Bayern Munich 2012- CL, Bundesliga, German Cup

Although 2012 transfers havent completed yet, Bayern has already signed Starke, Dante, Shaqiri, Weiser, Pizzaro, Mandzukic and promoted Can and Weihrauch. Hoeness and Nerlinger obviously have seen that Bayern has been lack of depth for some time especially at the end of last season with loads of medicore players like Usami, Pranjic, Petersen, etc that Heynckes never used throughout the season.

With already 6 new signings and 2 promotion, Bayern looks better in terms of quantity. However, I still doubt the quality of the signings. With all these signings, we still havent addressed our defensive weakness and lack of Plan B in attack. With all the new signings and promotions, I doubt Starke, Weiser, Can and Weihrauch will be given too many opportunities to play. Dante's match time will be limited even if he could be a better fit as Heynckes will still give Badstuber the starting berth even though he sometimes has a horrible showing against European giants and Dortmund. Shaqiri will be long term player for us as he will be backup for Robben or Mueller. Pizzaro and Mandzukic probably wont challenge Gomez's starting position as both players are relatively medicore at current age.

Since we have completed most of our signings already, let me give my views on every Bayern player.
Neuer: One of the best goalkeepers in the world and have no problem for him to be No.1 player at Bayern.
Starke and Raeder: Wont be given much time to play except some early rounds' German Cup matches.
Lahm: Captain of the team. For me, he has to play on the right side as he has proven again and again that he is a liability in defence when he plays on the left. In the past few seasons, he and Schweinsteiger are the best "nearly" man. They can get to final but lacks the winning menality to lead the team onto glory.
Rafinha: Was one of the best right defenders in Bundesilga, but now am fading after transferred to Genoa
Boateng: Probably has one of the best techniques among Bayern's defender but lacks concentration once in a while and could make silly mistakes like handball within penalty box and red card
Badstuber: Stable and hard working defender but lacks speed and techniques to tackle opponents 1 on 1 situation. Saw improvement last season but lack again in crucial moments
Van Buyten: Loyal defender with the best chance to score from corner among Bayern's defenders. Aging and lack of speed will see his showings limited this season
Dante: Reliable defender but nothing spectular about him
Alaba: First choice left defender and was the surprising package of last season, esp in the 2nd half. Great combination with Ribery but need to refine his defensive techniques
Contento: Backup left defender. Has potential but under-developed in the past few seasons due to lack of match practice
Schweinsteiger: Key player for Bayern's central midfield. Lack of inspiration during crucial moments and lack of defensive awareness have cost him to be one of the best central midfielders in the world.
Gustavo: Integrated well esp in 2nd half last season. However, he is not yet a worldclass central midfielder yet due to his final passes and lack of going forward.
Tymoshchuk: Past his prime and would be a limited figure for Bayern this term
Ribery: Probably the best Bayern player last season and will remain a key role this season. Last season also sees improvement in scoring beside assisting
Robben: Not his best season but when he is at his best, he is the best left winger beside Messi.
Mueller: Hard worker but his scoring seems to decline due to form and position. Beside, he is not suitable for possession football. He is much better at counter attacking team where his speed can be used.
Kroos: Seen great improvement last season; however, lack of dribble skills and lack of killer passes in the middle will limit his career achievement. Luckily, he is still young and hopefully can improve
Shaqiri: Great potential but not sure if he can live up to the bill.
Weiser, Can, and Weihrauch: Talented players but wont offer many match times
Gomez: Best scoring striker beside Ronaldo and Messi. However, he often disappeared during crucial matches, like Schweinsteiger. He is completely useless outside the box and need plenty of chances to open up score. In addition, also a poor header
Pizzaro: Improved as he aged. However, his age and injuries will limit his play time at Bayern
Mandzukic: 2nd choice striker. His control of the ball, header and passes are better than Gomez, but not going to be a high profile striker.

With Sammer appointed as director of sports, I hope he can do two things at Bayern. 1). Develope true home growth talent players like he did for DFB. 2). Convince big quality name players to join Bayern Munich like we did before.

Although we have made 6 new signings and 3 new promotions, I havent seen a single quality signing yet and we have already spent 30mil Euros. I think we do have the budget to spend another 30-40mil Euros. I would want us to spend it on a true big player who can challenge a starting spot and increase quality instead of quantity. I am tired of seeing players like Breno, Sosa, Schlaudraff, Usami, Petersen, Pranjic, etc etc come and go every other season

Even with the addition of Martinez, I dont think our squad is complete yet. I am still not very comfortable with Badstuber during big matches and Schweinsteiger and Gomez tends to underperform in big stages too.

We have already started our pre-season training although many of our regular players arent back from vacation yet. As many would know, we havent completed our transfer activities yet. I hope we could still pull out at least one or more quality signings as so far, most of the signings are only improving the quantity instead of the quality. I doubt any newcomer can challenge our 2011 starting line up.

After spending 30mil Euros at 6 new players this summer, we should still have around 30-50mil Euros to spend as Hoeness has promised to spend our Champion League profit of 60mil Euros in improving the squad. Is clear to public that Bayern is interested in Martinez, but we are probably unwilling to match the release clause of 40mil Euros. If we are settled with 30mil Euros and spend another 20mil Euros on Van Persie, we will have a perfect squad to challenge Champion League and Bundesilga next season

Hopefully, we have at least one more signing(s) before the start of our competitive campaign in August 20th. Bild.de has released Sammer's next signing idea to be either Martinez, M'Vila, Marchisio or Melo. I hope it will be either Martinez or Marchisio as M'Vila has shown his lack of maturity and class during Euro12 and Melo has obviously shown downhill after his departure from Juventus with lack of discipline.

Yes with the current signings, I am not optimistic that Bayern will have a chance at Dortmund or moreover the major elite clubs in Europe. Bayern seriously need to get his acts together and sign 1-2 real quality players who can compete to play in the first 11 squad instead of players like Usami, Petersen last season which they would have no chance to play in the first team squad anyways.

Today, even Sammer admits that we need that extra percentage to win titles, especially Champion League title. We are still lacking that aspects even with the current new signings. Therefore, I will suggest two players for Bayern even both players arent linked with Bayern in the past. Ibrahimovic and De Rossi.

Why Ibrahimovic and De Rossi? Both players are still very worldclass players and has shown during the Euro12 tournament. Both players arent going to be that expensive (prob around 20mil Euros each) as Martinez (40mil Euros release clause). Both players will add the little something for Bayern and is what we have been missing to win titles, although Ibrahimovic is likely to join PSG anytime soon.

Ibrahimovic definitely has winning menality as he has won domestic titles for Inter, Juve, AC Milan, and Barcelona over the past 5-6 seasons. He still has the ability to determine a match by himself. Although many has critized his work rate during matches, his scoring and assist records have shown that he is a worldclass player. He has what Gomez is missing- able to hold ball up field and great heading ability. He is a weapon to play behind Gomez and attract at least two defenders on him and that would leave Gomez with space in which will help Gomez to score more goals.

De Rossi is the perfect player for us, not because he is a perfect player, but his defensive ability (esp playing as a sweeper against Spain) has demostrated that he is the player that is missing here. The current squad isnt good at defending and we have only Plan A. One can tell from our leading score in the final of last season's Champion League. If we tried to defend, we will normally let our opponent to score because we dont have the quality in defending. Our defending strategy is to control the ball and make sure that opponents dont have enough players up field so that our defenders can contain them. If our opponents are full on against us, our defenders have no chance to defend. De Rossi will increase our stability in defence and also his long passes are second to none, except Alonso and probably Pirlo. Finally, his character is what lacking in Bayern too. His aggressiveness in midfield and his leadership will add value to this current squad.

GO for Ibrahimovic and De Rossi. If we are able to complete both signings, I think Bayern can win the treple this season

Although Heynckes didnt admit defeat in luring Martinez away, it seems like Bayern is having a Plan B by trying to get the cheaper alternative, Bender from Leverkusen. Bender isnt a bad player and could play as either right defender or central midfielder (more defensive role). However, I really want Bayern to sign a player who can challenge Schweinsteiger or Gustavo's starting spot instead of another backup player like the 6 new players that we have signed.

I think if we are willing to spend 20-25mil Euros at the minimum on Martinez, why dont we try De Rossi? He has been superb defensively for Italy and Roma over the past decade and his long range passes are second to only Pirlo in Italy. He has the aggressiveness and the winning menality that we lack at the moment. De Rossi probably will be sold for less than Martinez.

Bender is not even bad enough, Bayern is now interested in N de Jong who doesnt even guarantee a squad spot at Man City.

The problem is that even Bender wants to stay put at Leverkusen. I really dont want us to waste another 10mil Euros to sign De Jong who would be behind Gustavo. I seriously think that Bayern should either go for Martinez or De Rossi for central defensive midfielder or none. Or Bayern could sign Van Persie for 20mil Euros to play behind Gomez.

Look like Bayern will start 2012/2013 season with the current squad with the possible addition of either Martinez or Bender if transer price is allowed. Otherwise, we will challenge three fronts with current squad.

I doubt we would win the treple. Hopefully, we could win at least one title and I hope that is Champion League title because we havent won it for at least 12 seasons now.

Completely correct! Bayern has comfortably won both of our matches in China, although our second win against a more competitive Wolfsburg team gave us something to think about.

Our attack looks better than last season with the introduction of Mandzukic and Shaqiri. In addition, Robben looks more lively than the previous season. However, our defensive organization once again let us down.

From the friendlies that we have played against, Dante didnt show much promise. Unforunately, Van Buyten is the best central defender among all, but his age and injuries will let him down throughout the entire season. Boateng again made several mistakes by not man marking Wolfsburg's strikers- 1). saved by Van Buyten; 2). conceded a goal. With the level that he is playing at (very inconsistent), Bayern will not win tournament title, but could win Bundesilga. Badstuber shows a bit more maturity compared to previous seasons; however, as we all know, his weakness in 1on1 situation and his lack of speed will punish against an attacking side like Barcelona.

I think we should rather sign another central defender than either Bender or Martinez in central midfield. For me, I wouldnt sign Bender. Martinez is a good option as he can play as central defender as well. De Rossi would be another good option as i have mentioned many many times. He has the ability to play both positions and has the character that we lack of.

I saw the above post of "Who will be the best player for Bayern Munich in 2012/2013"? Personally, I think it could be Alba or Neuer.