Crisis at FC Bayern: Alarmstufe Rot for Louis Van Gaal?!

FC Bayern are also known as the FC Hollywood in Germany. The expectations from both the board and the fans are extremely high and the club and its players are constantly followed by the critical German press.

The fact that chairman Franz Beckenbauer writes his own column in the mighty tabloid “Bild” doesn’t help to create a more workable situation for the unfortunate FC Bayern managers, since chairman Franz is a living legend in Germany and doesn’t shy from criticizing his own manager and players.

Basically, FC Bayern is in a constant state of turmoil, or Alarmstufe Rot (Code Red).

The new season is underway and as more and more matches are being played, pressure starts to mount. Initially, the board and fans were pleased to have Dutchman Louis van Gaal at the helm of the club.

Van Gaal is without a doubt a successful coach and FC Bayern likes success. Van Gaal was introduced as a “Meistermacher,” someone who could lead the club to a new championship.

Looking at his honours at previous clubs, we can only conclude that Van Gaal boasts an impressive record, which includes national and international silverware with various clubs.

However, with Van Gaal’s start at FC Bayern being one of the worst in the past decades, people are starting to wonder if Van Gaal is the right man for the job at FC Bayern.

A plethora of reasons is being summed up to emphasize that the Dutch coach may not have been the right leader.

Let’s have a look at these reasons and whether they are valid points of criticism towards Van Gaal.

1. Tactical Chaos

Van Gaal has always been known as a manager who likes to stick to a certain formation and a certain line-up. This creates routines and patterns within a team, something a team can fall back on when the team isn’t playing as well as they could be.

So far, however, Van Gaal has been in control for 18 games and he has not yet sent out the same team twice in a row.

He varies in the formation and in the line-up, which is quite the opposite from what he usually does. For the position of left wing-back, for example, he has so far used Edson Braafheid, Danijel Pranjic and Philipp Lahm.

The same principle applies to the position of midfield playmaker, where no less than four players have been given the chance to fill the position so far.

In his defence though, the team has suffered quite a bit from injuries. When star players like Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery were injured, Van Gaal has often opted to move his playmaker to the wings to cover there.

So it isn’t entirely his fault the team changes a lot, even when all this changing around isn’t exactly helping the team.

2. Too many strikers

Imagine if you will the following strike-force. Luca Toni, the mighty Italian forward. Ivica Olic, a Croatian international who helped take down England not too long ago. Miroslav Klose, the German sniper.

On top of that, Bayern paid the hefty sum of 30 million to Stuttgart for German international Mario Gomez.

The club did sell former national prodigy Lukas Podolski, but this still leaves four top-notch forwards for basically a single position upfront, since neither of them (well, maybe Olic could play as a left winger…) can act as wingers in Van Gaal’s favourite 4-3-3 formation.

So what happens when you get four big names together in a squad and not everyone is playing? That’s right, egos start clashing and players start complaining.

Keeping in mind everyone would love to go the 2010 World Cup this summer, players are starting to complain. Not getting enough playing time means they risk being dropped from their nation’s World Cup squad.

This has even led to Italian international Luca Toni playing matches for FC Bayern Amateure (basically the reserve squad) in the Third Bundesliga.

3. Failed transfer-policy

So far, Bayern has spent millions on Mario Gomez, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Danijel Pranjic and Edson Braafheid. Neither of these have really lived up to their potential so far.

Gomez has to compete with three other top notch forwards for a spot upfront, whereas Tymoshchuk has been playing a fair few games so far, but only due to the absence of Mark van Bommel in midfield.

Pranjic and Braafheid meanwhile are considered to be poor signings by the always critical Münchener crowd. Both signings were recently booed of the pitch when FC Bayern played against Bordeaux in the Champions League.

Both signings were considered to be reinforcements for Bayern’s left flank and both of them are playing regularly, but both have failed to impress so far.

Meanwhile, FC Bayern desperately needed someone to help out on the right flank. Philipp Lahm is currently playing as a right back.

The German international can play on both wings, but his best position has always been the left wingback position, where his runs with the ball from the left flank and swift cut-ins towards the centre, where he could then shoot with his strong right foot, have been a potent weapon for both Bayern and Germany.

This makes the signing of two new left wingbacks, keeping Lahm in the right wingback position, not very logical. Bayern has courted Chelsea’s Jose Bosingwa this summer, but the deal never took off.

So how much of this is really Van Gaal’s fault and how much of this is the responsibility of the FC Bayern board? Van Gaal never asked for Mario Gomez or Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, so it would be unfair to attribute these failed signings to his reign.

Edson Braafheid and Danijel Pranjic however were signed because Van Gaal wanted to add them to his squad.

Both signings have failed to impress so far and basically were not really necessary to bolster the squad, since Bayern already have a competent left wingback in Philipp Lahm, whereas Andreas Görlitz could provide cover down the right.

4. Dependent on the star players

This hardly seems odd, since most teams rely on their star players to perform. Man Utd used to rely on Cristiano Ronaldo, Barcelona relies on Messi, Xavi and Iniesta and Chelsea relies on John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. FC Bayern relies heavily on Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.

The difference between the aforementioned clubs and FC Bayern is that these clubs didn’t collapse entirely without their star players.

Even when Ronaldo wasn’t playing, Man Utd could still dominate a match and overpower an opponent. Without Ribery and Robben, FC Bayern seems powerless, devoid of all creativity going forward.

When the two wingers are active, Bayern can play a very attractive, attacking style of football. They proved this as they trounced reigning champions Wolfsburg 3-0 in Munich and when they played Juventus (0-0) in the Champions League.

Without these two stars, FC Bayern seems devoid of any and all creativity when going forward. Van Gaal’s 4-3-3 formation relies on creative wingers and a good playmaker.

The team has adapted to having no real playmaker, when you eliminate one or both wingers from the equation, you are left with a rather average side.

This is something the coach should take responsibility for, but not entirely. Bayern did try to sign Werder’s Diego, who opted for Juventus instead.

Bayern also made a pass on both Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid, but again missed out.

This isn’t entirely Van Gaal’s fault, but it seems odd he can offer no effective tactical alternative when one of his wingers goes missing. Taking both Robben’s and Ribery’s injury-proneness into account, this is a serious issue for the Dutch manager.

5. Sheer arrogance

Basically, Van Gaal is overly confident, up to the point where it begins to reek of sheer arrogance. His doctrine cannot fail and he preaches his doctrine to players, board, fans and pundits with an almost religious fervor, as if he were a teacher educating a class of dumb students.

That’s not really an issue, as long as Van Gaal and his team keep winning. You see, an old saying goes: “the winner is always right.” As long as he keeps winning, people will put up with him and his arrogant behaviour.

As soon as his team hits a streak of poor form, criticism will be harsher than usual. Van Gaal should know this, as he has experienced this before, especially at Barcelona.

His relationship with the Spanish press was almost legendary and even in Holland, he managed to antagonise the more liberal press with his behaviour.

Famous quotes of Van Gaal include phrases like “Am I that smart or are you just that dumb?” and “Do I believe Eric Gerets is the ideal man for the job? Of course not, they should hire me.”

Someone who is obviously unable to deal with the media takes one of the more high profile jobs in Germany, with a chairman who is a pundit for the countries biggest tabloid. Surely I don’t have to point out the problem here?

6. Dutch clique

Van Gaal did this before at Barcelona, he formed a Dutch clique. He brought in Dutch assistants (Andries Jonker, Frank Hoek) and many Dutch players (Patrick Kluivert, Philip Cocu, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger, Ruud Hesp, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Marc Overmars) or players he worked with before in Holland (Jari Litmanen). He likes to surround himself with people who are familiar with his style.

As said before, as long as the team keeps winning, no one minds. As soon as the team starts losing, people will point out that the large amount of foreign players is one of the causes, because they “don’t put in the effort a local lad who has a commitment towards the club would have.”

This has happened to Van Gaal in Barcelona and it looks to be happening to him again in Munich. He has brought in his old friend Andries Jonker as an assistant and various players from the Netherlands like Edson Braafheid, Arjen Robben and Dutch-based Danijel Pranjic.

There’s also a rumour circulating in Dutch newspapers that Van Gaal is trying to get Rafael van der Vaart to move to Bayern to further strengthen his team and the present Dutch clique. Since the Bayern squad lacks a proper playmaker and Van der Vaart is accustomed to playing in a 4-3-3 formation, it seems like a valid rumour.

It’s also a transfer that would further weaken Van Gaal’s position, in my opinion. Van der Vaart is a good player, but he has the same nationality as his coaches and a fair few members of the Bayern squad.

When success doesn’t come instantly, this will create further friction. This is one source of trouble Van Gaal should try to avoid, he should learn from his mistakes in the past instead of repeating his mistakes.

Conclusion  

Trying to reach a conclusion after having looked at all these reasons is not an easy task. Sure, Van Gaal has made a few mistakes and he’s not an easy person to work with.

On the other hand, some of the club’s new signings were not his own so he cannot be held responsible for the trouble they have generated.

I do believe the Bayern board and fans should try some patience. Let Van Gaal build a new team for a season and if things go wrong during season 2, they have the right to complain.

The man is trying to re-build on the ashes left to him by his predecessors. He’s trying to impose a new style of play and he’s incorporating a few young and inexperienced players into his squad. Give him at least a full season to prove his worth before passing judgement.