Is everything smooth in the Bayern camp?
How will he orchestrate the best team in the world?
On the 23rd of November 2013, the newly appointed coach of Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola, came out and publicly stated that Bayern had improved under him, but was still ‘not his team yet’.
While this statement probably did not imply that Guardiola was unhappy at Bayern Munich, it definitely did say that Bayern Munich are not playing like the Spaniard wants them to, and in Guardiola’s own words, he [Guardiola] is still adjusting to the German style of play.
Pep and Bayern is seemingly a match made in heaven, both of them being among the crème-de-la-crème in their respective fields in all of Europe.
However, Pep had achieved most of his success at Barcelona, a club famed for having ‘schoolboys’ for players, where a “spineless coward” the like him could establish a dictatorship without any uprisings (both of the descriptions were given by ex-Barcelona player Zlatan Ibrahimovic.) Bayern, on the other hand, is full of combustible footballers who did not owe their success to Pep Guardiola, and as a result, Pep is facing a real juggernaut of a task: Win the total control of Bayern Munich.
Bayern were an excellent team before the arrival of Pep Guardiola, with many describing them as the best football team ever (redirect your arguments to this article). Pep Guardiola was asked to take the helm of affairs at a treble winning club, in which many youngsters looked up to Jupp Heynckes. Winning their loyalty completely cannot be an easy task for Guardiola under any circumstances, and changing the dynamics of the best team in Europe will definitely not sit well with these footballers.
Bayern’s tactical changes are also appearing to be a gross under-utilization of resources. Bayern are slowly, but steadily, switching their focus to playing in the centre rather than the wings.
When a team possesses the best wing duo in the world (some might argue the case of Ronaldo-Bale being better. While Ronaldo is every bit as talented as Ribery and Robben, if not more, Bale still has light-years of ground to make up before his name can be mentioned in the same breath as these legends), one expects the team’s attack to be based on them.
However, since the arrival of Guardiola, Ribery has been on the mend, and Robben has been forced to cut in from the flanks, rather than crossing the ball, even though Mandzukic and Muller can head the ball amazingly. This was evident in Bayern’s game with Dortmund.
Although Bayern put up a terrific performance, with both Robben and Muller appearing on the score sheet, the headers in the game were very far and even fewer, despite Dortmund’s weakened defense. Not capitalizing on an asset that is available to the team is not only detrimental to the team’s performance on the pitch, but also to the morale of the senior players such as Robben and Ribery.
How does Pep’s Bayern plan to score?
Bayern’s fullbacks have also stopped launching attacks.
Now, Alaba and Rafinha tuck inside while the rest of the players attack. While this is definitely a very good tactic against a team like Madrid or Dortmund, who possess fearsome pace and terrific counter-attacking talent, it also blunts the attacks of the ruthlessly efficient machine from Munich.
Minus their fullbacks, players such as Ribery can no longer perform to their very best. The telepathic understanding that Ribery and Alaba seemed to possess is no longer being utilized, since Alaba’s game has become far more defensive these days.
Once Ribery is out of his convalescence, he will not only have to fight for a place on the team sheet, but he has to do it without David Alaba, a person whom he once credited for his terrific performance in the 2012-13 season, one which won the UEFA European player of the year award.
Another major difference in Pep’s Bayern is the position of Phillip Lahm.
While Joachim Low showered praises on Lahm, claiming that he is the “Best Full-back in the world”, Pep prefers to keep Lahm in the Defensive Midfielder position.
While a footballer of Lahm’s caliber can easily adjust to almost any position in the defense or the midfield, one can say without any doubt that Lahm is best on the flank. Lahm just doesn’t possess the necessary physique a Defensive Midfielder should, one the likes of Yaya Toure, and has terrific pace and crossing ability, not the most Defensive Midfielder like attributes. Lahm can play exceptionally well in that position as long as their opposition isn’t overly physical, but as soon as they encounter a hard hitting team, Lahm will have to step up in shoes his small physique will find much too large to fill.
If Pep does want to get the most out of his players, he ought to move Lahm back to the flank, let Kroos or Martinez play in the Defensive Midfielder position, and wait for Bastian Schweinsteiger to patch himself up and save the day.
All this said, Bayern are still the best team in Europe, and their recent games continue to prove that point, despite injuries to many key players.
However, if Guardiola does wish to win trophies and the Bayern faithful over, he would do better if he continues to get the most out of Ribery, Robben, Lahm and Schweinsteiger week in and week out.
But then again, the Pep we know had sold Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Henry, and still delivered the UEFA Champion’s league trophy to the Catalan giants, so don’t write him or his tactics off just yet!