Are Bayern Munich's Results Masking Deep Issues Under Pep Guardiola?

Bayern Munich aren't nearly as good as their results in the Champions League and Bundesliga this season would suggest. 

Pep Guardiola's side may have a 100 percent record in Europe's top club competition, as well as a four-point lead over the league they walked to last year, but things are far from perfect at Germany's biggest club. 

The most notable problem that Bayern currently face is the state of their defensive line and the players who currently populate it. 

On paper, Guardiola's team are quite simply brilliant at keeping out opposing sides. Dropping just two goals in 630 Bundesliga minutes and none as of yet in the Champions League would suggest all is well, but there is a deep worry for this team's back line bubbling under the surface.

Ever since the long-term injury to Javi Martinez in the pre-season Super Cup final with Borussia Dortmund and the unfortunate setback to Holger Badstuber's return, Guardiola has been shuffling his roster of defenders from one week to the next without any real concrete plans for the remainder of the season. 

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

As something of a microcosm for his time in charge of the Bavarian club, Guardiola has picked and tweaked the defense to the point that the squad, nor even the most up-to-date fan, can predict who will be playing in any given game. 

It has led to some interesting selections; such as Philipp Lahm, David Alaba and even Rafinha as central defenders at certain points this season while new signing Xabi Alonso has developed into something of a libero in front of a constantly static back three. 

As things stand this defense is holding strong, but as we've seen against better sides in Germany this season—dropping goals to Schalke and Wolfsburg in the league and Dortmund in the aforementioned summer tie—it isn't a viable solution against bigger and stronger teams. 

In fact, it's the performances themselves—not just their defensive record—in these high pressure games that are often quickly forgotten in favour of a useful result. 

Bayern haven't looked great against Germany's other three big clubs—who've they've only taken one win from three games this season—and such a pattern has carried on in to their performances in Europe's premier knockout competition. 

Guardiola's side have had a rather easy start to life in the Champions League this season, with a home win over Manchester City and an away victory against CSKA Moscow, yet despite both sides being on the wane the German champions made hard work of both matches. 

The opening affair with the Premier League holders was always going to be a tight match, but little has been made of just how close City came to walking away from the Allianz Arena with at least a point in hand. 

If not for Jerome Boateng's simply outrageous volley in the dying moments of the game, it could have been Sergio Aguero or David Silva who bagged the single, match-defining goal. Yet it was Bayern who drew first blood with a moment of magic and the rest was forgotten for the three points won. 

Similarly, Bayern's trip to Moscow proved just as painstakingly close for the former European champions with a solitary goal again defining the way in which the game was decided. 

A penalty from Thomas Muller—converting the spot-kick awarded for a foul on Mario Gotze that was actually outside the CSKA box—was all that separated the sides, with the Russian hosts offering plenty of chances themselves through the pace and skill of striker Ahmed Musa. 

In contrast to the current meltdowns in Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, Munich's largest club look content and confident after picking up exactly what they've needed from this first stage of the new season. Yet that isn't to say that all is well. 

Nobody has rocked Guardiola's boat as of yet and as such nobody has checked to see if there are any holes in the hull or, indeed, enough lifeboats to handle any potential disaster. 

Like last season's momentous 4-0 defeat to Real Madrid, Bayern may go all the way until late April before they meet a team capable of making them uncomfortable. But as things stand, they look destined to fall in similar, dramatic fashion. 

@Sbienkowski