The Bayern Munich Stars Pep Guardiola Needs to Step Up

The beginning of the 2014-15 season has been a difficult one for Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich, who after seven games stand with a record of four wins, two draws and one loss in all competitions.

Post-World Cup fatigue, a short preseason and being blighted by injuries can all be used as excuses for the club's inconsistent performance; as the season wears on, it's more likely that the club will have an upward turn in their level of play.

For the time being, however, Bayern still have some tough tasks to be completed and will need some players to step up before some key absentees return. And even when the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thiago Alcantara return to full fitness, the club will need others to improve if they are to contend for the Champions League and retain the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal trophies for a third consecutive season.

Click "Begin Slideshow" for a look at who is underperforming at Bayern as of now and who the club need to step up their game if they are to achieve their potential.

Pierre Hojbjerg

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

When Bayern sold Emre Can to Leverkusen, many thought the decision was a vote of confidence for Pierre Hojbjerg. When Toni Kroos was sold to Real Madrid, it was widely expected that the Dane would replace him in the team. From all initial data, though, it seems that Hojbjerg still has a very long way to go in his development.

Bayern needed Hojbjerg to step up on Saturday and deliver for a side that has been blighted by injuries and struck by fatigue. Instead, the 19-year-old was woeful, conceding possession on several occasions and generally looking a step below the level required of a starter at Bayern Munich.

Before Saturday's match, Hojbjerg often found himself behind even Gianluca Gaudino, the 17-year-old who has proven to have calmness beyond his years and technical skills in lieu of the physical build needed for professional football. For someone like Hojbjerg, who for more than a year has waited patiently in the reserves for his chance to shine, missing out due to the emergence of an even younger talent is a hammer blow.

Hojbjerg has a steep uphill climb if he is to win Guardiola's trust once more. He may be young, but with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago Alcantara and Javi Martinez all injured, Bayern need him to step up and deliver on the potential that led Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to deny him a loan move and insist (per the official Bayern website) he remain in Munich.

Robert Lewandowski

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Replacing fan favorite and club hero Mario Mandzukic in the Bayern team, Robert Lewandowski had big shoes to fill. Having scored 94 goals in his final three seasons at Dortmund, the Poland international appeared to have the qualities needed to make his predecessor a distant memory.

However, after a promising preseason in which he was in prolific goalscoring form and found the net with a series of wonder strikes, he's failed to live up to his potential.

Having played in seven games in all competitions, Lewandowski has netted just one goal. He even failed to convert a penalty. To his credit, the 26-year-old has made himself useful in other ways; he's given three assists. But with the likes of creators such as Mario Gotze, Franck Ribery and Thiago Alcantara in the ranks, Bayern need Lewandowski to be finishing. To date, he's not delivered.

Saturday would have been a perfect opportunity for Lewandowski to break his scoring duck, facing a Hamburg side that had the Bundesliga's worst defense last season and against whom Bayern had scored 24 goals in their previous five meetings.

But as a substitute, the ex-Dortmund man couldn't find the net and hardly looked a threat. The type of striker who absolutely terrorized top-class defenders just a few months ago, Lewandowski needs to turn over a new leaf and quickly—not least because he is Bayern's only striker under the age of 36.

Xherdan Shaqiri

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

Xherdan Shaqiri's future at Bayern Munich appeared to be in serious doubt in the spring and for much of the summer, with several top sides linked with interest in his services. Indeed, the Switzerland international was ready to pack his bags and leave for Liverpool at the beginning of the summer.

But as the player revealed in a recent press conference (h/t Goal.com), Bayern blocked any transfer and insisted that he was part of Pep Guardiola's plans heading into the 2014-15 season.

Shaqiri starred for Switzerland at the World Cup, but he has struggled since returning to training at Bayern in August. He had a head start, returning to training before the likes of Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze, but he failed to make much of an impression in test games and even when competitive play resumed.

The 22-year-old played all 180 minutes of Bayern's first two matches of the season, struggling to make much of an impact at all and subsequently finding himself relegated to the bench. When his team needed him in Hamburg on Saturday, he was given another chance as a starter but was substituted for the final quarter of the match after once again failing to provide a spark.

Shaqiri has proven that he's capable of great things, but he has this season neither scored nor assisted a single goal. With a congested schedule ahead and many of his teammates bound to struggle with fatigue, Shaqiri will be needed to provide the injection of pace and creativity he did two seasons ago.

Mario Gotze

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Sometimes it takes players one poor season at a new club before they settle and deliver on their potential. Sometimes they never do. In Mario Gotze's case, nearly 15 months after moving to Munich, Bayern fans are still waiting for him to replicate the form he displayed at Borussia Dortmund—the form that made him an international teenage superstar.

Gotze scored the winner in the World Cup final and will forever be immortalized in German football history. But since returning to Bayern, the 22-year-old has been inconsistent at best. His most significant contribution to the team came when a rocket of a Jerome Boateng shot grazed his back before finding its way into the net against Manchester City. Otherwise, he scored against 3. Liga side Preussen Munster and bottom-of-the-table Stuttgart.

There have been some positive signs for Gotze, but not enough considering where he was just 15 months ago. For much of his youth, his goal and assist record rivaled that of Lionel Messi at the same age. He was touted as the "talent of the century" in Germany. Now, at 22 and as a World Cup winner, he should be to Bayern what Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben have been for several years.

Sadly for Gotze and disappointingly for Bayern, that is not the case. It appears that Bayern will continue to rely upon their longstanding wing duo for a creative spark, with both Gotze and Shaqiri thus far having failed to live up to their potential.