Magath: We're going through a difficult phase

FCBayernNews · News fetcher Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 1361 votes: 2

09.11.2006

Uli Hoeneß has just occasionally been known to react with displeasure after a poor Bayern performance, but it was with a broad smile across his face that the board director bade farewell to a crowd of waiting reporters in the Allianz Arena mixed zone a good half hour after the final whistle against Hanover 96. "A very good evening to you, gentlemen," the general manager beamed. Nevertheless, it did not require psychic powers to know Hoeneß was masking at least a hint of smouldering rage.

He had just watched Bayern lose 1-0 to the Bundesliga's bottom club. It was the Reds' first home defeat of term but their fourth in total after only 11 games, a meagre return last witnessed in 1974-5. Furthermore, Munich strode to the title on the back of just three defeats in the whole of last season, conferring almost historical dimensions on Wednesday's match , especially as the visitors won in the Bavarian capital for the first time in 18 attempts. And in all truth, they deserved to.

Magath identifies weakness

Whereas Hoeneß chose to keep his lips more or less sealed, Felix Magath faced the press at length a little later on, although he was at a loss to explain his side's dismal showing. "We're going through a difficult phase with very poor results in the league," the Bayern coach freely admitted, although he avoided describing the situation as a crisis. "But make no mistake, that was a bad defeat," he accepted.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect was a recurrence of a problem which has afflicted the team since August. "We're having trouble against well-organised opponents. We don't have enough creative firepower," Magath reasoned. His side looked entirely devoid of ideas in the first half, and the situation only improved marginally after the interval. "We applied pressure, but we failed to create any clear-cut chances. We got as far as the penalty area, but no further," the coach remarked.

Van Buyten's harsh words

That was not entirely the fault of flu victims Claudio Pizarro and Roy Makaay, both only cleared to play a few hours before kick-off. "You'll occasionally lose a match on an off day or because you have to field ill players. But basically, every player has to be prepared to give his best. That wasn't the case today," Daniel van Buyten fumed. "You won't win if you don't run."

Fellow centre-half Martin Demichelis carelessly lost possession on 43 minutes, allowing Jiri Stajner to feed Szablocs Hustzi for the only goal of the game. "Hanover looked fresher, we weren't dynamic enough," Magath lamented, with an outbreak of imprecise passing compounding the problem. "Our passes never arrived. They were either a yard short or a yard long," Mark van Bommel reflected.

Van Bommel hopes for winning streak

Magath chose to spare his players a tongue-lashing. "Obviously I'm disappointed with the result, but not with my team," he insisted, echoing captain Oliver Kahn's call for the squad "to pull even closer together and help each other." Bayern face a tough test against resurgent Leverkusen at the BayArena on Saturday, "and that's where we need to set off on a run," Van Bommel declared.

The risk is that the gap to leaders Werder Bremen could rapidly become a yawning chasm. "Six points is already a lot," the coach warned, "but we have only ourselves to blame for having to make up so much ground."