Is Pep Guardiola the right man for Bayern Munich?

 

Pep Guardiola – is he creating a square pegs in round holes situation at Bayern Munich?

When you have won a treble, you are without doubt the best team in Europe. No contentions, no arguments… you simply deserve to bask in the glory. Bayern Munich did  just that and then some more. They hired the best coach in Europe over the last five years, Pep Guardiola. They then went on to get some of the best young talent in Europe into the team in the form of Thiago from Barcelona and Gotze from Borussia Dortmund. With none of the treble winning talismans of the team leaving it, every move indicated that Bayern would go on and do the unthinkable, defend the biggest crown of them all, Champions League!

As things turned out the German speaking Guardiola has inspired his team to retain their Bundesliga title and are in the finals of the DFB-Pokal cup, and have reached the semis of the Champions league too. So, why would there be a question on Pep’s appointment? Let me point out my main gripes.

1. Barcelona hangover

Guardiola grew up with Barcelona, played for them, coached their B team and then the all winning first team. He has Barca deep in his bones and it shows. Bayern won the treble not keeping the ball with them, but putting the ball into the opposition net. But Pep Guardiola has changed this and quite visibly. Pep has brought the possession play to Bayern. This isn’t bad in itself, after all this won Barcelona many La Liga titles and a couple of Champions League titles.

But as world football is seeing, Barca is not the force it once was. This is not because the players at Barca have gone bad, but rather the world of football, as best displayed by Bayern themselves in last years Champions League semis, have shown how to beat this style of football. Pep has almost by habit brought that style of football to Bayern, which in my opinion is not a move forward, but a move back from where Heynckes had gotten them to last season.

2. Changing whats not broken

Anybody who follows world football would vouch for Lahm to be a world class right back. He plays there for Germany and captains them and played there for Bayern and captains them too. Till last season that is. But for no real strong reason, he was pushed into midfield. Though Gustavo was let go, Bayern Munich still had some strong players in the midfield position with Schweinsteiger, Martinez and Kroos being the fits ones currently (accounting for Thiago’s injury). Lahm has filled into this position and has been quite good at it, and thats no surprise.

But to persist with this plan which looks makeshift when you do have fit players for the role is trying too hard. Ribery has been excellent for Bayern over the years. He and Robben are very crucial for Bayerns style of play. Both cut in when needed, but Ribery more importantly, can also run the lines when needed and provide a cross for the usually accurate Mandzukic or Muller. But with Pep’s methods, Ribery has been seen playing more central, with Alaba expected to run the lines.

To me this is a mirror image of Dani Alves and Messi at Barcelona. One runs the lines while the other cuts in. Just because it worked at Barca, doesn’t necessarily mean it should work at Bayern. And more so an error, since Bayern didn’t need to change this aspect of their attacking game. In defence too some tinkering has been done where it wasn’t needed. Boateng is positionally not the best, Dante loses concentration every now and then and Van Buyten has been around too long. But are these reasons enough to drop them and rather use Javi Martinez as centre back? This to me sounds a lot like the Javier Masherano or Alex Song or Yaya Toure situation at Barcelona.

3. Indirect play

Bayern has the kind of team that loves direct play. They get a lot of balls into the 18 yard box, they have tall and strong centre forwards and on set plays they get their centre backs to help who are also strong blokes. Why would you want to take a short corner when you have 4 big men in the middle waiting for the ball in the air? Why go indirect when you are so good going direct. And these days, the personnel also get chosen with indirect play in mind. Kroos, inspite of his aggressive stance to get a better deal at Bayern, has been getting a lot of game time. He is very sure with the ball and sprays short and long passes and shoots from outside the D.

Muller on the other hand is an ungainly and lanky player and isn’t as good with running with the ball as Kroos. But on the other hand he is an extremely effective goal scorer and is a big match player. He plays regularly for Germany and plays the same direct style as what was preferred at Bayern. But now, with all this indirect play, he has not been a regular starter. One of the best impact and big match players, and he is not starting day in day out.

In Pep Guardiola, Bayern Munich have an experienced and indeed a very good manager. But do they have the kind of manager that suits their style of play that has made them the most efficient unit in European football? Bayern could do with some possession play, no doubt. But would it be acceptable to get that aspect into their system at the cost of their style of play that has proven very successful and has yet to be consistently outhought by European opposition yet?

The transition at Bayern is akin to Barcelona trying to move to a more vertical style of play. Neither team will be good at doing what would be expected of them and will only help show more weaknesses in their play than exposing those of the opponents. To sum it all, please dont get me wrong, I was a huge Pep fan at Barca, I am just not a great fan of what he has been doing at Bayern.