How Lucio can inspire Bayern Munich.

Gone are the good old days when we were used to seeing Lucio, Kahn, Sagnol and co lifting at least 2 cups in one season, with a weaker team than we currently have. Now it's tears, heartbreak, sugar Coating, anger upon anger and one disappointment after another. To get a glimpse at the the German cup has become an impossible tax, a tax that was not made impossible due to lack of quality player, instead due to our own self destruction and the arrogance of the board, which has now resulted to number of different problems, such as our lack of leadership in the squad now being apparent, lack of depth, player fatigue, lack of confidence, as well as lack of zeal, determination to take it to the end and lack of balls from senior players.

Our 2010-11 season was an absolute disaster, many loyal fans like myself and my nephew who is only 6 had high expectation for this season, we cried out loud to the board to sign another Centre Back after signing Boateng yet our tears was not important to them, we asked them to sign another midfielder after Vidal transfer failed, instead we heard Nerlinger saying stupid things such as our squad is good enough to win the Cpl and at the end of the day he was right, we had a squad that was good enough to win the CPL but our depth totally failed us and we had to play a DM as our CB and two converted CM as our DM, Only if Nerlinger and Hoeness had listen to us and signed just one more CB or a DM, perhaps at worst we could have been Champions of Europe this season and that would have played a part in Germany performance and confidence in this year Europe.

To cut the long story short(not so short) the much anticipated 2011-12 season did not really end as expected. A team, which was in contention of winning a treble till April, failed to win single silverware; thus making us a worthy disciple of Bayer Leverkusen(it's not coincident we employed their specialist manager), the perennial runner-ups. As already mention last season is our second in a row without a trophy. Proud fans like myself, my Nephew, BAYERN_MUNICH, ROBBERY, BAYERN87, SUSHI MASTER, FC HOLLYWOOD, OBI, King, ioilersrock448, and many more Bayern fans do not enjoy losing and can not settle for less. Also our board member and legends such as Uli Hoeness, Kaiser and the Titan and Co. have never had a good reputation of accepting defeat in correct spirits. So, it is expected that the board should sanction our plea to splash the cash to end this barren two-year spell.

But is spending cash sufficient? that is one question we need to ask ourselves, we had a better team than Chelsea and they defeated us in the final, we also have a better squad than both Borrusia teams and yet they defeated us both home and way and Dortmund winning the German Cup as well as the league.

We need to ask ourselves some questions, I'll relate to you a scenario. My nephew who has already been introduced here as a big Bayern fan walked up to me one day, he looked into my eyes and said, do you know what is common with Borrusia Mönchengladbach, Borrusia Dortmund, Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Ajax and FC Porto? I looked at him knowing that he have ill intention I replied maturely' sugar Coating my feelings and said they all won their respective league this season' I suppose, then he asked me how about Chelsea, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Mönchengladbach? I replied well I suppose they won a Cu...(before I could finish he stopped me in my tracks and said he had the answer) he said they all have Young Managers and young head coaches, while we along with other trophyess clubs such as Manchester United, and Arsenal have ancient Grand-Daddy, out-dated and above retirement age managers as our head coach, who have all been technical outclass by this new Era intelligent coach. I look at him and joking said 'Go AWAY',(slapping him gently at the back of his head, while he was walking away), but deep down my heart I was like 'boy you are smart' no wonder the student always beat the teacher and no wonder the younger generation have always proved in history to be better and more advance than the older generation.



Anyways my stories might sound a little bit repetitive, but it is important to go to the grass root of the problems at our beloved Bayern, who are one of europes biggest clubs. How did we turn three point lead during the winter break, into a seven point deficit..? How did we go from keeping clean sheet in 10 matches to conceding three goals to a defensive Borrusia Mönchengladbach.? How did we go from winning all important Cpl matches in Group stage against stronger teams like Manchester City and Napoli, to losing 1:0 to Basel, how did we go from 1:0 deficit to Basel to thrashing them 7:0, how did we go from scoring 21 goals in 3 matches to failing to score penalty against Dortmund.? How did we go from scoring a goal in our stadium in the last minutes of CPL final in our own stadium to conceding a goal, missing a penalty and losing the final at our own backyard..? Frankly our record after the winter break was terrible and has no explanation.

Many people are quick to point finger at Lack of leadership, yes I agree it plays a part but it doesn't mean we should not win at least 1 of those trophies. So all the more, the problem is a lack of a long term strategy both on and off the field. Dortmund settled on a long term strategy under young Klopp and implemented it, Real Madrid are settling on a strategy under Mourinho and implementing it, Manchester City did thesame, Juventus did thesame, Fc Porto, Atletico Madrid, BMG and the rewards of which are visible either through playing above expectation like BMG or winning European Cups, as well as leagues cup.

Bayern in recent years have hardly improved, a poor season leads to panic buys/sell and a successful season is followed by stagnation, which has led to us losing key players such as Lucio, Van Bommel as well as Demichelis. You might start asking yourself why are these players key.? ability wise they are not key, but mentally and and for the spirit of the club and the team spirit this players are key player and indispensable, just like how Kahn was in his last few years with Bayern, Just like How Poyul is to Barcelona, How Casillas is to Real Madrid, How Buffon is to Juventus, etc. They stand up for the team, when the young player are failing, they don't necessarily need to do this on the pitch, it can also been done off the pitch, or in the dressing room. Imagine Lucio, Van Bommel or Demichelis yelling at Toni Kroos and Robben, do you think they will dear not have the guts to stand up and take the penalty, Do you think if we had Van Bommel around he'll not be able to inspire young lads and give them that spirit, how about if we had young coach as well, they will know how to speak to the young players and inspire them, instead of old orthodox coaches who believe a player must obey instead of being made to believe they are better than they are.


Lack of long term plan has cost us far too much, it has resulted to every new manager wanting to get rid of the old players such as Van Bommel, Lucio and Demichelis and therefore breaking the foundation and grass root of the club. Now I am not saying it's not a good thing to introduce young guns such as Badstuber, Muller and Kroos, however it's also important we keep old players like Lucio, Demichelis and Van Bommel who have won trophies with the club in past years and understand more than the young guns, they do not have to start, say for example if we still had Lucio he could have played instead of Tymo as CB, Demichelis could have played and even Van Bommel could have probably played, even if they didn't play, all in all, they wouldn't have allow Schweinsteiger act like girl the way he did, they would have stopped him.

Talking about acting like a girl, I take you back to 13years ago when we loss to United, while Koffour was busy beating the floor hard showing his anger and disappointment, 13 years later Schweinsteiger was busy crying like a girl and being pampered by Buffon and Drogba, exactly thesame thing Kahn did for Canizares 11years ago, the older generation acted like men, new era Schweinsteiger, Alaba, Robben and Gomez simply lack the balls and are probably to busy shagging models and listening to justin bieber.

Anyways in conclusion the directors need to come out of their arrogant shell and spend on quality players. Our defence has been poor for years, lets stop pretending as if Badstuber is the Messiah, he's not the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, Rafinha is no willy Sagnol, Boateng is not consistence, Alaba could still fail, Contento can follow him afterwards, Van Buyten is ancient and dead, the depth is non-existent. Bayern need to bring back that spirit and experience, they need to bring back Lucio to inspire Bayern with his experience on and off the pitch. They have done a good job by signing Pizarro to mentor attacker such as Gomez and Mandzukic in attack, now they need to bring in Lucio for free to perhaps help Badstuber and Boateng grow some hard balls in important matches and stop them from falling on their own feet. We also need a tough midfielder like Martinez to balance things in our midfield and slap they *bleep* out of Robben whenever he needs to be put in his place, just like how Kahn slapped Van Bommel.


All in all, Bayern need to appoint a young, dynamic coach( pep Guardiola, Babel, Lucien Favre, or Jonker) they could even get Babel and Jonker as his assister or any of other young coaches and move forward with a proper long term strategy, temporary solutions like Heynkess is not the answer On the field bayern have no system, it will lead to further problem when he's replaced on a long run or perhaps sacked, its eleven individuals depending on miracles by either robben or ribery, the absence of leadership is startling, players panic when things go wrong

We might be heading towards self caused crisis, no questions about it. The directors must either buckle up or resign and let young guns like Kahn, effenberg can at the least bring some fresh ideas. Don't be surprise that we had another trophless season, but if repairs are not done then there might be more such seasons in the future.

Fix things as quick as possible before the damage is done, only if we had sign just 1 CB in the winter break, perhaps we could have abstained from the CPL damage of playing Tymo as CB and Kroos-Schweini as DM, little things like this are important on a long run and can pay us on a long run.

Fix things Hoeness, bring in quality players, shot-up Nerlinger, just bring in Quality players, stop buying cheap like Mandzukic, Pranjic, Petersen etc, bring in quality players like Martinez, Falcao, support them with veterans like Lucio and Pizarro, stop selling your captain in the middle of the season, stop selling your vice captain only to replace him Van Buyten, and then sell Demichelis who has been in the club for 8years since he was 19 and replace him Badstuber and Boateng, you should have sold Van Buyten, not Demichelis, Not Lucio.

Ribery still needs a back up, buy one, doesn't matter, we have a tiny squad of only 22 players, make it 25. Sign Ribery's back-up even if it mean he's just going to help out in the training and accept a permanent bench role, just buy them anyway, as long as you have already bought Quality players. Say for example, you can sign quality player like Martinez and just bring in another Player like a decent who will be happy for the fact of being at Bayern Munich alone just to fill in the gap in training, let say someone like how Hamit was for us.


Give us 25 man squad, not 21 people squad with bunch of females.

Heynckes have always had the backing of the board, it is about time he finds a cure for the cancer called Borussia Dortmund. Five games, five losses in two seasons – never has been a club, in Germany or in the continent, so dominant against the Bavarian giants. And for that to happen Heynckes will have to assess the positions that really need reparation for the coming season.


Certain senior players can be arraigned for failures at crucial junctures – like the two penalty misses by Arjen Robben; one against Dortmund that nipped Bayern’s chances to finish above Dortmund in the league and the second one in the Champions League final whose aftermath went into Chelsea’s folklore. There should be no reason to cut some slack for Mario Gomez. Had the powerful striker taken even one-third of the chances that came his way in the final two games of the Champions League, neither of the games would have gone on to shootouts.


So, what are the areas of concern for Bayern? Which players should they invest in to end their trophy-drought?

Problem One
Butt, who even managed to score a crucial penalty against Juventus in Champions League, 2009, served one more year as the back-up to another of Bayern’s youth graduates, Thomas Kraft, was reinstated to the starting line-up following the rookie’s poor form and eventually kept in the Champions League final in which Bayern lost to Inter. At the end of this season Butt announced his retirement from football. In his farewell game, Bayern named him the captain of the side that defeated The Netherlands in a friendly

Starke: Problem evenly solved.

Problem two
The curios case Breno Borges
Despite spending nearly four years at the club, including a loan spell at Nuremberg in 2010, the former Sao Paulo defender could only feature in as many as 21 Bundesliga games. He failed to establish himself on the pitch as a result found him pushed down the pecking order. The Brazilian will be allowed to leave, most probably to Lazio.

Dante: Problem upgrading solved.

Problem three
Ivica Olić
The tenacious Croat, who was relegated to be a back-up for Mario Gomez, decided to march on as it was clear that Bayern would adopt a lone-striker strategy. For a striker of his caliber, he surely deserves a lot more playing time than he gets in Bayern. So, all in all this is a win-win situation for both parties involved.

Pizarro: Problem temporarily upgrading solved

Problem Four
Takashi Usami
When Usami was loaned in from Gamba Osaka, he was touted to be Bayern’s reply to Dortmund’s Kagawa. The comparison was of course, ill-prorated as the Japanese star failed to live up to the hype. Having played in as many as three Bundesliga games and in total five times for the senior side, Usami scored only once, against Ingolstadt in DFB Pokal. Bayern will not exercise the option to buy Usami. Instead, he will set out for another loan spell with Hoffenheim.

Fill in the gap buy for training purposes: Weiser, Problem upgrading solved for the future .


Nils Petersen
The former Energie Cottbus hitman, who topped the goal scoring chart in Bundesliga II netting 25 times in 33 appearances, failed to get regular first team opportunities and is now looking for options elsewhere. It is likely that Bayern may listen to offers to off-load the unhappy striker to maintain dressing room chemistry.

Loan to Bremen: Mandzukic, Problem upgrading solve and can still benefit more in future.

Diego Contento
The Bayern Munich youth graduate could be on his way out in the lookout for greener pastures. Following David Alaba’s praiseworthy performances for Die Roten, Contento has seen his stocks tank. Lack of first team action can force the talented left-back to look elsewhere.

Extended Contract: Played well in the Champions league and can still improve, problem solved unclear, we need Lucio, just so we can have many option if he fails, eg Push Dante to the left, when Alaba is suspended, injured or also failed, then Lucio, Boateng and Badstuber can cover CB. Problem can still be upgraded.


Pranjic
His contract will not be extended and he's expected to leave

Shaqiri: Problem upgrading solved.







..............................................................New Arrivals for depth problem Rating

Xherdan Shaqiri
The FC Basel talisman, who impressed one and all with his creativity and vision, following Basel’s ouster of Manchester United from the Champions League, was quickly snapped up by Bayern. Usami, who was signed to play as a back-up to either of the Bayern wingers, failed to light up the Allianz Arena. Bayern realized that they needed someone more complete and competitive. Shaqiri, who was already a name in the transfer grapevine, played his part in Basel’s 1-0 victory over Bayern in the Champions League and won himself an offer to join the Münchners from next season onwards. This signing will surely make Bayern a lot more competitive in the next season as Shaqiri is tested in Europe unlike Usami. Shaqiri is comfortable on the right-midfield role. But the self-proclaimed polyvalent can also play on the left side as well as an auxiliary striker. Not only that, the Kraftwürfel aka power cube can also play as a fullback as well.


Future Prospect: B+
Current ability: C+
Depth: B
Versatile: B
Experience: C
Starting 11 Upgrade: C-

Overall: B




Dante (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
As Bayern have identified Boateng and Badstuber as their centre half pairing, they needed an able back-up to their services. Van Buyten is already in the twilight days of his career. Badstuber and Boateng are young and inexperienced whereas Boateng is not a natural centre half. Dante could fit in perfectly into the squad. Instrumental in Gladbach’s renaissance season, Dante can easily feature as even the first choice centre half, replacing Boateng or Badstuber.


Future Prospect: C-
Current ability: B
Depth: B-
Versatile: C
Experience: C+
Starting 11 Upgrade: B

Overall: B-



Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen)
The veteran Peruvian, who has already played for the Bavarians for six long seasons, between 2001 and 2007, has been signed up by Bayern for his second stint with the club. In all competitions, Pizarro has netted 100 goals for Bayern in 254 outings. This season he has been prolific for Bremen where he has scored 18 times in 29 games. He is the perfect striker to replace Olić. The veteran striker would not mind second fiddle to Mario Gomez and his experience of Bundesliga can prove to be vital for Bayern


Future Prospect: F-
Current ability: C+
Depth: C+
Versatile: F
Experience: A
Starting 11 Upgrade: D

Overall: C



Tom Starke (Hoffenheim)
With the retirement of Butt, Bayern do not wish to make the mistakes they made when they tried to install first Rensing and then Kraft in to the first team, straight from the reserves. The veteran goalie had a good season with Hoffenheim and at this point of his career would not mind playing a back-up to Manuel Neuer


Future Prospect: D-
Current ability: C-
Depth: C
Versatile: F-
Experience: C+
Starting 11 Upgrade: D-

Overall: C-


Mitchell Weiser (Köln)
The Both-sided versatile footballer has been snapped up by Bayern from Köln. The emerging talent was the find of the FIFA U-17 World Cup along with the likes of Yesil, Can and Aycicek. Weiser can play both as a right/Left-winger as well as a right/left wing-back.


Future Prospect: C+
Current ability: D
Depth: D
Versatile: B+
Experience: F+
Starting 11 Upgrade: D-

Overall: C-


Emre Can
Regarded as one of Bayern Munich hottest prospect and the next good thing to come out of Bayern Academy, Can is expected to début his first season with the senior squad and has been given a professional contract. He can play as CB, DM and CM, a younger version of Javi Martinez but in versatility, playing styles and body physique. The emerging talent was the find of the FIFA U-17 World Cup along with the likes of Yesil, Weiser and Aycicek.


Future Prospect: B-
Current ability: D+
Depth: D+
Versatile: B
Experience: D
Starting 11 Upgrade: D

Overall: C+



Mario Mandzukic
The former Wolfsburg striker was signed to compete with Gomez and was favoured head of superstars such as Dzeko, he scored 3 goals in 3 appearance in this year Euro competition. He's good with header and can play as a second striker or as a right right winger.


Future Prospect: C
Current ability: C
Depth: C
Versatile: C
Experience: C
Starting 11 Upgrade: C

Overall: C.


...........................................................Possible arrival
Personally for me I think Bayern still need 1 more player to improve their starting eleven as well as 2 more fill in the gap emergency player, one as CB and the other as Ribery's back-up.


Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao)
With Tymoshchuk way beyond his prime and Gustavo being more of a Van Bommel-esque player and the best destroyer in the world, Bayern are in the lookout for a player in Schweinsteiger’s foil. Spain’s Martinez, who is also under Manchester United’s radar, has interested the Münchners. But to sign this young prodigy Bayern may have to cough up a significantly high transfer fee, which may act as a negative catalyst for this deal to go through.


Future Prospect: A
Current ability: B+
Depth: A-
Versatile: A-
Experience: B
Starting 11 Upgrade: B+

Overall: A-


Lucio
The former Inter player defender Lucio, who is now a fee agent has revealed that he would join Bayern Munich once more, if given an offer. Since his wage demand is only 2million, we could offer him 1year contract, just so he can mentor our ballness CB, we already knows Bayern very well and can inspire the team when it's needed.


Future Prospect: F
Current ability: C+
Depth: C+
Versatile: F-
Experience: A+
Leadership: A
Starting 11 Upgrade: C+

Overall: B


thomas hitzlsperger could be sign just to fill in the gap

I would gladly sacrificie Martinez this season & put those 30-35M for multiple players. A LW like Mertens,a CM like Sahin(all 12-13M odd this 25M).

And then get someone else. I donno who,someone 5-10M odd. Maybe a DM,maybe Bender on a 1-2M Paid Loan with a Buy Clause of 12-15M at the end of the season.

That would be cool. Or if not that then a 4th CB who can play DM & comes for cheap. Maybe I will give Lucio a 1 year contract & experiment with DVB at ST. Or something else. I donno,I am against a 35M purchase when we can get 2. And Gustavo is good enough to start & no point wasting Tymo's wages

Kingofeverythingclassy wrote:I would gladly sacrificie Martinez this season & put those 30-35M for multiple players. A LW like Mertens,a CM like Sahin(all 12-13M odd this 25M).

And then get someone else. I donno who,someone 5-10M odd. Maybe a DM,maybe Bender on a 1-2M Paid Loan with a Buy Clause of 12-15M at the end of the season.

That would be cool. Or if not that then a 4th CB who can play DM & comes for cheap. Maybe I will give Lucio a 1 year contract & experiment with DVB at ST. Or something else. I donno,I am against a 35M purchase when we can get 2. And Gustavo is good enough to start & no point wasting Tymo's wages

I think we need Martinez to improve the team, Gustavo is a good destroyer but after that Nothing else really.

I don't think Madrid will want to sell Sahin, otherwise he would have been a good purchase.


I don't think Bender will come for something that cheap or even a loan. I think Lucio will be good for experience.

Bender will take huge amounts of convincing considering what his youth club was.

Phritz wrote:Bender will take huge amounts of convincing considering what his youth club was.

Not only that - he's at Bayer Leverkusen with a contract till 2017, and need I say "Rudi Völler" and "Arturo Vidal"?

Plus they're planning to come back to 1860 when they get promoted. (I wish)

Phritz wrote:Plus they're planning to come back to 1860 when they get promoted. (I wish)

I like 1860 Munich, perhaps if they get promoted, we could loan some of our players out there(Can, Weiser and Petersen) and borrow you guys some money to help you out like we always do.


You know small brother, brotherly love.

I would not mind at all having Lúcio back at the club. First, he's a great leader and would do wonders in the changing room. Second, he knows the club, knows German and is a huge Bayern fan. Third, he's a good player and would freshen up our limited defense. I doubt he'd consider coming back, though, considering the way he left the club. Not having van Gaal helps, but one doesn't easily forget such asshole decisions.

I would also love Martinez. He wouldn't just be our DM, but he'd be able to help out in attack and introduce technique when it's needed. He's very complete. If we can't get Vidal, he's complete enough for the job. He could pull off the Schweinsteiger role when Schweini is injured or out of form, too. Our midfield suffered when van Bommel left (nevermind us missing his leadership). Gustavo is great, but having a 3rd option never hurts. It could even open up us playing 4-3-3.

Us signing a few youngsters, I love. Bayern has done very well in this aspect in the past few years, showing that we don't need to splash massive cash and can develop guys in our team. If they hit big, they can even make it into our starting 11 and cement themselves in our ranks. Apart from Barca, we're one of the few big clubs with such good youth. No complaints there.

Now, get us Martinez, send the young jewels on loan and make Neuer captain and we're set .