You say you want a revolution…

October 20, 2008

Bayern Munich thought they were getting instant Revolution when they hired Juergen Klinsmann but, with apologies for mixing up my rock references, at the moment it’s a case of ”Meet the new boss, same as the old boss“.

Klinsmann has given his squad a plush new training complex, complete with Buddha statues, and the players can take language lessons while they chill out between sessions, but when it comes to the football, the coach is finding it tougher to exert his influence.

Klinsmann was certainly keen to experiment early on. He gave 18-year-old winger Toni Kroos a place in the starting line-up for the first league match and kept faith with a three-man defence for as long as he decently could.

He then tried dropping his captain, Mark van Bommel, and switching Martin Demichelis from centre back to central midfield, yet with results refusing to improve the coach reverted to to a tried and trusted formula for Saturday’s game against Karlsruhe.

Klinsmann sent the team out with the old 4-4-2 formation, with Van Bommel back in midfield alongside Ze Roberto, and Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger as wide men.

It was essentially the same team and tactics used by Ottmar Hitzfeld last season and while the football was far from pretty it did at least bring the desired result, with Miroslav Klose converting a cross from Massimo Oddo for the only goal four minutes from time.

Bayern fans must be casting envious glances at Hoffenheim, who briefly took over at the top of the table after winning 5-2 away to Hanover 96 (helped, it must be said, by some spectacularly bad goalkeeping from Florian Fromlowitz).

Hoffenheim are playing in the Bundesliga for the first time and are clearly enjoying the ride. In their last four games they have scored 15 goals and conceded nine, with the attacking trio of Ibisevic, Obasi and Ba collectively running riot.

That was pretty much what we were expecting from Klinsmann’s Bayern, wasn’t it?

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