Pressure is mounting on Bayern Munich boss Niko Kovac as the German champions once again dropped points today – this time in a humiliating 5-1 defeat at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt. This comes just days after the Croatian angered the Munich fans when he proclaimed his former club, Frankfurt, have the “best fans in Bundesliga”.
With just the one win in the last four games in the league, Bayern sit fourth on 18 points – they’re closer to Leverkusen in tenth than they are Monchengladbach in first. Today’s game, as I alluded to earlier, was nothing short of humiliating for the champions.
After just nine minutes this afternoon, Jerome Boateng saw red and from then on, it was a nightmare performance for the Bavarians. Filip Kostic and Djibril Sow both bagged as Frankfurt raced into a two goal lead. Robert Lewandowski then pulled one back as he beat numerous defenders to score his 20th goal of the season in all competitions, but it turned out to be very much in vain.
Kovac on the brink
Despite a spirited performance from Manuel Neuer, the ten men of Munich couldn’t hold off Frankfurt as David Abraham, Martin Hinteregger and Goncalo Paciencia all netted to send Munich home empty handed.
Something that certainly won’t help the mood in Munich is the form of their early season title rivals. All three of Gladbach, Dortmund and Leipzig won comfortably today, with the latter scoring an unbelievable eight times against Mainz.
More worryingly though, is the sheer lack of any quality on the field for the champions at the moment. The Munich fans have taken issue with Kovac’s tactical decisions, particularly his substitution choices. Moreover, playing stars such as Thomas Muller out of position certainly won’t help the situation either. The German was supposed to celebrate his 500th appearance in Bundesliga today, but spent the majority of it isolated out on the right wing having little to no impact on the match.
So, with all that in mind, is it time for the Niko Kovac to be given his marching orders? I would say not, the fans may be starting to get very unsettled but it’s important to note that the manager is missing some of his stars. Niklas Sule and Lucas Hernandez are both out with long term injuries and today, Kovac was forced to use David Alaba as a centre-half with Canadian winger Alphonso Davies filling in at left-back.
As well as that, they are currently relying on players like Philippe Coutinho, whom has barely played for the last year, to settle into a rhythm instantly in a league he has never played in before. Given time, I do believe that the Brazilian will come good for Bayern – but it’s important the fans do extend him that time – and the same goes for Kovac. Lets not forget he did bring the Bundesliga title to Munich last season, that fact alone should afford him more time.
I thoroughly believe Kovac should, and mostly like will, be given at the very least two more games before the Bayern hierarchy pull the plug on his time in Munich. What do you think? Should Kovac be sacked or does he need to be given more time?
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