghorst finish. Coach Oliver Glasner was less focussed on their ascent, though. “I’m most pleased that we have the best defence,” he said – his team have only conceded four in seven games thus far.

• It was déjà vu for Dortmund in the Black Forest, as they again dominated – this time against high-flying Freiburg – only to let the lead slip twice. For a second successive away game a late, late own goal denied them the three points and if Lucien Favre’s side had seen out leads in their three most recent fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen and now Freiburg, they’d be top. “It’s hardly a surprise that we’re going home with one point, which isn’t enough,” lamented Marco Reus.