ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - FC Bayern Munich

Posted by Susie Schaaf on 03/17/2011

My, my, my! What a difference three days makes, huh? I was too bitterly disappointed to write yesterday. And now, I'm back at home, and Inter is still my bogey team. After the jubilation that was Saturday against Hamburg, to suffer defeat at the 88th minute seems inexplicable: Except for the fact that this has been going on all season long.

The lack of any sort of stability at the back puts all the pressure on the forwards, and when they don't come through? This match happens. Despite the dominance of Bayern for the first 60 minutes, which could have seen us up 4-1, it came down to Bastian Schweinsteiger unable to catch up with Goran Pandev, who smashed home the winner for Inter.

So, who is to blame? Every single person on the pitch. Throw van Gaal in there as well. Kraft not playing to the whistle for Samuel Eto'o's offside opener. The aforementioned Basti for not closing down. Robben and Ribery for being selfish and not passing off or kicking out. Mario Gomez missing at point-blank range. Breno's muff against Pandev for the third. Altintop's ineffectiveness in the second half.

And van Gaal for his naive game plan. His insistence on running offensive drills in practice when that is not the problem area. His having two transfer windows to correct the defensive issues and not do anything with them. The total disconnect between the offense and defence. His arrogance in thinking this is the only way to play football.

I have been, at turns, wildly appreciative and screamingly disappointed this season. Many times in the same match. All the highs and all the lows are part of the total fan experience, I suppose. But, there have been far too many lows that could have easily gone the other way. I guess the only thing good about this loss is now we only have to concentrate on the Bundesliga, screaming and kicking our way in to third place. And knowing that if we lose one remaining match, van Gaal won't make it to the end of the season.

And finally, of course, good on ya, Inter! Only twice before has a team lost at home in their first leg and come back to go through in the second. And for that, you must be congratulated. However, since the only two matches I've ever seen that we've lost have both been against you, you have now eclipsed Manchester United as the team I dislike the most. I will root for your opponents for the rest of my days.

Auf gehts, Bayern!

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Comments

Posted by Dan on 03/17/2011

Gomez's chance that was cleared off the line was a tough finish though he was falling and couldnt really get a hold of it. Ribery had a good game but hopefully his miss will encourage him to play better because he really could have killed the tie. i think i hate daniel pranjic more than ever, i dont understand why he tries to split the defense and not track back! he left open which lead to the 2nd inter goal. breno was just outclassed by eto'o no question. badstuber's form baffles me he went from a solid center half to a defender with zero confidence... van buyten played well though which is good. Inter will be out next round because they didn't play much better than we did and we were poor down the strech. overall we got to shoot for second or third and get neuer, a new backline besides lahm, and another striker to help Gomez! (Llorente) thats a dream lol. Weil wir in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten zueinander stehn! Auf gehts, Bayern!!!

Posted by Derek on 03/17/2011

hi yeah me again , the guy who was on here ranting about bayern not buying defenders months ago ....yeah i read this blog often but sit silent , i never comment but wow i feel yours and every bayern fans frustration at our situation at bayern munich right now . I feel as something big needs to be done for management to really hear what fans have been saying for so long now . like today my brother in law and I were discussing the situation at bayern and we both agreed that people should flood bayerns facebook page with BUY DEFENDERS , YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A TOP CLUB ITS ABOUT TIME TO ACT LIKE ONE , .... seems childish but it would get attention for sure . sorry for ranting again on ur blog but i love bayern like its one of my children and right now i feel like someone just did a whole lotta wrong to my bayern right now ,........ what a slap in the face it would be to have next years final AT OUR FRICKIN HOUSE N WE AIN'T INVITED ,.... we need to make CL for next year

Posted by Derek on 03/17/2011

oh yeah and buy GOOD defenders no halfassin it ....... I want other teams to really really hate us in 2012

Posted by Stefan on 03/18/2011

Ag everyone should stop crying. Bayern has such a talented team, and they outplayed inter any unbiased person would admit it.

The problem this season lies in the coach van gaal firstly, his lack of focus on defense, his poor communication skills with players and managers and his arrogance in playing players out of position as long as his system of play is imposed. Secondly Bayern do not have good enough defenders to match their talented attackers, they let Van Bommel and Lucio go, dropped Butt whose experience wd have showed in organizing the defense and have played to many players out of position and put faith in too many poor players at the back (Pranjic, Badstuber, Breno, Kraft, etc)

I think these poor results are a good thing in the long term as it has forced management to wake up as they were too complacent after last seasons success-A new coach and a new defense next season will do wonders Im sure. Bring Lucio and Hummels back I say!

Posted by lamin darboe on 03/18/2011

well my own understanding beside the stupidness of the coach, we have to deal with a team without a defender who is even worth playing in a real Bayern team at the first place but here come Breno & Kraft celebrated by Van Gal AkA Van failure as one of the two most important players in the team.is this not hilarious.First Van should be sent parking he have no place in modern professional football he just too out of touch.Then those responsible for buying players most take responsibility and get good defensive players worth playing for Bayern munich not just any player please because when next a problem like this surface we the fans will look beyong the coach and his player and you know what that means.Mat Hummels most be brought back to bayern.

Posted by Jersey Husker on 03/18/2011

I knew as soon as Badstuber was subbed that the game was over. Van Gaal could have gone with Tymoschuk instead of him and he went with Holger. Bad move.

And where was Klose? One of the top players in world class matches and he sits on the bench.

Kraft? Its all about Van Gaal's ego. He wants to win -- his way -- trying to convince others that he can develop players before their time. Hindsight is 20/20 but after the first goal by Inter I was thinking to myself how much I missed Butt's presence.

Pathetic.

Letting Lucio go was just plain dumb. You have the captain of Brazil - one of the best teams in the world year in and year out and you let him leave. Well, he has the last laugh.

Posted by cfc ny on 03/18/2011

the defence was horrible..Inter didnt deserve to be in the QF..
Bayern should consider buying some reliable proven top defenders or will be lost to obscurity in the coming years.

Posted by Nathan on 03/18/2011

WHY ALTINTOP!!!!! WHY!!!! That man does nothing but try to do fancy tricks that he never can achieve. But Van Gaal seems to love him first off the bench, thats also why he isn't returning next season. Why couldn't he put kroos in for robben, put muller on the wing and kroos in his primary playmaker position.And as for the defense, I love the new rumors about Lucio coming back, but we can keep dreaming, Bayern made a stupid mistake in believing that breno or badstuber would fully replace Lucio.I loved Lucio in the back, because......HE DOESN'T MAKE STUPID MISTAKES!! Breno was on his heels the whole game, and Inter knew that. Bayern have to spend some serious cash to get a serious defender.The shopping list is one striker, two maybe three defenders depending if Breno leaves, and then get a backup winger, and sell Altintop, there are plenty of young wingers that we could bring into Bayern and then become our starting winger in three maybe four years.

Posted by Rhart on 03/18/2011

Ironically most reports said that Bayern played well for the first 65 minutes...Yes, other than a couple sputters in the back they played not too terribly bad ..then they ran out of petrol! Or should I say funny how after subbing out Robben bayern lost all momentum. Then the big one , Why in the world take out Van Buyten who was surprisingly playing better than he has all season and replace him with Badstuber? I guess a national team player should stand up to the test right? Tymo for Breno would have been a better move and then Klose for the slow poke Gomez! Then pull Pranjic, move Tymo to CB and slide Gustavo to the wing...Still leaves a fresh Kroos for a slowing Schweini.. Not rocket science. Ribery was generating some attack but also lost almost every 1v1 rather than passing. Frustrating to say the least, I share your pain Susie... Time to pick up the pieces, mend our wounds and say a prayer for the weekend otherwise the door may slam hard on LVG's backside... One could only Hope!

Posted by Brett on 03/19/2011

Yuck city. Last week I wondered who should play center back and who should play holding mid between Luis Gustavo and Tymoshchuk since they are both competent at either position. Now I'm wondering how Tymo went from being Bayern's most reliable center back over the past few months to an unused sub while protecting a lead in favor of Badstuber. In the end, both teams deserved to lose. Instead of demonstrating why these two teams were UCL finalists last year, the game showed why both are doing so poorly in their respective leagues this year. Neither team defended well. Both missed clear chances. Inter was an absurd comedy at the back in the first half while Sneijder's amnesia inducing goal made Bayern forget how to pass in the last half hour. I really enjoy Bayern seeing them in Europe. Hopefully they can keep it together and finish in third because at this point, catching Leverkusen is unlikely at best. They need to drop points in 3 of the last 8 games even if Bayern's perfect.

Posted by jacob on 03/20/2011

I am still reeling from Tuesday, but I have to vocalize a couple things:
-emmentaler cheese defense. i still have high hopes for Breno but at times he looked very clumsy. I also don't have faith in Badstuber, well, ever, at this point.
-stupid, stupid substitutions. van gaal's decisions were totally mindless. altintop??? what could he possibly add to the game?? that was the time to throw in Tymo, if Robben's legs really had given out. And then to take out van Buyten for Badstuber? Once again, in what respect was this strategic? TO replace a faulty defender with another one? But one with less height, experience, and more prone to errors? unbelievable.
-lastly, obviously, finishing. As i watched the game, the other folks in the bar, not partisans of either team, commented that Bayern was dominating, that Inter should fear embarrassment in the second half. I was anything but confident, even with out two goal lead. Missed chances have come back to burn bayern all season.

Posted by jacob on 03/20/2011

Posted by latibaba on 05/05/2011

A lots of things happen in soccer world but one must take a decisive decision to learn from our lesson at Bayren,mostly off the pitch which is most likely not clear to majority of the fan.Our management gambled alot on the exit of LUIS.V,it really burnt us badly.LUIS is great coach,no doubt about it but he has faced alot of personality problem in bayern which made him behave the human way for our AGONY.In Bayern ,we are what we are.Am optimistic next season will be GREAT.

Posted by Jayden on 09/29/2011

Action requires knowedlge, and now I can act!

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