Champions League

A DECENT WIN !

1 striker is not enough against Ultra defensive teams....
When we switched to 4-4-2 that was the solution of getting
better chances on goal... It is a more direct and more natural style to use
against every ultra-defensive team that defends with nine players or more !

A Top Supreme Goal by Thomas Muller that is unforgettable.

A good statistic in this game is the 87% accuracy of passes completed without that you cannot kep possession.

3 unsung (unoticed) heros in this match that did lots of work in the backgroun are: Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Van Bommel

A truly great effort from the team especially in the first half.

- Sari 11

ksparx : I am talking about generally. Even Van Gaal did critize Kroos's movement etc, but he is great in freekicks and corners and possibilly some mid-range shots. Unforunately, he needs to be more active in terms of passing the final touch of the ball as well as his movement without the ball

van Gaal only said that about Kroos to push him forward to make a better effort on the field, as he did in the second half against Roma. Even the German media said the same thing about van Gaal critizising Kroos. I see a better player in Kroos than you do, so we have very different opinions. He needs time do integrate with the team and he will become a key player for us in the future.

One thing that Kroos needs to learn is to improve his movement even when he doesnt have the ball around him. In addition, he needs the courage to take on defenders; otherwise, he will never become a worldclass attacking midfielder or playmaker

We are talking about a 20 year old player, he still has a lot of time to develop. And unlike Müller he still needs to integrate in the team and learn our gamestyle. Let's talk about Kroos again in the winter when he has had a few more games in our team/system.

Look at his performance against Koln. Another awful performance. I am not saying that we should sell Kroos, but he is defintely a substitute for now as he doesnt have the movement to dribble pass any defender (even mid-table Bundesilga defenders)

The Problem is not in Kroos !
Although I admit that he is playing far below his potential

The Problem my Friends is: PREDICTABILTY **!

And I will tell you the whole story why:
===========================
* Bayern plays very good possession football.
Then operates down the flanks and gives the ball to either
Robben or Ribery.... In hope that one of them breaks free
and creates danger in the final thrid or takes a shot(in the case of Robben)

So far so good, and hope that you are all still concentrating with me!!

For the above plan to work it requiers 3 elements:
- Very accurate passing (which we had against Roma for example)
- Blistering speed to take the opposition by surprise and change the tempo of the game
- And finally very very good fitness... because the above plan is about covering lots of territory by constantly moving to make yourself available and open for a teammate to pass you the ball....

Hence if Ribery and Robben OR if one of them is not fit then the plan is very hard to execute and get the good results that it aims for....

Ribery and Robben are injured most of the time....
Last year Robben had an exceptional year...

So from here on, it is for you to judge if this plan is the best fit to play...
OR the alternative simple 4-4-2 with Direct Passing towards goal...

???

For everyone's info... The team under Hitzfeld (2008) played much more sound and better football than the team under VG (2010) of last year...
The statistics are there....
All you have to do is look closely at them !

- Sari

bbjtin

Yeah like anyone else played a good game. Unbelievable! But let's bash on Kroos for this one.. dear god 8-)

I think Hitzfeld is definitely a much better tactican than Van Gaal. Van Gaal used the same team and same strategy for every opponent. Thats the problem b/c after a while, it becomes too predictable and if opponents are discipline enough to stick 9 men at the back, we wont be able to break through, unless they either make an obvious mistake or if Robben or Mueller has a wondergoal.

Nicely said >>BBJTIN<<

VG has used the same strategy for every opponent and that's absolutely wrong in my opinion.... You adapt your strategy to the team that you are playing.... instead of just thinking you are unbeatable, no one can get you, and you play the same way everytime no matter the opponent !!!
That's absurd in my philosophy....

Either is Van Gaal very lazy or he just very empty in tactic, so that he doesnt know how to change it

My thoughts are that if you are good enough to stamp your style of play & dictate the pace of the game to suit you then why adapt. You may only need to adapt against certain teams depending on their style and our style.

I don't mind our style of play at the moment. It told against Roma, certainly in the second half when we just wore them down. Possesion football is what we play and I for one like it and do feel we are doing ok.

indeed our play really changed with van gaal, and it really is more spectacular and more productive, but we have 2 main problems this season: defense, and the last pass in the 16 meters field. we hold the ball very well, we pass very well but when it comes to play the striker, something doesn't "click".

Agreed.

My concern after that of our defensive capabilities which everyone around the world knows about, is that we do not have an out an out striker, one that can link the play up and score goals and have that presance that demands respect from our opponents. If we were to gain that, we would almost have the finished article once our defensive issues can be remedied.

Having to play a ball possession football, this is the worst combination, because if we are able to score many goals like Barcelona, we wouldnt mind if opponents turn one or two of those counter attacks into goals. Or if we are stable enough at the back, we know that we will eventually wear down the opponents and will be able to score 1-2 goals in late stage within the match.

However, seems like we are unable to convert chances and holding the back at the same time constantly throughout matches

Why compare us to Barca ??

I think far too many watch this and witness breath taking football that everyone aspires to and wants their team to play but the bottom line is, not every team will have the players to allow them to do that. Barca have a special, gifted team that has all arrived at the right time, mainly from their youth team.

We are Bayern, we are German not Spanish and have never ever played football like Barca. We play good possesion football & always have. The main change now is that we were always very strong defensively and at the moment we are not. We have adapted our style from our old 4-1-2-1-2 formation to suit what we have in Robbery, specifically.

If you compare us directly to anyone else in Europe, are we really any worse ??

Man U have their problems, Real are not a cohesive unit, Inter have lost it, even Barca aren't at their best just now and could easilly pick holes in their tactics, set up, style from time to time. The team at the moment that I'm keeping a close eye on is Chelsea but they have still to come up against a stiff opponent.

We need a couple of additions to our team for depth and first team strength at CB & striker but our tactics are fine. A little fine tuning in defense and we should be far more dificult to score against.

I am not comparing ourselves with Barcelona, but because Van Gaal is trying to play a ball possession game which is not suitable to Bayern Munich. In the past 3 decades, we have never played in this style. Thats why unless we play like Barcelona, otherwise this strategy wont work on us

It's not the same team as we've had over the last three decades either, it's worlds a part. We play a style which to me suits our game play & players at the moment and do a decent job, mainly when we have a fit sqaud.

In my opinion our problems are :

Defense as a unit - don't work together, become isolated easilly

Striker : No out and out striker to get a large number of goals and be able to link up with our midfield & wingers. Gomez is dreadful with the ball at his feet.

Depth of squad : to really push for the CL title and BL, we need a deeper squad and a couple of top class additions, one Cb & one striker at least. We hurt when Ribery & Robben are out due to this.

I think some of our current players definitely over-rated like Van Bommel, Van Buyten, Contento and even so extent, Badstuber, etc

My line-up for our tough AWAY fixture on Tuesday!

Butt

Lahm Micho Badstuber Alaba

Schweini

Mueller Altintop
Van Bommel(C)

Olic Gomez