Magath says Podolski, Makaay too passive up front

MUTU

BERLIN, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath has criticised his strikers Lukas Podolski and Roy Makaay for playing too passively after the German champions' defeat by lowly VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

"It's become clear what's not working for us this season. Our attack lacks the ability to assert itself," Magath said in an interview published on Wednesday. "It needs to show more class and just simply score more goals," he told Sport Bild.

Bayern have scored only seven goals in their six matches and were humiliated by Wolfsburg 1-0. It was Wolfsburg's first win of the season and lifted them off the bottom of the table.

With three wins in their six matches, Bayern are in fourth place with 10 points. Last season, they had a perfect 18 points from their first six Bundesliga matches.

Magath said Bayern, who acquired Germany striker Podolski from Cologne in the off-season, have top attacking talent but match statistics show only Peru striker Claudio Pizarro has gone into and won a sufficient number of duels with opponents.

"Pizarro has many times more duels than Roy or Poldi," Magath said, adding he planned special training measures for Makaay and Podolski to increase their aggressiveness.

Mirage

Thats not very fair. I know Roy and Poldi aren't scoring much but Poldi doesnt exactly get much playtime these days does he. When he does, its 15 minutes and he'd be doing great if he could score a goal in that time.
More training sessions sound a good idea but they're not passive upfront. Maybe not AGGRESSIVE either but I don't think its in a striker to be passive Razz

And we weren't humiliated. We lost is all.
Argh Magath.

MUTU

I think it's true though... Pizarro is the one who tries hardest to get the ball and try to tackle opponents to take their ball.

I'd play Pizarro and Podolski for now.

podolski4life

Ai, they overdid this a bit. Poldi attacks right when he comes off the bench. The problem is that the chances go wide. I agree with the Makaay thing though. He's seems to have lost the spark.

Mirage

It's weird with Makaay suddenly losing form because didnt he score two goals right at the start of the season? I thought he was in for a good season.

Marko

Felix is good manager,he knows the best and I trust him,don't you guys?

bogdan

kevh26

Mirage

kevh26

magath does appear to be great at bringing young players into teams, he is the reason Lahm's where he is!