Afraid, very afraid
Those of you who followed Bayern Munich's Champions League campaign only via the highlights reels or the press reports will look at Wednesday's result - a 1-0 victory over Anderlecht, thanks to a dodgy penalty and a late save from Oliver Kahn - and say: 'Same old story. Here they come again.' Maybe. Maybe not.
From a distance, the team may look like the Bayern of old that spread fear and loathing because they hardly ever played well but almost always won. When they made the final in '999, their campaign began with only one point from two games, meaning they had to beat Barcelona home and away. But of course that's exactly what they did. When they made the semis in 2000, their progress hinged on the final game in the first group stage, at home against Rangers. Bayern needed to win this match, and they did, thanks to a first-half penalty and a bunch of great saves from Kahn.
Those two seasons look like a blueprint for this one. Two weeks ago, things seemed bleak. The Germans needed at least four points from their final two matches, provided Lyon would slip and lose at Anderlecht. Of course that's exactly what happened. And the final 1-0 win over the Belgians was even more lucky than the one against Rangers in that the deciding penalty was a soft one.
However, despite those familiar storylines, there is something wrong with this current Bayern team. Watching them beat Rangers four years ago, you knew the Scots would not get their equaliser. Watching them beat Anderlecht on Wednesday, you won the feeling the crappy, deflected shot that would put Bayern out was only seconds away. And the reason for this was that the players felt that way!
Four years ago, Kahn was playing with a snarl on his lips and making his saves almost matter-of-factly, while Stefan Effenberg was strutting through midfield in a manner that had you presume he was whispering in an opponent's ear: 'We're crap. But we're gonna beat you anyway.'
Yet on Wednesday, Kahn broke down after the final whistle and it looked as if he was crying, while it wasn't just that there was no Effenberg in midfield - there was no-one at all. Bayern spent the last thirty minutes miskicking balls in defence, losing them in midfield and hoplessly chasing them upront. They were afraid, very afraid.
Beckenbauer said: 'This had nothing to do with football.' But he was at a loss to explain why the side had stood transfixed as wave upon wave in white had come at them. Then coach Ottmar Hitzfeld was asked for an analysis and he had one ready: 'It was nerves. The players knew that one mistake would see them eliminated and they tensed up under that pressure.'
| “ | Four years ago, Kahn was playing with a snarl on his lips, while Stefan Effenberg was strutting through midfield in a manner that had you presume he was whispering in an opponent's ear: 'We're crap. But we're gonna beat you anyway.' ” | |
If this had come from any other coach, you would have nodded in sympathetic agreement. But the last time a man in charge of Bayern Munich had said something like this I wasn't yet born. This club prides itself on the fact their players are so cool there'll be a cold day in hell if one of them is sent down.
In the search for Bayern's problems it's agreed they stem neither from the coach nor from the quality of the squad. Hitzfeld is the best man-manager we have, and the players respect him, while the team boasts outstanding talent almost everywhere and doesn't have a truly weak spot. The defence is shaky at times, but it's not really a liability - and there's always Kahn.
Many pundits claim what the side lacks are leadership qualities: the strongest character is Kahn, who spends the ninety minutes which count in goal, whereas Michael Ballack just isn't the type who tells others what to do. Jeremies could fit the job description, but his name is no longer one of the first on the team-sheet, because of injuries and because of Owen Hargreaves.
It all began going downhill, this theory says, when Effenberg left. That could be true, though I don't like this theory mainly on the grounds that I have always felt Effenberg was vastly overrated as a footballer.
Some other pundits claim that Bayern still haven't found the system or gameplan that suits them best. I think this is an enticing suggestion, because it explains why Roy Makaay is still being criticised for not getting involved in the build-up even though he scores goal after goal.
It also exlains why Ze Roberto and Michael Ballack are often singled out as the culprits when something goes wrong, because they don't sem to be the players they were at Leverkusen. Theoretically, Ze Roberto should be awesome at Bayern, because he now has Bixente Lizarazu behind him, an even better cover than Diego Placente was at Leverkusen.
But Ze Roberto plays like a man who doesn't have a clear understanding of what's going on and what he's supposed to do. And you could say the same goes for Ballack.
At Leverkusen, the two played in a 4-3-3, with Ze Roberto on the left wing and Ballack as one of the two central midfielders behind Yildiray Basturk, who played in the hole and fed the three forwards. That was ideal for Ballack, because he is a great ballwinner: as soon as he had gotten the ball to Basturk, there were acres of space in front of him to run into.
That may be why, a few weeks ago, Bayern switched from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3, yet it's still not working properly: At Celtic, Ballack was the central offensive midfielder, but he seemed to be looking for a Basturk-like team-mate to feed or use as a wall-player.
Hitzfeld then created this position at Bremen and against Anderlecht, using three strikers plus Pizarro in the hole. But the Peruvian is basically a target man himself.
The two pros on Bayern's roster who could fill this role are Mehmet Scholl and Sebastian Deisler. Both will be unavailable in the near future. Hitzfeld will have to juggle some more.
