Well ... [EXPLETIVE]

So … for those who felt I was too easy on the club after last weekend’s 0-0 draw vs. Freiburg, and who objected when I said "we still played great, despite not getting the win" … well, today’s recap is right up your alley.

First of all, let’s start with the good things Bayern accomplished today: we played the middle of the field pretty well, and won a majority of the loose balls.  We looked more aggressive and intent on creating for most of the match.  Alaba looked inspired in taking control of the offense.  Robben looked dangerous on a few occasions - while he sometimes fell victim to Robben-disease, he at least showed some willingness to pass and had the Basel defenders worried a couple times.  And I’m sure there were a couple other things we did OK.

Alright, then … ready?

God DAMMIT I can’t believe how horrible we are at scoring goals.  I know we let up too many chances, too, and I’ll get to that in a second … but this is now 240 straight minutes we’ve gone without scoring a goal, and we’ve bagged 8 total in 7 matches since the re-start, despite several matches against weaker opponents.

Basically, our offense is an open book - we have Ribery and Robben on either end, working endless dribble moves and either (1) turning the ball over, or (2) settling for some weak pass-back after running into trouble.  Then, we have Gomez, sitting in the area and waiting for someone to feed him.  And even on the rare occasion that we do create a good chance, we make the other team’s ‘keeper (Baumann last week, Sommer today) look like fucking Oliver Kahn, Andreas Köpke, and Fabian Barthez rolled into one, as we blast the ball right at him.

And yeah, I understand, we caught a few bad breaks today - but great teams don’t go over two and a half matches without scoring a single goal due to “bad breaks.”  I’ll work out the rest of the match in player-by-player grading:

Neuer: C

Really, really wish he’d saved that late goal.  He stuck out his right leg to try to take away the shot to the right … but if he’d just stood still, he would have at least knocked it away.  We spent 18 million Euros or whatever because we needed a guy who would make the occasional great save - has anyone seen Neuer do something that HJB couldn’t?

His nice tip save on that first-half lob saves him from a failing grade.

Boateng: D+

Too easy for opposing forwards to get behind him.  Doesn’t boss our defensive area like we’d want.  Says he’d rather be a CB, but still wants to push forward all the time.  One nice play on a Basel chance in the first half saves him from a failing grade.

Rafinha: B

Made himself somewhat useful on the right side.  He can work his way into the offense, then still get back to cut off the other team’s counter.  Although talented, I’m starting to worry he’s a bad fit for this club, unless we make some changes (which we probably should).

Lahm: C+

Anytime you lose in the Champions League knock-out stage and your captain is a non-factor, you probably have problems.  Had a few OK plays going forward.  Wouldn’t mind seeing him on the right side, where he was (frankly) much better 2 years ago.

Badstuber: B+

First of all - he wasn’t at fault for the Basel goal, which either Tymo or Boateng should have cut off.

More importantly, he was one of the few Bayern players who looked pissed off that we weren’t winning, and who tried to do something energetic and creative to change our fortunes.  I’m fucking tired of seeing us languidly shake hands with the other team at the start of the second half.  I’m fucking tired of us trading kits and phone numbers and laughing it off with the other team after we fucking lose.  Again.

Come on - I couldn’t even fucking SLEEP last night thinking about this match.  And I’m just some schmuck on the internet who lives six time zones away.  Holger gets a good grade because at least he cared. I want to see someone dig his fucking studs into the other team’s forward’s shin.  And then get in the guy’s face and shove him away if he doesn’t like it.  Badstuber getting pissed off and pushing around some Basel players after the whistle was one of the two good things to come out of this match, along with …

Alaba: A-

Good thing we had Davey, or we wouldn’t have done single thing offensively today.  Love his energy and creativity. His touch is much improved, and he’s seeing the field much better.  He was the only one on our club that could take the ball at his feet and make the Basel defenders say “shit, I don’t know what he’s about to do here!”  Actually made a few decent defensive plays, too.  A shanked pass in the 2d half that led to a turnover is the only thing keeping him from a pure “A.”

Tymoschuk: C

I’ll have to go back and look at the goal again … but it sure seemed like he should have slid over to the right on that goal.  I understand, he’s a midfielder, but he has to know he’s the more defensive of our midfielders, and he has to be ready to fill a hole in the back line.

Forgettable (without being actively poor) going forward.  Had a nice lob into the box that could have led to a chance if we’d been playing better up front.  Nothing about him makes me think he’s a better selection than Goose.

Robben: B-

Opponents are prepared for his same move, but he still made some nice runs on the right side.  Found himself on the left a few times, too - which I think we should do more often.  Still has great touch on the ball.  His role from 2 years ago isn’t working anymore, so it’s a question of whether we can find something else for him to do.

Gomez: C+

Hard to fault a guy for not taking a dive … but MAN, twice in the first half we could have maybe had a penalty if he knew how to fake it.  Just saying.

Given that his game is “wait for teammates to create and then knock home the chance,” there will be a lot of games that we score no goals but he wasn’t really at fault.  I guess this is one of them.

Ribery: D

I’m only saying this because I’m drunk … but it’s starting to look like his best days are behind him.  No one looks scared of him with the ball at his feet.  Still pretty quick and decent will the ball, but doesn’t have the magic touch that he had 2-3 years ago.

Personally, I don’t know why everyone is talking about Robben, and whether or not he’ll be back next year.  For my money, a Robben-Shaqiri wing duo looks better than anything else we have on tap.

Kroos: No grade

No grade because I don’t recall a single thing he did.  When you play in the “9” spot for two-thirds of a huge match and no one recalls a single thing you did … well, that’s not good.

Müller and Olic: No grade

Both looked lively, but neither had enough of a chance to really earn a grade.  Hopefully that changes in the near, near future.

Alessio Tacchinardi: A+

The long-retired Italian footballer, who never played a single game for a German team, gets a better grade than anyone who played for Bayern today, because of the value and timely relevance of his comments regarding his attitude to the game:

“For instance Chiellini, before Juventus vs Milan game - I saw him joking around with Allegri, saying ‘oh, you're winning too many matches.’  Saying it with a big smile on his face.  Now, back then, you would NEVER see something like this.  I remember before any game, and especially big games - I would go into the game with BLOOD in my eyes.  And especially when I used to play against Milan.  I was never exchanging words, or chatting with any of the Milan players - even their coach, Ancelotti, who is good friend of mine.  Not even after the final whistle. Right now, it's just totally inverse.”

Anyway, back with more later.  For now, a caution: no supporters of other teams will be permitted to comment on this comment thread.  I know that’s against The Offside policy, but I don’t give a shit.  I don’t care who’s a Nazi, who raped whom, who’s a pussy, or anything else.  Just leave us alone to crawl under the porch and lick our wounds for a night.

Schalke preview tomorrow.  Thanks for reading.

* * * *

Seems like some of the early comments are getting cut off? here are all the ones I received up until noon today - in order, starting with the oldest first (reader's name appears at the beginning of each):

BAYERNDUSEL:

I’m going to double post. One intelligent in a little while, and one right now.

Good post, Phil. Totally agreed on Badstuber … and if anyone on this team should be captain, it’s that frighteningly low-agility, lanky German kid. So much fight, and a good player who gets shit that no one has the bravery to heap on the expensive stars.

The only thing I have to say against that post, really, is that Tymo botched the goal. I think Bayern would’ve caught all the Basel attackers offisde had he stepped up in time. Instead he covered no one and kept Stalker onside. Still, if a litany of actual defenders, including Lahm put in half-hearted challenges, and maybe with everyone else not throwing themselves out of position without actually doing anything Tymo wouldn’t have been caught red-handed.

And Neuer, seriously. He needs to be a little wilder and dominant back there, he’s probably the best scouted goalkeeper in the world, I’m sure every Basel attacker was briefed on his tendencies. How many goals has he allowed this season in one-on-ones while choosing the wrong movements automatically?

GILLY

it was a good day to die

thank you

TOLLERKOCH

I am not ready to post yet because my head still didn’t make a big enough hole in the wall. You are right, our offensive play is an old fairy tail and even the slowest kids know it by heart now. angerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HENDRY WIJAYA

I often read this blog, but seldom writing. Can’t help but write, it should be Alessio, Alessia is a female name. But then, is it your way to said that even this Alessia “girl” have more balls compared to Bayern’s player?

JON

This is A TIME to prove if we are Worthy of Going to advance stage of CL ,

only two things we can count on from situation that we are in:

-Home Game look positive this season with we lost only 1 goal from BMG , BvB.

-CL Final motivation.

but other than that i don’t know for sure. may be switch around starting XI ….

ROBERTO

well thats just great! you know what realy worries me? not the fact that we fucking loose, but jupp trying to make this a little matter, saying we played good and we were just unlucky…Thats not how you win a champions league thats going to be held in your own turf!!! they have to face it, we are in deep shi…

My god, robben is playing realy poor, its a shame he never had problems readjusting after injury, but now? hes been like this for months now.

TOMAS

Im at a FUCKING LOSS FOR WORDS!Except FUCK JUPP, FUCK MANAGEMENT FOR FUCKING UP MY CLUB!!!! I may not mean that tomorrow but I sure as hell mean that tonight! FUCK!

JON

True guys….everything is going down because of coaching……

Please look at 2010 Bayern (CL Final) 2011 complete failure…same squad and players…

Inter 2010 (Campion) , 2011 another complete failure …same squad and players but different coach…..

we need new tactic and motivator ……someone who can bring team together for winning spirit…… JH seems not very good compare to others CL successful coach.

we really need to dig out if JH can covert any winning leg in Europe while being down at 1st leg.

CHRIS P

Surprised at how surprised the Bayern community is after this game. It seems like people think that this team has been having hiccups here and there, but have failed to see that this is who this team has been for every game in 2012. I’m sick of watching us dominate possession and midfield watch us win the ball back and have a break with a relatively open field only to pull up pass the ball all the way back to our CB’s and give the other team time to get all 11 players back behind the ball. And then to have this happen every game for almost two months and to happen under the end of LVGs era, but yet no one in any position of power at the club seems to have any understanding of how unflexible Jupp is. I mean seriously, he is 60 some years old, did they really think that he would be that willing to mix things up a little bit? He is the definition of set in his ways.

Ironically, I don’t find much wrong with our players. Obviously, our defense looks like a gang of children. It seriously looks like our defense just read lord of the flies and have decided to say screw it, I’m doing whatever I want. And who is our captain? Is it Lahm? All he seems to do is say we are the best team in the world, we are as good as Barca, whatever. The time when a team needs a captain most, he is nowhere to be found. Bads is the only one of our back four with any heart, Raf looks like he can play, but it would help if he had actually been playing with a healthy Robben for more than a month. And finally, are our attacking players really that poor that they can’t score a goal away when they have 1v1s. There is an entire goal open and they shoot directly at the goal keeper every time. It’s pathetic. I feel like I could play for 60 minutes, not do anything but hold the ball and give it to someone on the wing and never threaten the keeper.

Sorry if this sounded anything like that guy that felt all high and mighty because he predicted the team would suck. That was certainly not my intention, just venting frustration that has seems to be overlooked by everyone. While everyone feels like this is a slump, and a normal cycle of a season, I disagree. We had that slump in the fall just before the break. This is different. These games aren’t flukes. A team doesn’t have a fluke game every week for two months. The culture of the team is off, and that will only change when the philosophy, atmosphere, or tactics change. Or any combination of the three. I’m not saying we need to clean house with the coachs or Nerlinger, or anyone. Just need to get some fresh air into the club.

That is all, I promise this time. Big game this weekend, if it doesn’t go well then, well, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

RW911

Hush… This is Barça. Small losses like these shouldn’t affect us. What matters is Schweinsteiger is like Xavi and Ribery is like Messi. Do not trouble yourselves with analytics and the effort to win. This is Barça and everyone knows that, ask the papers and some readers on this site of you don’t believe that!

OLLIKAHN

I couldn’t agree more with ChrisP!

The important thing to do is solve the issues internally which management is doing and stay as CALM AS POSSIBLE.

As fans we can bitch amongst ourselves.

Let’s try to salvage this season by finishing as close to Dortmund as possible in BL, giving Gladbach a bloody nose in semis of Pokal and trying to have a shootout with Basel (i.e outscore them like we do with Stuttgart by not worrying about goals conceded.)

The players ought to go down fighting with dignity so looking back everyone can blame management for poor transfer policy, squad depth, coaching tactics etc.

There is no point blaming Jupp (although I would love Favre) as we have constantly been changing courses w/o thinking of long term effect on young players’ grooming.

OLLIKAHN

I meant “changing coaches” instead of *courses*

RYAN

Ehhhh these grades are kinda ridiculous. Neuer a C? He made two fantastic stops (especially the one he pushed onto the bar early in the first half, HJB would have never made that sort of a reaction save) and basically got nutmegged on the actual goal. He was basically one on one several times and lost out once – you say “if he had just stood still” but if the Basel man takes a more traditional shot, then I’m sure the reaction would be “if he’d only figured he’d go for the far post”.

Boateng a D is way too harsh, he made that silly tackle to prevent a chance in the first half, made a silly mistake to bounce the ball off his head backwards also and otherwise distributed as well as you might hope. Him coming up is certainly allowed by Jupp tactically.

Badstuber got away with a ridiculous foul on a Basel forward late in the game where he just dove into his ankles and got no ball, but received not even a foul whistle. I get wanting to show emotion, but that’s not smart to do either.

Giving Ribery a D is also really harsh, he had three attempts on goal that needed excellent saves to stop them. More than any other Bayern player.

Gomez was terrible. So many bad touches in tight areas, should have played Robben through in the 42nd minute but instead shot stupidly right at the goalkeeper, awfully headed a fairly clear chance on a cross. He got the ball a few times in attacking areas and did nothing but lose the ball, so saying he got no support is being way too easy on him.

Robben looked decent at times but still looks way slower than he used to and his shots were absolutely horrendous. His more dangerous passes were 90% of the time cleared out of the box. Getting points for looking dangerous while not being actually dangerous is not something you afforded other players…?

Alaba looked good, but an A- is I think based off of lower expectations for him. Would you give Schweinsteiger an A- for the game Alaba played? Had some good shots on target, defended OK at best, but wasn’t super creative (nobody was).

Kroos was horrible, have nothing to disagree with here. Müller looked much more lively when he was on.

I rarely post here and generally like your calm posts, Phil, but had to voice my opinion on your grades. Either way, the quick one touch passing of Basel made Bayern’s pointless possession look like a bunch of Grandpa’s rolling bocce balls around. They need to be so much quicker and riskier in the final third – losing possession occasionally isn’t so horrible!

EDDINANM3

@apgrnt, I agree with you and Ribery should not have come off if anything it should have been Kroos. If Kroos is playing at CAM then why is hanging back at the centerline so much??? Hard to create goal scoring opportunities at the centerline for Bayern I would think! Basel’s keeper did make some big saves, but make no mistake one of our trio should have put one of those shots in the net, this should have been a 1 – 1 draw worst case scenario.

I do not know what Rafinha was thinking on the goal for Basel, I mean seriously how could he not know there was some one behind him and why pinch in that far???

PHIL

@ Hendry – fixed to read “Alessio.” But what of Andrea Pirlo?

@ Ryan – you’re right, a “C” is a bit harsh for Neuer. He did have that nice touch-save in the first half, and the goal wasn’t a howler or anything. But I stick by the “A-” for Alaba. He was very energetic and I felt like the Basel defense didn’t really know what to do with him.

I was ready to see Emre Can by the end.

JULIET

I think our squad is too small. For one thing, everyone knows who is going to be on the field every game day. The “key” players know who they are and don’t seem to think they have to put in the effort to keep their starting spot. There’s no rotation because no one seriously thinks there’s any competition for spots. How much crap would Jupp get if he put someone like Pranjic on the field instead of… who? Ribery? Jupp is playing with pieces that don’t fit. Second, we do not have sufficient cover when key players are out. Losing Schweinsteiger, as great as he is, should not mean that this team can no longer get the job done. Third, we have been unable, evidently, to secure a striker who can make goals happen. Who knew I would long for the good old days of Makaay and Pizarro? Bench the whole team and bring up the reserves, if that’s what it takes. Splash some cash and buy some real competition. I understand financial responsibility, but this is ridiculous. And we do have the cash.

SMARTGUY

I agree with Oscar here… Kroos is way overrated at times.

RONSIK

First vogel made his team train with an eye cap and used funny tactics when i saw the insult of a pitch which was ploughed like a potato field i knew basel planned it,our players couldnt run,make splitting passes or shot well.Secondly kroos and rafinah where my bad performers,how on earth can a 10 fail to even make one noticeable pass to his 9 and you guys opt for him than mueller?Kroos was too rigid.Alaba proved me wrong,he was good.Olic brought a spark in the match.We have a good bench which JH just hates,pranjic,olic and mueller where better than playing sme players today and are usualy better.Why not play boateng at RB,with gustavo and bads at CB! yes i said it,the 3 make better cover with lahm.Well it wasnt bad,we can beat basel 5-0 with a good pitch,we should score 3 in the first half at the arena and robbery wil be so pissed.Just bring on mueller for kroos and will win

RONSIK

I think we created more chances bt i wondered why we hit the ball so weak!Ribery didnt hit both hard,gomes had weak efforts,alaba did better bt where frm afar,i think gomes should warm the bench so he picks up just like robben is,he wasnt bad today imo better than kroos and many

RYAN

@Phil yeah I agree generally about Alaba’s good performance, just being nitpicky. Maybe would have given him a B only because he never quite opened up the defense, but at the same point there wasn’t much off the ball movement from Bayern, so what the heck was he gonna do anyway? I totally agree with you on Tymoshuck vs. Goose – Tymo is a terrible dribbler and not going to speed up the play at all even if he’s good in defense. Gustavo at least gives a little flair.

VRDO4EVER

I forced myself not to comment a few hours ago, as it would have all been just my anger coming out like all of you guys. But since I am a little calmer now,I want to say a couple of things about grading: 1st of all Tyomo C ? He was the worst player on the field,seriousely guys, he sucked so badly,please, I am almost crying for not playing Gustavo instead of him.He totally looked like garbage (sorry if I am hurting anyone’s feelings if Tyomo is his/hers favorite player).

For both Boateng and Ribery the grades are harsh too.

VRDO4EVER

Also, did you guys notice that Beckenbauer was absent from his chair towards the end of the matach? I wonder if he simply had to go take a piss or he just got so frustrated and said Fuck, I am just gonna go and find a new coach for my poor beloved Bayern right now!

VICTOR

winter transfers that should have been:

Montolivo –> future replacement for Tymoshchuk

Dante –> CB back-up, because now, we have NONE (Breno, DVB out)

Srna –> experience matters, and with Contento out, we cannot rely on Rafinha every game

STEFAN

Bayern have been absolutely horrific of late and I have to point a finger at the management firstly. How can you go globe trotting during the mid season break to Qatar and India? Heynches secondly is the problem, just seems to be old and outdated in his thinking with no plan B, he is the wrong fit for Bayern completely. In terms of the players, Rafinha was defensively aweful he constantly left a mammoth amount of space and he shd get the worst rating-he cant defend. Neuer has looked average since joining Bayern, Alaba is NOT a DM, sure he did a good thing here and there but we needed stability, someone to control the game i.e. Schweini. What kind of a captain is Lahm? I dont buy this lead by example crap, he is anonymous and not the leader that Bayern desperately needs (ala Effenberg, Kahn, MvB, Mathaus, Beckenbauer), Kroos shd of played at DM with Gustavo (defensively sound and full of stamina), Tymo looked old and ragged. Gomez? I just don’t get this guy he is lazy and cant even play a simple pass or take a simple shot yet he has such a great record-he just looked lazy. Finally as for our wing duo or shd I say one trick ponies, Robben looks like a different player since coming back- a muc worse player and Ribery does the same thing over and over but atleast he did make some impact. Bayern ultimately though lack organisation, discipline, unity, drive, spirit, intensity, leadership, and creativety. Our fear our season is going to end in tatters because of a small squad and stupid ignorant management.

PEKIN

I think bayern is missing a creative player at the CAM position. Muller flourishes next to a creative player like ozil but isn’t really that creative himself. Kroos can be solid but creativity isn’t his strong point. The lack of creativity is even more apparent now that bastian is out.

Real Madrid has ozil

Barca has iniesta and xavi (god I hate barca)

Dortmund has goetze

Arsenal had fabregas (isn’t as good with barca) (rvp makes his own chances)

Man utd are looking for one (fergie always fancied Schneider)

Even man shitty now has silva and to a lesser degree aguero

These could be the thoughts of a hungover and disappointed fan. But this would never have happened had any of the guys listed above played instead of kroos.

Bayern Munich is a great team lacking a killer pass.

SOMEDUDE

Rafinha a B? you do realize his (mostly ineffective) runs left our right side hopelessly exposed, right? some of the other grades are crap too, but i won’t comment on all of them

just prepare for the worst, guys: dumped out of the cups by Basel and BMG, losing 3rd spot to Schalke by the season’s end, possibly 4th as well. the way this team is playing currently, that might very well be the case

BBLASTROID

RAFINBHA IS A ‘B’?!!! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? he was directly responsible for the goal we conceded. He was hopelessly out of position on that play.

Even the goal.com playher ratings indicate that he was the worst player on the pitch purely because of that.

BBLASTROID

rafinha was defensively out of position for most of the game

KINNY

Are you serious Phil? Your ratings just seem absurd and downright biased. Neuer C? If he didn’t make that save earlier we would have been a goal down much earlier. Is it his fault he didn’t make that save when the defence i.e. rafinha left him exposed. How did Bads play better than Boa? Did you have a chat with the other players and realized only Bads cared. Rafinha played better than Lahm on the left,really. Long story short, your the writer but please stop posting comments while drunk. Some of us read it when sober.

I’m I the only one who thinks Boa plays better than Bads when paired together. At the start of the season we said Boa & DvB’s improved form helped Bads a lot. How come Bads doesn’t improve anyone’s game? If Dante comes he should be the one fighting for his place. I think everyone is gutted about letting Hummels leave and thus Bads has to work out because he is young,german,academy etc. But call a spade,a spade he is a bit overrated.

Kroos is class but it didn’t work out for him because basel wingers played very narrow today hence we had a lot of room on the wings but little in the middle,that’s why Lahm/Raf were always attacking. More wing means more crosses but to who? Gomez only. So add another striker sooner,not two minutes from time.

KINNY

Just to add, listen guys, first of all Kroos isn’t the typical no. 10. e.g Kaka,Pastore,Ozil,Mata,Silva etc, who look to take on their man.But he is creative,good movement and looks for the pass. We can all agree we dominate 95% of our games. But something still lacks in the final third, why not add another striker and play 4-4-2. Why not sub one mid for a striker, why does JH wait until its panic time. The longer we dominate but fail to score,the more the opponents confidence grows,the better they deal with the usually isolated Gomez. Yesterday,Olic had to come in earlier. Personally,the way we bossed the 2nd half, I didn’t see the need for Tymo. Or even Kroos.

Even when Olic leaves we get another CF,I can just see the same pattern.Barca/Madrid/ManU can seamlessly change formations,but you can predict bayern’s lineup for the next 4 games. I can see elements of LVG in terms of being stubborn. How many wanna bet we’ll play 4-5-1 at home yet we need @ least 3 goals because we cannot be too certain Basel won’t score. *Inter last season anyone*

BARON

“After playing against these overpaid prima donnas, I have decided to remain with Basel. Quite frankly, Bayern just sucks.”

- Xherdan Shaqiri.

BARON

@Vrdo4ever. Yeah, I noticed Der Keiser was missing right after the match. Probably too disgusted to look at this team anymore. Bayern loses in front of German football royalty: Beckenbauer, Brietner, Blended, and KHR

BARON

That should be Hoeness, not Blended. Never heard of him. :)

BABYBREY

@Kinny: I won’t agree with you that Boa played better than Bads. For a guy who consistently wanted to play CB, he’s playing like an RB. CBs are supposed to be focused on defending and not help with attacking at the expense of defending. Sure, as RB, he’d be expected to help with attack on the wings. But he’s playing as a CB now!!!

And in Phil’s defense, he may or may not have been in the locker room, but from what we can see, Bads was one of the few players who cared. And it’s not only in this match. When the team isn’t really attacking well (like in the Freiburg match), he at least tries to inject a bit of energy and creativity into the game.

Anyway, I’m seriously getting really pissed with JH. What happened to the freaking “rotation policy” he was talking about in the beginning of the season? We’re so predictable. Every team who plays against can have a good guess of our starting 11 and they’d be right. For us to be a really good team, we’d have to be unpredictable. If we had been using the rotation policy constantly in the BL, we’d have a lot more choices in this match. Maybe Kroos could have played in defensive midfield with Tymo? Maybe we could have played a 4-4-2 formation instead of forever sticking to the 4-2-3-1 formation? And what happened to the flexible attacking system that we saw in the 1st half of the season? The front 4 were all just sticking to their portion of the field. Where’s the creativity?

There was also no one who was leading on the field. How can a team win without someone leading them on the field? The team needs to feel someone’s presence leading them. That was Schweini before he was injured. He was like the boss on the field. Who’s taken over now?

I know some (maybe a lot) of you will hate me for saying this, but at the end of the game, I really didn’t get the feeling that the loss was a great deal to the players. It just felt like it was another game and oops, we lost the game. It felt like the players were just playing because they were paid to, not because they love football, or they love Bayern, or they hate losing, or they hate letting the supporters down. There’s not much motivation or hunger for the win.

The team better sort this out before the Schalke game. If we lose against Schalke, we’d be 4th in the league – the position where we’d have to go thru the CL qualifications, and I don’t think that’s where we want to be. Heck, I don’t think we want to be anywhere besides the top. So, we better buck up and play MUCH better against Schalke

VICTOR

we need a game-changer like Raul.

Raul – 35 years old – will run, pass an be involved in a Schalke goal most of the time. that’s what you call effective no. 10. Kroos is not yet Raul-like in effectiveness

RW911

I also agree with Kinny.

Muller/Olic as second CF instead of Kroos on CAM would have been much better.

Does anyone else think that goal was Rafinha’s fault?

Yes its good he made the runs and all but in the end he forgets that he is a part of the BACK four. His primary responsibility is to defend and especially when the opposition is closing in… you DO NOT desert the man you’re meant to mark!

RW911

All throughout the match I kept thinking .. WTF is Rafinha doing there, like, isn’t that Robben’s area.. et al.

And then bang, he does that even during defending… a bit too eager to run ahead, forgetting his role in the team.

SAMRIN

All I gotta say is we are a freaking disgrace of a European superpower right now. I will repeat what I said in the last post: Aha- I got no idea about what to say. Before the match, I predicted Basel 2-0 Bayern. To see Bayern actually lose this 1-0 is just killing me. We still didn’t lose badly enough so we got a chance at the Allianz but I see losing at the Allianz 0-1 and Basel takin this 2-0 an flying of to quarterfinals. We are going to lose to Schalke at the weekend, 1-2 and we are going to draw against Bayer Levs 1-1. On a positive note, introduction of Thomas helped us a lot. On the negative end, Gomez is just….ah well, might as well not say it. Jupp;s gotta change something.

And I will add something: Rummenigge’s comments today clearly told me that ‘Jupp- fix this or you are out of here’ I don’t blame Jupp. I blame the players and yes, yes, yes, I blame PHILLIP! What’s he doing?- he is the captain. If Van Bommel was there, Kroos and Robben would be getting earfuls on the pitch.

Man, after last season, I just did not want to see this.

RW911

@Samrin: Do you think Schweinsteiger would do better as a captain?

I certainly think so. He may not be as smart or mature as Lahm… but no point in looking like a gent when you can’t win a match!

BABYBREY

@RW911: before this season, I wouldn’t have agreed with you, but after seeing him this season, I’d have to say that on the pitch, he’d be the best choice for captain. He has indeed improved and matured a lot. But moe importantly, he’d be able to provide the much needed direction and leadership for the team

KINNY

@BabyBrey I just have to say that Boa has saved our asses in a big way recently. Forget this game,we could have lost the Freiburg match. Plus remember its not as if he has been consistently playing CB. Try switching Bads between LB/CB throughout the season..

If JH will stick to the 4-2-3-1 for every 90minutes,he might as well address the following

1. The attacking midfield trio need to get into the box much more often,to support Gomez. Ribery does this very well e.g. the goal vs Stuttgart, a couple of chances yesterday where he made good runs behind the defence. You will hardly see kroos/robben make runs behind the defence,they all want the ball at their feet,to try and pick out some ‘magic’ pass. Schweini/Muller are experts at this but one is injured and the other is off form/inconsistent.

2. Gomez must turn into a target man,whereby he can hold the ball long enough to allow for support to come.This is hard considering his average technique/control. I could go on, etc etc, but lets just wait for schalke and go on another rant.

Sorry if I have offended anyone BUT if I hear one more irrelevant comparison between Management and barcelona, well &%^@#$@#$$ them all.

BABYBREY

@Kinny: I admit Boa did save our asses many times, but I think Bads did pretty well too, and sometimes, people (not you) don’t seem to realise that. In your previous comment, you said that we always hear that other players’ form help Bads but not the other way around. It’s true, but I think this is partially because he was playing LB for approx 1 season and had a pretty serious injury before this too. Given this, and the fact that they’re of nearly the same age, it would also mean that Boateng has a slight advantage over Bads. You may disagree with what I just said, but I think you’ve got to agree that Bads has played some pretty good games this season.

But I agree on the 2nd part of your comment regarding the attack. Maybe the few of them need to go for some intensive lessons to learn how to shoot more accurately on target (and not waste the precious chances we have)

JULI

Yes I complete agree with you Kinny. The main reason of this poor attack it’s that we don’t have many players that can enter and move inside the box. In this moment it’s only gomez. Ribery has tried few times but Kross really it’s not a box player. For me it’s much better if kross plays in DM together with gustavo and Muller to be as a second striker. I know he is out of form but at least till Schweini can return. Surely we need more man in the box.

BABYBREY

Just in case JH needs any tips on giving good motivational speeches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSNraeXHb5M

BBLASTROID

FUCK that B grade for Rafinha. What a preposterous thing to do. Neuer also made two or three world class saves in the game, and you give him a C??? dude, i dont think were drunk… you were probably sky high on some fine mary jane

[probably my favorite comment of the bunch.]

BBLASTROID

these grades suck so much balls… even for a drunk guy

[a close second]

BBLASTROID

that goal.com article is spot on. rafinha is good enough for bl, but is out of place in the CL. so will Dante. we need Howedes or any other proven world class CB this summer and nothing else.

RW911

@Samrin – I hear ya … Oliver.. Der Titan, do i miss him or what!

DAN

Man no clue where to start, what a catastrophe.

The good: We showed more motivation and created tons of chances in front of goal.

The bad: EVERYTHING ELSE: no finishing, defensively this was a 3rd division side. Agree on Bads he was the only one who cared and Alaba was our best man of the night. The last 20 minutes they completely let up, I guess they had decided a 0-0 is fine. You can’t stop playing until the ref calls the game, otherwise we’ll get a goal or two even. What a wussy ass team, I thought when Robben came and chocked and bitched that he was going to be that man with the balls but he completely softened up. Robben dribbling anyone? I haven’t seen it last night. He never tried to dribble past anyone anymore, wtf man this guy is useless now, Kroos, don’t get me started on him. I would have taken out Kroos after 30 minutes of the game, he was non-existent. JH RAUS.

DAN

I’ll say this though: JH doesn’t know how to stop this free-fall. For 3 months we’ve sliding down first slowly before we recently hit the free fall. JH does not know how to stop this free fall and even before the Basel game he announced that he would not be changing tactics. That means he is going to continue holding on to this 4-2-3-1 until death do us part kind of thing. This man is old and blind, he will not change anymore. How does he not try out playing Olic and Gomez up front is beyond me. He needs to go quickly. I mean come on it’s not like all our players suddenly forgot how to play football, we don’t have a coach to prepare them strategically, change it up when need be, he has no plan B. The sooner he gets fired the sooner we can start turning around.

CHULLALOBO

Im salivating for Lucien Favre

GILLY

http://twelvepointsports.blogspot.com/2012/02/extra-time-cl-222.html