Peter Bosz’s side let slip a 2-0 lead at Frankfurt as injuries and suspensions hit the backline in a Bundesliga season that is opening up into a three-way fightAfter Borussia Dortmund threw away a two-goal lead at Eintracht Frankfurt and were forced to settle for a draw, the journey home proved pretty memorable, too. With the motorway closed, and the team coach and fans alike stuck in traffic, near the town of Haiger, two dozen or so supporters took it on themselves to serenade the stationary team bus with an impromptu rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone. Gänsehaut – goose bumps, Dortmund said. Following Die Schwarzgelben is rarely dull.There was the entertaining heavy metal football under Jürgen Klopp, they scored...
The recent appointments of 70-somethings Jupp Heynckes and Roy Hodgson and the rising average age of Premier League managers signify a shift in attitudesJupp Heynckes was formally introduced as Bayern Munich’s interim manager on Monday, declaring that despite having retired four years ago he was “looking forward to the challenge” of leading the club through the remainder of the season, which will conclude a few days after his 73rd birthday. “Critics say I’ve been out of the game for four years but football’s not been reinvented,” said Heynckes, who will take charge of the team for the first time against Freiburg on Saturday. “Age is a number and nothing more. Some feel old at 45 but I’ve not changed. I...
The sacked manager has many fine attributes but could never live up to his predecessor and Wednesday’s defeat by PSG was the final strawWhen Bayern Munich came to London in March to face Arsenal, following one 5-1 victory and just about to register another, everything seemed rosy in the kingdom of FC Hollywood. Sure, their football in the Bundesliga had hardly been edge-of-the-seat stuff, but Carlo Ancelotti spoke confidently, almost bullishly, of his team before the game in the press room at the Emirates Stadium.He talked of his side approaching their physical best and of their “real energy”. It felt like his plan to take them back to Champions League glory – the reason that he was appointed to replace...
Now, perhaps, James Rodríguez is the way by which Carlo Ancelotti will finally impress a version of his personality on Bayern MunichThe Bundesliga’s first Englische Woche – as they call a midweek programme of fixtures in Germany – of the season always hands out a few opportunities to unlikely heroes, as head coaches mix it up in the midst of a busy programme. Carlo Ancelotti, with a prestige Champions League meeting against former club Paris Saint-Germain, is no different, and accordingly made six changes for Bayern Munich’s Tuesday trip to Schalke, the standout fixture of the round.One was enforced, with Sven Ulreich taking his position between the posts on the day it was announced Manuel Neuer would be out until...
A 5-0 thrashing at Dortmund could have been worse, even with a dubious VAR decision, and there are already fears of a situation spinning out of controlJörg Schmadtke rushed out to the Sky truck in the TV compound to pore over every possible angle – and to check his eyes weren’t deceiving him. By that point, the Köln sporting director had already been on the Signal Iduna Park pitch, shoulder to shoulder with the coach, Peter Stöger, protesting to the referee, Patrick Ittrich, over the award by VAR of Borussia Dortmund’s second goal. Before any more fingers start pointing at Effzee about an anarchic end to a chaotic week, we should add that this was a reasonable moment for both...