The 72-year-old Jupp Heynckes came out of retirement to take charge of German giants on Friday. The German Bundesliga, country’s top flight club football competition, is being often termed as a one team league primarily because Bayern Munich have won the league title 27 times, 19 more than second best Borussia Dortmund.
That stat alone suggests Bayern domination is unmatched in the country, which is why managers are always expected to win no matter what the situation is.
It is precisely what Carlo Ancelotti found for his team’s slow start, as for the first time in his illustrious coaching career, he was sacked from his post midseason.
Following Ancelotti’s departure, numerous names were in the news to take over one of the most precious jobs in European football including the likes of former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, former Borussia Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel and Hoffenheim’ Julian Nagelsmann.
But the hierarchy instead opted for the man who made Bayern the first team in the country to complete unprecedented treble back in 2012-13 – Jupp Heynckes until the end of the season.
The idea behind the move was simple which was that Heynckes had amazing success during his last tenure at the Allianz Arena and given his experience, he won’t need much time to settle in there which gave him an instant backing of the top-level management.
But the real question is will he be able to rescue Bayern’s season? By the look of things, the answer is no, and there are reasons to follow this claim.
First of that is this team lacks a leader. In any champion team, there is a need of leaders, who take the game from the scruff of the neck, just like what Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi do for their clubs.
Four years back, Bayern had at least two such individuals in the squad who knew what they had to do to turn things around, Phillip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore, and Bayern always found wanting in such conditions.
Another factor is the lack of x-factor, which is down to poor transfer policies of the board. Back then, Bayern had the most devastating pair on the wings in the form of fitter Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben, who together decimated even the star-studded Barcelona.
The pair have grown older and are not as effective anymore, whereas the club have not signed any replacements as well.
The last factor is that Heynckes was away from football in the last four years, and the game has advanced so much that it can take him a lot of time to settle, in which it might well be too late to achieve anything substantial this season.
After a recent 2-2 draw against Hertha Berlin in game week seven, interim manager Willy Sagnol openly admitted that his club isn’t the best in the country and he was not really wrong about it.
Bayern isn’t best anymore which was also found out in Ancelotti’s last three matches as well, where twice his team gave two goals lead away and were then humiliated by Paris Saint Germain (PSG)’s attacking force.
It might be too early to claim, but Bayern’s legacy in Germany and Europe is at stake, and if Bayern’s hierarchy’s policies wouldn’t change in the near future, it might well prove to be a too big of a task even for someone of the calibre of Heynckesto change their fortune.
