Our next opponents FC Bayern: Small squad, big targets

Position

The laboured 1-0 win for Bayern against Regional League side Drochtersen/Assel in the DFB Cup gave rise to hopes for people looking for an exciting title race in the Bundesliga. A lot of international stars returned late due to the World Cup and a new coach was at the helm at the start of the season – a possible sign of a stumble for FCB at the start of the campaign. But that was wide of the mark: The record champions showed no sign of weakness in the 3-1 win in the opening fixture at home to TSG Hoffenheim and the convincing 3-0 victory over VfB Stuttgart and, after two games, they are back in the same position in the Bundesliga where they finished the past six seasons – top of the table. Bayern have long been the benchmark in Germany and the new coach Niko Kovac has the task of rediscovering success on the European stage. Bayern have drawn beatable opponents in the Champions League group stage: FCB play Ajax Amsterdam, Benfica and AEK Athens. And the DFB Cup second round tie against Regional League SV Rödinghausen looks to pose few problems for the Kovac team on paper. However, the first round demonstrated that is not always the case...

Personnel

In contrast to recent seasons, there was little transfer activity at Bayern Munich over the summer. The signing of Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry was agreed earlier in the year and there have been no other forays into the transfer market. The most spectacular signing brought in coach Niko Kovac, who was prised away from Eintracht Frankfurt, and that is intended to establish a new era following on from the last 14 years where no manager has been at the club for more than three years. It was also very quiet in terms of players leaving FCB.  The loaned out Douglas Costa finally joined Juventus; the surfeit of central midfielders arising from the signing of Goretzka was eased with departure of the former Leverkusen player Arturo Vidal to Barcelona. There was also no place for Sebastian Rudy and the Germany international left FCB just before the end of the transfer window – as was the case with left back Juan Bernat. The former Leverkusen player Niko Kovac can also count on the core of the team that has won the Bundesliga year after year.

ProblemS

The 3-1 win in the opener against Hoffenheim did bring bad news for the Bayern camp: Winger Kingsley Coman suffered an ankle injury that rules him out for most of the first half of the season. That is also a bitter blow as Coman was sidelined for the decisive phase of last season with the same injury (and that also meant he missed the World Cup with France in Russia). It could also be a problem as there is little cover in the wing back positions at FCB. The established pair of wingers Robben/Ribéry, aged 34 and 35 respectively, still perform at the highest level but they are increasingly susceptible to injury and rarely play the full 90 minutes. One result of the sale of Bernat is the absence of a quality left-back to provide competition to David Alaba.

Potential

FC Bayern continue to develop their status as a global brand. The squad flew out to the USA for their summer training camp and in the winter they are likely to return to Qatar as in previous years. Last week came the announcement of the club setting up a third football school in China. "Chinese football has very great potential," declared FCB. It is not just about the sporting side but also the possibility of "transporting the brand and values of FC Bayern to China," as the director for internationalisation and strategy Jörg Wacker explained. The future of  FC Bayern cannot be solely measured in terms of success on the pitch as the club wants to maximise its huge potential in all other areas – on a global level too.

Prediction

Once again, there appears to be hardly any teams in Germany who can stand in the way of FC Bayern winning a seventh league title in succession as the Bayern Munich squad still has top players in all positions. As the record champions recognised last term, that also depends to a great extent on events off the pitch. If Niko Kovac can show his tactical sensitivity from his time at Frankfurt on the European stage and Bayern avoid injuries at the business end of the season then they could achieve success in the Champions League.