What a terrible start to the season for Bayern Munich.
First off, the club is unlucky that their league MVP Arjen Robben suffered a serious and controversial injury thanks to an excellent World Cup run with Holland. Then the defending champs of the Bundesliga proceeded to drop three out of their first seven matches and have fallen 13 points out of the lead and are currently 10 points behind rivals Dortmund after a little less then a quarter of the season.
And the successful club’s front office is so displeased with the franchise-record-setting poor results on the pitch that they have cancelled the club’s planned trip to the Munich Oktoberfest and instead the team will be forced to train on that day. So despite the two week international football layoff, none of the German team’s players will be able to partake in a hearty Das Boot; instead they will be focused on running wind sprints and preparing for their Oct. 16 match against Hannover.
Talk about a cruel punishment to the German footballers! The Bayern Munich front office released this statement yesterday regarding the decision:
The board of FC Bayern Munich has called off the planned visit of the team, the trainers and management to the Munich Oktoberfest. Given the sporting situation, coach Louis van Gaal has instead scheduled a training session for 1130.
And Bayern Munich is obviously sending a message to their team that just because of their great Champions League success last season they can’t become content for mediocre results. The board appears to be instilling a sense of urgency into their players and it will be interesting to see how that new found tough-love mentality works.
President Uli Hoeness stressed that the team needs to “wake up” and admitted that he has grown tired of his side’s happy-go-lucky attitude around the practice facility:
The time has now come when we have got to stop covering things over and we have got to be clear about things. The successes in the Champions League are all well and good, but we cannot be happy with the overall situation. We have all got to wake up. We have got to stop walking around in a good mood and whistling to ourselves. Enough is enough. Only eight points after seven games is just not on. Mainz have now got a 13-points advantage and that is catastrophic for FC Bayern. I cannot remember every being so many points behind after only almost a quarter of the season.
And it appears no German footballer will be drinking a stein, Das Boot, or even regular mug of beer with Hoeness this October. Apparently the time to sober up has come for the German powerhouse.
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