Carlo Ancelotti completely wasted Bayern Munich’s 2016-17 season

When one is named as the head coach at Bayern Munich, there is a small list of expectations that one must meet on the field. Looking at the list of expected accomplishments, you can see why the 2016-17 season was shaping up to be a great one for Bayern and new coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Mats Hummels and Renato Sanches were joining the club on summer transfers. Plus, the younger trio of Kingsley Coman, Douglas Costa, and Joshua Kimmich were coming off of brilliant first seasons in Munich. They sky was the limit.

Another triple was clearly within reach.

We know that Bayern has the following standard every season: 1) win the Bundesliga, 2) win or at least make the final of the DFB Pokal, and 3) push for the UEFA Champions League.

If you win the triple, supporters will excuse basically anything that you did wrong throughout the season. If you win the domestic double, supporters will excuse many things you did wrong throughout the season. If you do less than that as Bayern’s coach, you have questions to answer.

Now, as April comes to an end, it’s clear that Bayern will at best only win the Bundesliga. While winning the league is always a praiseworthy accomplishment, there are very clearly issues to discuss. As the Rückrunde kicked off in January, there were five marks that Ancelotti needed to hit as the season wound to a close.

Win the Bundesliga

Bayern are well on their way to accomplishing this feat, and could in fact win it this weekend. If Bayern beat Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig don't beat Ingolstadt, the Bavarians will win their fifth straight Bundesliga title, which is an incredible accomplishment.

However, it would be absurd to count this as a “sure thing” at this point. Bayern’s record in all competitions since April 1 is as follows: Win, Loss, Win, Loss, Draw, Loss, Draw, Loss. THIS IS NOT GOOD.

A failure to take all three points this weekend in Wolfsburg could really allow some doubt to creep into the minds of Bayern’s players.

Win the DFB Pokal

There’s no shame in losing to a club with the quality that Borussia Dortmund boasts. The loss -- even at home — isn’t the issue here. It was the way that it happened. Several missed “easy” chances and falling asleep defensively on multiple occasions will always come back to haunt you.

However, why didn’t the coach set the team up to succeed?

Why weren’t the older players or the players that had played extensive minutes during the season given a rest last weekend against Mainz? It’s a question that should haunt Ancelotti all summer long.

Win the UEFA Champions League

Look, we know that Bayern were the victims of some of the worst officiating that the UEFA Champions League has ever seen. When you’re going up against a team with arguably the second best player ever (Messi > Ronaldo), you don’t need to have to be fighting against three extra people, too.

Continue to develop young players for the future

There’s absolutely no question that this category has been a complete and utter failure. It’s also led directly to some of Bayern’s failure to win in April. Ancelotti’s refusal to regularly rotate in players like Juan Bernat, Kingsley Coman, Douglas Costa, Joshua Kimmich, and Renato Sanches has led to not only their own stagnation and lack of form, but Bayern’s aging wingers, midfielders, and fullbacks have barely had any rest throughout the season.

Now, not only are Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso retiring while Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery are a year older, but their expected future replacements didn’t receive a decent opportunity to continue to develop during the season.

Send Philipp Lahm (and Xabi Alonso) out in a blaze of glory

There’s still hope for this, even though it won’t be as glorious as it could’ve been sending the two legends out with a historic triple. Still, the Bundesliga trophy is a lavish award to win to complete your professional career.

Let’s hope May is better than April.