Posts by bbjtin

After capturing Lewandowski and Rode at the free transfer market, Bayern is likely to dominate Bundesilga for the years to come even if Kroos decide to leave this summer or next summer. Both Pizzaro and Van Buyten are also due this summer and I assume both players wont be given a contract extension.

Without spending a dollar in the transfer market so far, Bayern can definitely spend 40-50mil Euros every summer without selling any of our key players. But the question is will they spend any? As Hoeness has stated Bayern is not a selling club, so I would assume that we dont need further re-enforcement in both goalkeeper and striker/forward position.

in defence, with Badstuber due to back from injury next season, we might need to sign either an experienced worldclass central defender or a young talented one for backup. Or, we might need someone to cover up for Rafinha if Lahm remains playing as sole defensive midfielder.

In midfield, with aging and injury pron Ribery and Robben, we might need one young classy winger to back them up as Muller isnt the same type of player; Gotze's favor position is behind the striker; and Shaqiri showed lots of talent but unable to match either Ribery or Robben in terms of goals and assists .

What I would do is to try to extend Kroos' contract and let go of both Pizzaro and Van Buyten. Sign Ginter (10mil Euros) and Draxler (45mil Euros).

Apparently, with Van Buyten very likely to leave Bayern this summer, Bayern is lining up a bid for T.Silva who is regarded by many as the best central defender in the world right now. It is very likely that Bayern will sign Lewandowski for free. On top of that, Bayern will spend some capital on additional players and hopefully, they are worldclass players like T. Silva which can force himself into the first eleven instead of bench players...

I think Lahm will return to right defender position when other players return. However, i think Lahm is doing a good job as defensive midfielder/holding midfielder in Pep's new formation. As Lahm gets older, I think there is a possibility that he will resume this role as his speed will start declining in about 2 years time. Furthermore, i agree that Rafinha isnt a long term solution as right defender although he did decent against most of the Bundesilga teams... but he isnt up for the big stage in Champion League.

With both Schopf and Green promoting to the first team next season, I could imagine Robben might not get an extension after 2015 or being sold in 2014. Hopefully, we could extend his contract to 2016/2017 like Ribery. On the other hand, personally, I think there is a possibility that Schweinsteiger could end his Bayern career sooner rather than later. With his personal injury mounting, it is quite likely that he could retire before 32 years old. If thats the case, it could be a sad news; whereas, Lahm is still going from strength to strength.

With both Schopf and Green promoting to the first team next season, I could imagine Robben might not get an extension after 2015 or being sold in 2014. Hopefully, we could extend his contract to 2016/2017 like Ribery. On the other hand, personally, I think there is a possibility that Schweinsteiger could end his Bayern career sooner rather than later. With his personal injury mounting, it is quite likely that he could retire before 32 years old. If thats the case, it could be a sad news; whereas, Lahm is still going from strength to strength.

Viktoria Plzeň played better at home than at away, thats for sure. But Bayern's form has already dipped a bit after narrowly won against Hertha Berlin, Hoffenheim and Viktoria Plzeň. I think our final third movement and possession arent as good as last season even with an additional player up front instead of sitting both Schweinsteiger and Martinez in midfield line.

Hopefully, we could hit ground against Augsburg and create history. More importantly, get prepared for the big match against Dortmund which could be a title contending match if we are able to spread ourselves a bit further with them

Ribery will sure win Ballon D'or this season... that is not even a doubt as both C Ronaldo and Messi arent at their best for the past season.

Half way through the first half, Pep and this new Bayern team is having a good grab on Bundesilga and Champion League. However, there are still plenty of rooms to improve. Pep didnt spend much last in 2013/2014 transfer window (only less than 25mil Euros net-net) compared to Heynckes's spending for the past 2 seasons (each over 60-70mil Euros). One reason is probably because there arent many available good players around to spend money on. The other reason is because Pep wants to save it for a big purchase, like Messi.

Looking ahead this winter and summer, I doubt Pep will make any meaningful purchase this winter as we have a pretty compact squad right now unless a couple of key players are out for the season. In the summer, there would be a huge chance that Lewandowski could join us from Dortmund for free to replace Pizzaro. In addition, Van Buyten will definitely be leaving us as well as Contento, Shaqiri and possibly Robben if he cant work with Pep.

Bayern are recently linked with Halilovic, Cuadrado, Ajeti, and Messi. Both Ajeti and Halilovic are one for the future as both wont guarantee a starting role at Bayern even next season. Cuadrado to me, would be like a "Shaqiri" as he wont win battle against Ribery or Alaba on the left. Messi would be a different case if Bayern is able to pull this transfer off as he would be a significant addition to even this Bayern team if Robben decides to leave.

Half way through the first half, Pep and this new Bayern team is having a good grab on Bundesilga and Champion League. However, there are still plenty of rooms to improve. Pep didnt spend much last in 2013/2014 transfer window (only less than 25mil Euros net-net) compared to Heynckes's spending for the past 2 seasons (each over 60-70mil Euros). One reason is probably because there arent many available good players around to spend money on. The other reason is because Pep wants to save it for a big purchase, like Messi.

Looking ahead this winter and summer, I doubt Pep will make any meaningful purchase this winter as we have a pretty compact squad right now unless a couple of key players are out for the season. In the summer, there would be a huge chance that Lewandowski could join us from Dortmund for free to replace Pizzaro. In addition, Van Buyten will definitely be leaving us as well as Contento, Shaqiri and possibly Robben if he cant work with Pep.

Bayern are recently linked with Halilovic, Cuadrado, Ajeti, and Messi. Both Ajeti and Halilovic are one for the future as both wont guarantee a starting role at Bayern even next season. Cuadrado to me, would be like a "Shaqiri" as he wont win battle against Ribery or Alaba on the left. Messi would be a different case if Bayern is able to pull this transfer off as he would be a significant addition to even this Bayern team if Robben decides to leave.

I think Bayern is still under pressure when opponents press them hard enough from the start like Dortmund, Gladbach and now Berlin. I think when injuried players return, Lahm will return to right defender role. However, some of the German players are underperforming so far this season like Schweinsteiger, Kroos and Boateng.... They need to improve their form, otherwise, shouldnt guarantee a starting spot.

Seems like Bayern wont be signing any new central defender this summer and Gustavo is the only player who could leave us before the end of the transfer window. Gustavo was one of the best players for us against Real Madrid in Champion League 2012's semi-final match. In addition, he was also one of the regulars for Brazil national team. I wonder why Pep would sell him to Wolfsburg, Chelsea or Arsenal for 20mil Euros.

If this sale does happen, Bayern really spends too little to challenge this Champion league. Buying Gotze (37m), Thiago (20m) and Kirchoff (Free) this summer and selling Gomez (16m), Petersen (?), Can (?) and possibilly Gustavo (20m), so net-net Bayern has only spent less than 20mil Euro this summer. Will we follow the slip again with not spending enough to upgrade the quality

Bayern hasnt really played that well so far with this system. Against Dortmund, Man City and Rehden, Bayern's midfield and defence exposed too much space for opponents to attack. Dortmund is able to score some easy goals against us. This new system gives Bayern more flexibility up front; however, with only Schweinsteiger as the only central/defensive midfielder basically exposes too much space if we lose the ball in midfield

I think the most important titles to retain are Bundesliga and Champion League crown

A new season for Bayern starts on August 5th as Bayern will play against Rehden. Many would expect this is a routine win for us. I hope Bayern not only wins this match against Rehden, but plays with style.

So far, out of the six trophies that Bayern can win, Bayern has already lost the German Super Cup which is the most insignificant trophy, although it still hurt to lose it to Dortmund. I hope Bayern can win the European Super Cup against Chelsea (a revenge), plus most players havent won this medal yet.

After selling Can to Leverkusen with a clause of buying back, I think Bayern has completed this transfer window. May only Contento or Gustavo could be on their way out. I dont think we will bring in any central defender or other players for the remaining of the transfer window

Either Bayern fans like him or no, he would be a Bayern Munich player within days and Guardiola really wants him, thats the fact. So I guess we have to accept T. Alcantara and hope he lives up to media's expectation and helps us to win back to back Champion League title

According to almost all media's, Bayern is on the edge to sign T. Alcantara for 18-21.7mil Euros. Based on Guardiola's past coaching history, he loves to sign attacking players rather than defensive players. Again, that leads to Barcelona' lack of depth in defence for the past 3-4 seasons but was badly exposed by Bayern last season.

Does Bayern need T. Alcantara? I understand why Guardiola needs him because he is probably the only player who can break through ultra defensive from the middle. Past season, Bayern has enormous success but most of the attacks come from either wing. We hardly see Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Martinez or Gustavo breaking through from the middle. And the only area which Bayern's attack can improve on is attacking through middle as we are nearly perfection in either wing from Ribery, Robben, Mueller or Shaqiri.

Guardiola has purposely changed the formation to 1-4-1-4 or 1-2-2-1-4 this season. So we would have five attacking spots rather than four from previous seasons. This is how I could imagine Guardiola plays his player this season:

Goalkeeper: Neuer, Starke, Raeder
Right defender: Lahm, Rafinha
Left defender: Alaba, Contento
Right central defender: Martinez, Kirchoff, Van Buyten
Left central defender: Boateng, Dante, Can
Central defensive midfielder: Schweinsteiger, Gustavo, Hojbjerg
Right winger: Mueller, Weiser
Left winger: Ribery, Shaqiri
Right attacking midfielder: Kroos, Robben
Left attacking midfielder: Alcantara, Weihrauch
Striker: Gotze, Mandzukic, Pizzaro

i think Guardiola has a big chance of using Hojbjerg as a holding midfielder where he could fill Schweinsteiger and Gustavo as well and move Martinez to central defense as we lack class in central defense with Dante and Boateng are proven defenders.

I think Rafinha has proven to be useful at least during critical matches last season, although Rafinha would be our weakest link in Champion League late stage. However, I think Weiser could well be Lahm's long term solution if he improves his defensive skill

The only area which I worry about is central defense as Dante and Boateng had lots of matches during the past two seasons. Van Buyten injuries more often in the few seasons and Kirchoff is still unproven in European stage. Bayern's central defense would be the weakest link if either Dante or Boateng is injuried.

I am right that Bayern has announced the extension of Pizzaro for another season, so as I have predicted Bayern will stick with Mandzukic and Pizzaro as forward for the coming season if Gomez leaves for Italy. Lewandowski would be a free transfer in June 2014 and coming to Bayern then.

However, I think is a mistake if Bayern doesnt sign another central defender sticking with just Dante, Boateng, Kirchoff and Van Buyten for this coming season with Badstuber out for another ten months period. Both Kirchoff and aging Van Buyten arent reliable in late stage Champion League, so basically if either Boateng or Dante is injuried or suspended, our defence would be weakened.