Bayern München under Niko Kovac

The manager

Both Niko Kovač and his younger brother Robert played for FC Bayern at the beginning of our millenium, simultaneously even, though Robert was the more successful one at Bayern- staying longer and starting in central defense for several seasons, while Niko's Bayern career was much more modest.

Now Niko Kovac is our manager and Robert his assistant.

Born and raised in Berlin-Wedding like other heroes of German football such as Thomas Hässler and Kevin-Prince Boateng, Niko and Kovac grew up in Germany at a time when young kids of immigrants weren't automatically considered Germans, not even if they were football talents.
That's why Kovac was a Croatian international player, and also manager of the Croatian NT after retiring from playing.

We picked him after two very successful years at Eintracht Frankfurt. Kovac became Eintracht coach late in the 15/16 season with the club heading for relegation.
He prevented them from going down and then led them to a midtable finish and a DFB-Pokal final, and then, in the 2017/18 to Europa League quali and another cup final, this time winning the DFB-Pokal trophy vs Jupp's Bayern in Jupp's last game of his managerial career. This was the first trophy won by Eintracht in 30 years.

The pick of the successor of Carlo Ancelotti and Jupp Heynckes was much debated affair, favourites were hype names like Tuchel and Nagelsmann (with myself strongly rooting for Tuchel), and the pick of Kovac seemed somewhat unambitious and modest at the time.

Kovac is not an especially 'proven' coach, has never coached a top team in UEFA competitions, is still young himself.
The early signs are great though. Not only is he a no nonsense guy that is reportedly training very hard, he's also, it seems, decided to keep up a continuity of philosophy, if you will, with Jupp and Pep, opting for high pressing and a dominant approach.
In the last test game of the training camp this week, vs an amateur side, the lines of the positional play grid also employed by Pep for training were still visible on the pitch


The team

At the same time, our team feels more in transition than it used to feel in previous seasons. The spine of the successful and stable last years has become old, and most of all the it has started to feel somewhat stale, plateauing on the level of clearly dominating domestically while being unlucky and not fully satisfying in Champions League.
We've sold Vidal, a veteran world class midfielder while adding Goretzka, a completely unproven young German NT prospect.
Lewandowski wants out but it was made clear to him that we won't let him, and he seems to have accepted that begrudgingly for now.
There's talks of selling Boateng and Thiago, which together frankly would mean an immense bloodletting of world class talent and experience from our team.
Still, it does not feel completely out of the blue, as there has to be some sense of renewal, and changes need to be made.
However, to my personal horror, I had to realize that Serge Gnabry mysteriously is considered by our club to be a proper part of the squad now and a serious contender for the quasi-vacant spots of Ribéry and Robben, both of whom will be with us for one last year.
All in all, losing player like Vidal, Thiago or Boateng while adding players like Goretzka, Gnabry and Tolisso sounds pretty risky to me, to put it mildly.
I'm not sure what expectations we can have when we hand a squad that has been downsized in format to a new, young unproven manager

But I'm fully confident that Kovac will generate and release energy and good team performances from our squad, no matter who ends up playing.
I can honestly say I haven't been as excited about, and looking forward to, a Bayern season in a few years.

Tonight, our season starts with the Supercup vs Kovac's old club, cup winners Frankfurt

Thoughts?

I think he's going to surprise a lot of people. Wish he pushed for a new winger though, Gnabry is not good enough to play for Bayern, not even as a squad player. Just one more option on the wing man, Bayern hierarchy are being a bit too cheap-- do they really believe in Kovac?

Yeah I mean if I hear Rummenigge saying that they rejected signing Martial as we have 4 wide attackers in Robben, Ribery, Coman and Gnabry and so there's no space for Martial I actually want to eat a bottle of sleeping pills and for it all to be over

Either they're *bleep* clowns, or bluffing, or cheap.

Nice write-up. Hope he does well.

Have Bayern signed no (relevant) players in this session ? Why ? Unreal , I can't see who can stop Juve from winning next Uefa Champions League

.New Bayern manager, Niko Kovač, said at the beginning of pre-season training, "I'll try to make him feel good here. When someone feels good, it's much easier to perform well. He has skills that you don't see every day in the Bundesliga; that's why FC Bayern signed him.

Niko to unlock Renato's potential? ufff

Why not ? I used the same philosophy in Football Manager with great success

Injury to Coman in the first game, looks bad

Coman is the least player we can afford to be injured

if he's out for a while, we MUST buy another attacker

else it's Robbery at 34 repsectively 35 years old and Gn *bleep* abry

Don't worry you will still win Bundesliga..

I know you are tired of hearing this so I must continue to remind you...

YOU! WILL! WIN! BUNDESLIGA!

Alphonso Davies is coming in january, no need to worry

meanwhile Süle is now clearly the experienced leader at the back, the rock supporting the manbabies Hummels and Boateng going through midlife crisis

Chill with the Bavarian Bailly hype

Its still early days

Bayern are walking the league stop complaining about meaningless stuff please

Might be the most average Bayern side since 2008 though. Would be nice if they get a hard CL group for once.

I am not afraid. We might seem average, but are actually better than ever.

There is no way for us to measure that though, unless u win the CL

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Kingsley Coman sustained a syndesmosis ligament tear above his left ankle in the 3-1 victory over TSG Hoffenheim. That was the diagnosis of an examination by the medical unit after the match. Coman has to undergo surgery and will be sidelined for a number of weeks.

https://fcbayern.com/en/news/2018/08/diagnosis-for-coman-syndesmosis-ligament-tear

It's the same injury he had last season which caused him to misss several months

Hapless_Hans wrote:Injury to Coman in the first game, looks bad

Coman is the least player we can afford to be injured

if he's out for a while, we MUST buy another attacker

else it's Robbery at 34 repsectively 35 years old and Gn *bleep* abry

Thiago for Dembele straight swap, my last offer.

Myesyats wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:Injury to Coman in the first game, looks bad

Coman is the least player we can afford to be injured

if he's out for a while, we MUST buy another attacker

else it's Robbery at 34 repsectively 35 years old and Gn *bleep* abry

Thiago for Dembele straight swap, my last offer.

Renato Sanches - Dembélé straight swap. Considering your opinion of Dembélé, that should be more than fair.

Just kidding, we'll never get rid of this once-in-a-lifetime talent. (:

What a loss ffs everything is dangerously prepared for Juve to win UCL this year

We can give you Candreva though