Zenit St. Petersburg vs. FC Bayern Munchen

Bayernbazi

The more I try to dismiss this game the worse I feel about how the way the team allowed itself to get humilated.

Reading the same article quoted earlier didn't make me feel any better. For instance it mentions that;

Munich fell to opponents for whom everything went right on the night.

Wasn't this thanks to Bayern ? It all started with the own goal at home and it continued with giving them that freekick within 4 mins into the game and then getting the goal. Form there on we were in the russian's bag

The thing is that the management seems to be missing the whole point and putting the blame solely on tiredness. The same article states that;

" Fifty games so far this term also visibly took its toll on the visitors. “We’ve been playing three times a week for months, and our opponents were simply in great shape today, fresher and fitter, whereas we were running on empty,” Rummenigge said sympathetically. “We couldn’t expect the team to produce another escape act like we did in Getafe or in the Cup final against Dortmund. We needed to take the lead or equalise quickly,” mused manager Uli Hoeneß, “we ran out of strength, especially mentally.“

...What will happen when go one gear up in Champions League ?

And what's worst it seems that after we spent a whole season pretending that we are the rightful UEFA cup winners, now we are beginning to hear that 'we belong in the CL' as if it isn't a team which makes itself worthy of CL successful participation.

With this arrogant reasoning, I hope that I'm wrong but I'm afraid next season we are in for a another couple of some other beatings as it continues like this;

So where do Bayern stand after last summer’s spending spree and team rebuilding? .............................

The question will probably not be answered until Bayern return to the Champions League next season, “where we really belong,” argued Hoeneß. Next season, Munich will certainly not be favourites before every game they play. “We’ve spent the season talking up the UEFA Cup, but it’s not an easy competition for Bayern,” said Kahn, “this team has bags of potential and will have learned a lot this term. The Champions League next season will indicate where we stand in Europe.“

FCBinNYC · I'm a chatterbox! Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 votes: 4

Although I don't think tiredness is a good excuse to lose the game as badly as we did, I would say that it's a definite factor. You have to remember that there are 2 more games in the UEFA Cup than CL, and also we have a team right now that above all lacks experience playing this number of games this season. I look at the starting lineup, I see Toni, Klose, Ribery, and Jansen, all players who have had only domestic football or short European runs in their careers so far. I would think that stepping it up to winning the cup and making an European semi takes some getting used to. Again, not an excuse to be humiliated, but a factor. Hopefully the team will have learned to cope with it so that we can make something awesome happen next season.

elcalifornio · Woah, this feels cool! Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 71

Teams in the Epl play more games than Bayern by a long stretch and they don't blame anything on being tired. Sorry excuse sorry peformance. The needs to make changes.

FCBinNYC · I'm a chatterbox! Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 317 votes: 4

Good point, but you know they would if they lost to a summer league team like Zenit. And I'm sure those summer league teams blame their typically early Champions League exits on being tired since their seasons are almost over if not completely done during the group stage. It's a factor. But again, not a good excuse.

elcalifornio · Woah, this feels cool! Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 71

A "revolution" as it was termed last year takes more than a summer in football, and it should continue this summer. The notion that we don't need to spend big again is naive. We have many places for improvement to compete in europe.

Jorge

If the excuse is that Bayern was tired then it proves my point. Early in the season I posted here that sticking with the same line-up game after game was going to get Bayern into trouble. I stated that discussing Podolski's situation but I shaded some light on how it was a Hitzfeld problem.

If you do not rotate the players:

1. They get tired playing 3 games per week;
(If you rotate the players they don't play 3 games per week)

2. Substitutes if always used at the 80th minute will never get into the dynamics of the team, so the day they are obligated to be starters they underperform.

3. "Untouchable starters" lose commitment: Competition should drive commitment to the higher level, if you know nobody can challenge your spot you lose the extra incentive.

4. Same formation game after game makes a team predictable. I actually believe this was Bayern's main problem: Both Getafe and Zenit had Bayern figured out all the way and Bayern could do little as they lacked a plan B or C.

On a separate note Hitzfeld success in the current season domestically has not been the performance of the team, it has been the individualities of Luca Toni and Ribery

Also, I fully agree that the EPL play more games as they have 4 more league games each year. (20 teams in EPL versus 18 teams in DBL). The Bundesliga even has a winter break and the EPL does not.

As I said before Bayern has big problems on the defensive midfield area and Central defense, it might be sufficient for the Bundesliga, it is not enough for European Competitions.

If Bayern wants to go back to the elite of the CL they need to change a lot for next season, more than saying that the UEFA Cup was not their playground or that they were tired.

mackoy

Jorge

Yes I wish all these presidential candidates in the USA listen to me Wink

But it is so true: even Carsten Jancker would have been a real striker if he would have had a decent striker competing for his spot. Razz