Bundesliga - Bayern look to heap misery on Stuttgart

Reuters - Thu, 29 Oct 10:12:00 2009

Bayern Munich will seek to take advantage of Stuttgart's disarray on Saturday to make it three wins out of three and close in on the Bundesliga leaders.

FOOTBALL 2009 2010 FC Bayern Eintracht Frankfurt - 0

Having demolished Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 in the German Cup on Wednesday, playing some inspiring football for the first time this season, the Bavarians are eager to put in a good run after a shaky start to the season.

They are fifth in the league on 18 points, four off leaders Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg, while Stuttgart languish in 14th place, level on points with second-last Bochum.

"This is how I imagine the FC Bayern," club manager Uli Hoeness said after their third round Cup win. "Now we have to launch a winning streak."

Dutch coach Louis van Gaal will have more reasons to be happy going into the match against Stuttgart, who have lost five successive matches in all competitions.

Attacking midfielder Arjen Robben should be fully fit to play, while Italian Luca Toni and fellow striker Miroslav Klose, who scored a combined three out of four goals against Eintracht, seem to be hitting top form after recovering from injuries.

Playmaker Franck Ribery will be missing, still nursing an injury that will keep him out for weeks, but Robben's return and Thomas Mueller's current sparkling form should make up for the loss of the Frenchman in midfield.

"4-0 is a pretty clear result and that is where we have to pick up in our next matches," said Klose.

Stuttgart, one of the pre-season favourites, have had a disastrous start to the season, winning only one out of their last eight league matches, leaving coach Markus Babbel's future in doubt.

Their shock Cup defeat to second division Greuther Fuerth and a shoving match at the end of that match between Belarussian Aleksandr Hleb and Stuttgart's team doctor, has further demoralised the team.

Babbel will stay on for now, the club has said, but speculation is rife that a loss on Saturday could see him go.

Undefeated Leverkusen have their work cut out against fourth-placed Schalke 04, who have thrived under coach Felix Magath and are only two points behind the leaders.

Hamburg, second on goal difference and also undefeated, take on lowly Borussia Moenchengladbach, while third-placed Werder Bremen, on 21 points travel to Nuremberg.

Reuters

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  1. Aren't the current FC Bayern woes evidence that it­ is not such an easy side to train and coach? Here you­ have one of the most experienced men in Europe now at­ the helm, and he still struggles to cobble together a­ side that convincingly wins. Forget this lopsided away­ cup win in Frankfurt; Eintracht Frankfurt looked­ horrible, even amatuerish at times. Bayern only have a­ weak goal in newly promoted Freiburg in their last­ Bundesliga encounter to evidence Saturday offensive­ prowess....The previous three Bundesliga matches saw no­ goals from Germany's by-far most expensive lineup. ­ So...van Gaal struggles (despite all his long coaching­ VITA). So isn't it fair to ask why Jurgen Klinsman­ got so much grief? Yes, it was his debut as a club­ side coach. And he did pretty good with it. Hard to­ fill the shoes of departing coach, Otmar Hitzfeld,­ Klinsi helped FC Bayern breeze through the Champions­ League group stag e. Van Gaal cannot claim the same,­ reference the loss in Bordeaux last Wednesday. Yet,­ the never ending soap opera in Munich led by­ Wurst-Fabrik Uli Hoeness, Pres. Karl-Heinz Rummennigge,­ and puppeteer Franz Beckenbauer knows no plot except­ that these three 1) usher in new coach to great­ acclaim, 2) spend months 4 - 8 with the coach openly in­ critique, THEIR critique, then 3) fire the coach,­ quietly crowing to media everywhere that they can do it­ better. This version of a cheap offshoot of­ Dante's themes has visited itself on Otto Rehagle,­ Hitzfeld, Felix Magath, and Klinsman in recent years. ­ It does not end. Does Van Gaal think he can avoid­ this? No chance! Ask a Felix Magath who gave FC­ Bayern two doubles only to be dumped. FC Bayern had a­ new, brief wrinkle of excitement under Klinsi who had­ the misfortune to be up against Magath's vengance­ in the form of VfL Wolfsburg and to lose to FC­ Barcelona in the CL knock-outs. Well, Chelsea and MANU­ weren't good enough for Barca either. Alas, for­ Van Gaal, the problem in Munich is the

    From A, on Sat 31 Oct 12:33AM
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