'We were clearly second best against Bremen'

FCBayernNews · News fetcher Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 1240 votes: 2

22.10.2006

Saturday's reverse in Bremen sealed Bayern's worst start to a domestic season in 13 years. Munich have won only four of their first eight league fixtures, and the 3-1 defeat at the weekend was their third of the campaign, equalling the number of defeats in the whole of last season. "But that's not what bothers me," coach Felix Magath insisted. "What really troubles me is the way we started yesterday. I still haven't got over that."

"We simply didn't turn up for the first 20 minutes," Philipp Lahm acknowledged, as Bremen controlled the play at will and ran up a two-goal advantage through Diego (11) and Pierre Womé (34), although Magath complained that the free-kick leading to the Cameroon star's strike should never have been given. "But in any case, Bremen earned the points in the first 20 or 30 minutes," the Munich supremo conceded.

Makaay's milestone counts for nothing

Roy Makaay enjoyed the honour of scoring Bayern's goal number 3,000 in their Bundesliga history after 37 minutes, "and we had the better of the chances after that," the coach remarked. However, Lucio's 62nd minute own-goal effectively sealed the outcome. "We were clearly second best to Bremen, especially at the start," Magath ruminated. "Overall, we never approached the standard you need for a big game like that."

Magath was left shaking his head when asked to explain his side's third away defeat on the bounce, each of them coming directly after impressive wins in the Champions League. "We should have been given a boost by the midweek victory in Lisbon," the boss reflected. Furthermore, he would not allow the punishing European clash to be used as an excuse, as Bremen also completed a tough Champions League fixture last Wednesday.

All to play for

Tellingly, the Bavarians won only 45 percent of their tackles at the Weser stadium, "and the statistics are rarely so cut and dried," the coach observed. Bremen also made much more of the chances which came their way, as centre-half Daniel van Buyten accepted: "We just stood and watched too often, we were too static, and we weren't organised."

The result means Bayern fail in their bid to go top of the standings, "but nothing's decided yet," Magath observed, with Bremen still only three points clear. "We're still right in there, but we can't make any more mistakes," Mark van Bommel warned, while Magath set his team a challenging target: "We can't afford any more away defeats in the Bundesliga."

Time to move on

The fixture schedule means the Reds have three consecutive home matches to work on their problems. Second division Kaiserslautern visit the Allianz Arena in the German Cup on Wednesday, followed by home meetings with Eintracht Frankfurt and the return against Sporting Lisbon. "Wednesday offers an excellent chance for a win," Lukas Podolski observed. "We just have to move on. You'll always get days when nothing goes right."

Incidentally, Bayern fans can take heart from the situation 13 years ago and the start of the 1993-4 campaign, when Germany's leading club only managed three victories from their first eight matches. The men from Munich still went on to claim the championship shield in May.