FC Bayern Munich: A Loss To Mainz Prior To A CL Game Is Not Welcome

Bayern is hopelessly out of form and apparently, the board must be enjoying all this chaos as they extended Louis Van Gaal's contract by a year.

Bayern 1-2 Mainz

Losing to Mainz at the Allianz Arena should have never happened- but it did happen. Every single Bayern player was pressed- the midfielders gave the ball away much too often and the defence looked like its true self: pathetic.

Mainz opened the scoring when Lewis Holtby exploited Daniel Pranjic flank and sent a ball in for Sami Allagui who hit the back of the net. Bayern would not have scored had it not been for Bo Svensson and Christian Wetklo. The defender sent a ball back to Wetklo who misjudged it and let it flow past him for 1-1. Bayern never looked like winning the game.

Miro Klose and Ivica Olic kept on getting in each other's way. And Mainz, as they should have done earlier put the game to bed late in the second half. Andre Schuerrle provided a fantastic ball to Adam Szalai who made no mistake in punishing the central defenders.

The Problems

Bastian Schweinsteiger,Philipp Lahm, Thomas Mueller and Mark Van Bommel are all tired after the World Cup. They all need some rest and they all need some bench time. They are human after all and can't keep going on like robots as Van Gaal assumes them to be. Daniel Van Buyten is never going to be a proper central defender. He should play as the main striker because Olic and particularly Klose have been poor in front of goal.

Klose's performances in the German Cup and Champions League have been utterly different from his performances in the Bundesliga. The fans are running out of patience. Nobody doubts his quality; but everybody doubts his fitness and whether he can once again be the striker he was up to mid 2008. Mario Gomez isn't getting any game time; he should definitely be allowed to play as he definitely cannot do worse than Klose and Olic.

Adding to that the growing injury list which includes Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and now Diego Contento, Bayern is in serious trouble. It's time for some major rotation: It is time to replace the tired players and bring in fresh ones. What's more surprising aside from Van Gaal's lack of rotation is the fact that he does not rely on Toni Kroos. Kroos was easily Bayern's best player against Mainz and substituting him was a big mistake.I also cannot understand why Van Gaal doesn't partner Klose with Gomez up front because Klose and Olic can never combine!

Hans Joerg Butt seems to be the only one who knows what to do. If Bayern is to beat Basel in Switzerland, major rotation is required. Van Gaal would never try it but he can always use this line-up:

                                                          Hans- Joerg Butt

                Hamit Altintop- Badstuber- Tymoschuk-   Daniel Pranjic

                                   Martin Demichelis

                                                       Toni Kroos

            Thomas Mueller                                                Ivica Olic

                                   Miroslav Klose      Mario Gomez

Champions League: FC Basel

Basel strolled to a win in their league with nine men on the pitch. Basel lies in second place in their league. The name Alex Frei will be familiar to Bundesliga supporters from his old days at Borussia Dortmund. Marco Streller and Samuel Inkoom will be familiar names. Bayern has to step up if they are going to get anything out of this clash. Despite their previous CL group stage win over Roma, their form has been poor barring the win over Hoffenheim.

And thus, Bayern will perhaps not beat Basel in Switzerland.

Prediction: FC Basel 1-1 Bayern