Stefan Effenberg wary of potential complacency at Bayern Munich, laments Manuel Neuer’s negligence

Stefan Effenberg there’s going to be quite the hangover present at Bayern Munich with all of the international players coming back to Saber Strasse on the heels of disappointment. The German contingent didn’t even make it out of the group stages for the second straight World Cup and the French contingent has the bitter taste of defeat in the final against Argentina still fresh in their mouths. Either way you slice it, Effenberg genuinely feels that Julian Nagelsmann has the difficult task of keeping morale high for the remainder of the season as Bayern pushes across all three fronts, without both Lucas Hernandez and Manuel Neuer.

“Almost all the players come back from Qatar disappointed: the Germans anyway, but also the French, who tragically lost the final. All of this will remain in the clothes for a long time. Julian Nagelsmann will need a lot of tact to get the players back on track. A Herculean task that should not be underestimated,” Effenberg wrote in a recent column for t-online (via Sport1).

The disappointment of the German national team could certianly affect Bayern since they’re always the most heavily represented club for Die Mannschaft, but it’s never prevented Bayern from at least clinching the Bundesliga title. Failures at World Cup 2018 and Euro 2020 didn’t stop them from collecting silverware, though the Meisterschale is the bare minimum requirement for the Rekordmeister.

Effenberg also wrote that he felt it was a little bit negligent of Manuel Neuer to choose to part-take in a high risk activity like skiing while he was on holiday after the World Cup in Qatar. He feels that the keeper put the team in jeopardy and now they face the difficult prospect of finding a replacement keeper. “Neuer’s failure is a huge construction site that they have to close. He negligently jeopardized FC Bayern’s goals,” Effenberg stressed.

With the task of finding a long-term replacement that the club also prefers to be a German speaker, Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic now face what Effenberg referred to as “no less than the greatest challenge since they have been in office,” for which he very well might have a valid point. Of course, navigating through COVID-related financial losses was an incredibly tall task in of itself, but replacing Neuer as Bayern pushes across three fronts isn’t something to be taken lightly.

Without their star keeper, Effenberg could very well see this directly benefitting Bayern’s Bundesliga rivals. “[SC] Freiburg and [Eintracht] Frankfurt are not without a chance either. Leipzig is only six points behind and welcomes Bayern directly in the first game at home. With a win, they could make the fight for the German championship really exciting,” he said, acknowledging the fact that Bayern losing both Neuer and Hernandez will help their opponents.