Pre-Season Preview: Bayern Munich

Die Roten Fans Will Once Again Expect Suc­cess From Their Team This Season.

The Bundesliga’s reign­ing cham­pi­ons and last year’s Cham­pi­ons League final­ists will be rar­ing to go this sea­son after expe­ri­enc­ing so much suc­cess under Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal last term. The Dutch tac­ti­cian has made clear that he will not be at the Allianz Arena for much longer as he feels he is ready to take charge of a national side and try his hand at World Cup glory, so this sea­son or next may be the end of a great vein of suc­cess for Die Roten.

Key Play­ers

Down the wings, Bay­ern Munich are absolutely deadly. With the pace and skill of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, who have been nick­named ‘Rob­bery’ in Ger­many by Die Roten fans, Bay­ern Munich have the abil­ity to unlock any defense in the Bun­desliga and all of Europe as well.  But now, maybe more than ever, Bay­ern Munich pos­sess a fan­tas­tic threat down the mid­dle of the park as well. Ger­man mid­fielder Bas­t­ian Schwe­in­steiger seemed to fully blos­som into the player we all knew he could be in 2006. His dynamism, his end­less energy, his abil­ity to both win the ball and orches­trate attacks, and his fierce lead­er­ship will prove vital for Bay­ern Munich this sea­son. Schwe­in­steiger, though, isn’t the only young player who will attack the cen­ter of the oppo­si­tion defense this season.

New­com­ers

Another young Ger­man player who excelled at the World Cup and also walked away with the Young Player of the Tour­na­ment award and the Golden Boot award at the World Cup will be look­ing to con­tinue his suc­cess with Bay­ern Munich this sea­son. Thomas Mueller’s abil­ity to fin­ish chances and cre­ate so many as well is a huge feat for a player who is only 19 years old. The boy looked absolutely unplayable in the World Cup, espe­cially against Eng­land, and he looks set to explode this sea­son with his club. He will tear teams apart if he gets his chance under Van Gaal at Munich this year.

Young attack­ing mid­fielder Toni Kroos has also returned from a very suc­cess­ful loan-spell at Bayer Lev­erkusen, where he scored 10 goals in 43 appear­ances, as well as being piv­otal in any and all attack­ing moves. His return will bol­ster Bay­ern Munich’s attack­ing poten­tial, and he will add the skill and thrill of a tre­quartista to the side, should he get the chance to play.

Expec­ta­tions

Bay­ern Munich, sea­son through sea­son, expect to be num­ber 1. This sea­son will be no dif­fer­ent for the cur­rent Bun­desliga cham­pi­ons. Their team, at least on paper, is by far supe­rior to any other Bun­desliga side. They eas­ily have one of the best sides in Europe, if last year’s Cham­pi­ons League run is any­thing to go by. Louis Van Gaal will be expected to dom­i­nate once more on a domes­tic level, and again push for Euro­pean glory. Any­thing short of that will cer­tainly be a dis­ap­point­ment to Die Roten fans and to the heavy-handed Bay­ern Munich board of directors.