FC Bayern: Life After Louis Van Gaal—Preview Against Bayer Leverkusen.

The performances have been disappointing. Some of the fans have turned their backs on Uli Hoeness. Some want to see a local lad in Thomas Kraft survive and stay on at Bayern. Some don't want to cheer on a Gelsenkirchen lad in Munich.

This season has been a disaster.

Before the season started, very few contemplated that towards the end of it, powerful FC Bayern would have to fight out unfashionable Hannover 96 for a Champions League berth. That is the beauty of German football; however, this beauty has left the Bayern fans in a poor state of mind, clinging on to their final hopes to see their side at least compete in a race which finishes at their own Allianz Arena in 2012.

Louis Van Gaal had his misgivings. The usually unforgiving board, including Mr. Hoeness, let go of their egos for the sake of success despite those misgivings. While success came in every form last season, this wasn't the case this time around.

Van Gaal's first error was to not purchase any of the players the board recommended at the beginning of the season. The Champions League final showed everyone what Louis Van Gaal didn't see—Bayern desperately needed new legs in defence.

Van Gaal stuck to one formation—and didn't change it when every fan could see it needed changing. He stuck to the formation but changed the players' positions, driving out confidence from everyone's souls.

He forced the players to criticize each other and criticized them himself, when often the fault was his. The final straw came when against everyone's wishes, he put youngster Thomas Kraft in goal.

Kraft was the reason why Bayern lost out to Nuremberg last week. The youngster passed the ball to Christian Eigler to finish off in style and send the ball into an empty net.

The derby against Nuremberg saw Bayern score early on. However, they then moved on to their current lethargic selves and allowed a team with more belief in each other and their coach, Nuremberg, to grow in confidence.

Bayern still created chances—however, Mario Gomez wasted them and he very well knew at the end that he was the second reason why Bayern had failed to win.

Arjen Robben's magical feet might be the best there is in the world following Lionel Messi; however, his temperament is not the greatest. Fed up with his fellow Dutchman, Van Gaal, and perhaps slightly angry at his team-mates, he took his anger out on the referee and duly saw red.

He has been banned for two matches. Holger Badstuber also picked up a yellow card which will see him suspended against Leverkusen.

Van Gaal was sacked immediately afterwards. Uli Hoeness might not be everyone's favourite person, however, he did the right thing in getting rid of a coach who had sucked the soul out of the very team he had created the previous season. Hoeness' words afterwards were cruel ones and upset Thomas Kraft. This is where he was wrong.

Andries Jonker, a much more friendly and less authoritative Dutchman has taken over as head coach for the last five matches of the season. His biggest headache will be team selection. Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger are both doubtful as is Danijel Pranjic. Daniel Van Buyten is just recovering.

Jonker confirmed that the experienced Hans Jorg-Butt will take over in goal ahead of the clash against his former side and Anatoliy Tymoschchuk will start in defensive midfield. This was confirmed by the official Bayern website and Jonker, of course.

Leverkusen has cut down a double-figure deficit to just a five point gap between themselves and Dortmund. With Dortmund stuttering, Leverkusen, so often the bridesmaid, perhaps has the chance to finally take over as the bride. Jupp Heynckes says he will do his best to help his current team win. This means he himself might not be managing in the Champions League next season if Bayer wins the clash.

Leverkusen has won their past five straight matches and has conceded just once in that period. The last match between the two sides ended in a draw. However, Leverkusen has nothing to lose. Second place and thus CL qualification is almost secured for them and they will be gunning for top spot in the league—something they have never achieved in their history.

I tried working out a formation for the match. This formation sounds crazy but is perhaps the only way that Bayern can prevent goals and score them. This is the formation:

Jorg-Butt

Lahm- Breno- Gustavo-Contento

Kroos-Tymoschchuk-Schweinsteiger/Altintop

        Muller

Ribery/Gomez-Klose

Kroos, Schweini and Altintop can all play on the wings. Thus, when Bayern is moving forward, they can take charge of the wings. When Leverkusen is attacking, Kroos, Schweini and Altintop can return to their original positions in central defensive midfield and protect the back four.

The reason I have included Altintop and Gomez is because Ribery and Schweini might both be out injured. If the formation doesn't work, Kroos can easily just move to the wing permanently and Ribery can do the same. If starting Klose doesn't work out, Gomez can come back into the side.

Despite the fact that Gomez is Bayern's top scorer, I think starting Klose, who has looked sharp in the previous games in his sub appearances, might be the right thing to do.

Leverkusen will score. Very rarely has Leverkusen been held scoreless this season. Rene Adler and Arturo Vidal have been passed fit for this match. Their morale is much higher and they have been a much better side than Bayern this season.

Hopefully, under Jonker, Bayern can break the shackles and come out and be their old selves. Mark Van Bommel would be really important at this stage of the season when Bayern desperately needs a more vocal leader than Lahm. It is a shame Van Gaal let Van Bommel leave.

Prediction: I see Bayern starting as the better side and Leverkusen taking their time to find their feet at the Allianz Arena. Eventually, the game will settle down. This game will end most probably in a draw or in a Leverkusen victory.

Final Score: Bayern 1-2 Leverkusen

We would all like to see Hanover enter the Europa League. We don't want to see them get slaughtered in the Champions League. Bayern will get an easy draw in the qualifiers due to their seeding if they finish third. For the Bundesliga's sake, Bayern needs to qualify.

Bayern looks set to end up in the Europa League unless Jonker can pull off what Heynckes achieved in 2009 to get Bayern to the CL.

Last night, I had a strange dream. I was cheering in the dream. In the dream, Bayern had just qualified for the semis of the Europa League. Hmm...it might not be that bad after all.....