Leverkusen were never going to beat Bayern. Yeah, yeah...they were at home and they have this hot young team that everyone is going Lady Gaga over.....but at the end of the day, after seeing the first half, I knew how the match was going to end.
Despite the obvious and the inevitable happening....Pep has serious issues and although the Bundesliga won't test hos VERY depleted squad....the Champions League's stronger teams WILL.
Not seeing BOTH Ribery and Robben in the Bayern team shows HOW important they are to Pep and the German kings. Their attacking influence and just how paramount they are in the way that Bayern go forward as well as how they bring Lewandowski and Muller into the game is now so apparent to be seen. And although Ribery is not on the level of Robben, without him, Bayern have ZERO threat from the flanks and it is forcing the "great" bald Pep one to really have to bring out all his coaching talent to try and win games with the players he has...who are still better than most of the other cats in the Bundesliga.
What this means is it now allows Lewandowski to now have a much bigger role in the team and try and still do something special this season. Because with both Robben and Ribery, Bayern focus on hitting the ball out wide and Ribery always likes to pass and prefers to assist but Robben is more of the ball-hogger (which I love!) and is not that willing to try and fix up a plate for Lewandowski, which has forced the Polish one to try and fend for himself and work that bit harder to get his own G's. With the deadly duo now gone, it means that Lewandowski, being the main focal striker since Muller is more of a drifter,forces more service to be put to him and allowing to him to now have to be more involved in the game.
It has been hard work. Bayern just don't look as good as they do without the star men. Gotze is still hot and cold and is not really flowing well under Pep (a talk for another day), and with the possession football that Pep likes to play it means that Bayern lack character and against Leverkusen, perhaps it was just the stout defensive work of the Bayer guys, but Muller and Gotze looked very very average and definitely not up to Champions League standard.
For Bayern to be fruitful with these key injuries, Lahm HAS to go to right back as he just offers so much more cheddar in the attacking sense than the old man Rafinha, who looks like he's on cocaine. Then there needs to be a striking partnership of Lewandowski and Gotze with Muller given a free role. Pep has to use the chemistry that Lewandowski and Gotze had at Dortmund to try and get some creative juices flowing. THAT is what made Pep such a coach in demand, because of the millions of ways he could make Barcelona create chances, giving defences no rest and no clue as to where the through ball or chip would come from.
Thiago and Badstuber are little miracles that will help Pep a lot. Having the defensive cover of Badstuber to assist with Boateng as well as potentiall offering some production from that left flank would also go down pretty nice. Then of course, the BRAZLIAN, no Spanish, that is Thiago. Being out for a year is an itch and who knows how much it took out of him. But he's back now, and if he can still get back to his best, then Bayern will be fine. He has too much skill within him and is on the same footballing wavelength as Pep. He can take hold of the ball and keep it moving, and just make Bayern a little bit more lively and energetic, because against Bayern they just looked too obvious, too slow and were just going through the stages of the match, looking for scraps to try and steal a G.
The fun REALLY starts next week. FC Porto are waiting, and I am sure Bayern will win because even with their B team, they are still stronger than Porto. But Pep will now have to work a bit harder now and get more creative and move around a lot more on that touchline, constantly making adjustments because FC Porto will be a test and SHOULD at least give Bayern a game.
Bottom line.....I approve of drug use....GET ROBBEN HOOD BACK ON THAT PITCH, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN FOOTBALL!!!!
HH
