Bayern and PSG are the two teams that have the best squads in all of Europe. Barcelona may have the best attack, with Real having a more balanced team but as far as great talent in every position then it's the German and French champions that take that title. Again for another year, the goal for Pep is to win the Champions League. The domestic double is not good enough. With how much stronger Bayern are than their opponents, it is expected they should win the Bundesliga every year. Pep's stint will always be judged by whether or not he was able to bring back a Champions League crown with a squad that is more than talented enough to do so.
Douglas Costa has come and been playing like a superstar already. I can't argue with people already calling him the purchase of the season, but we need to see how well he does over the whole year. His arrival has also meant Götze will find it even more difficult to get into the team, especially when Robben comes back to the team. With the confidence that Costa is also playing with, it also means Lewandowski will be put further into the shadow as he has been done. Both players, both from Klopp's great Dortmund side seem to be afterthoughts in comparison to Costa, Muller and Robben who pretty much form the core attacking force of Pep's Bayern. This will always be enough to walk the Bundesliga...but where the Champions League is concerned, both Götze and Robert L will be needed and at their best.
The problem is that Pep's style is different to that of Götze's and Lewandowski's. With Pep, he may have gone away from his tic-tac-toe, but there is still that possession-based philosophy he has with Bayern. That is not suited to the former Dortmund boys who perform better in a quicker system. With Dortmund, you would see Dortmund counter very quickly, wasting no time with passes. Once Götze would get it, he would use Lewandowski as a one-two partner to keep defenses confused with the speed at which the passes were made. The last time that I thought Bayern play this way was against FC Porto in the second leg last season where they had to come back from a 3-1 beating. I just hope they used that philosophy a lot more often.
Another great advantage of playing quicker as is shown in the diagram below, is how Gotze can quickly get down the wing and knock in a ball into the box for Lewandowski. These were how Dortmund got a lot of goals, with Gotze working his magic down the wing and Lewandowski finishing it off. This move would have been started by the quick one-twos that they would have done a few yards further back on the pitch that would have created this space for Lewandowski to finish off the move. It would be great if Pep would employ this tactic in some form for Bayern.
Bayern should easily dispose of Olympiacos and I expect to see them in the semis. There are very few teams that can match them for quality. The real challenge comes when they meet either Barcelona or Madrid, both teams that have given them a heavy beating. PSG will be a tough test, but if Bayern want to win the trophy again then they will have to face either of the Spanish titans. In order to beat them, they will have to come with an alternative tactic which should be a quicker attacking strategy making use of the chemistry that Götze and Lewandowski formed at Dortmund. It would be something that teams would not be prepared for, since they will be expecting the passing-game that Bayern normally show.
The key to success is being unpredictable.
HH
