I don't think anyone can leave out James, he looked amazing in his first game with Bayern. I actually disagree about Carlo starting to phase out Robbery; if anything he did not continue with that like Pep had. Last season I didn't see Douglas Costa or Kingsley Coman at all. It was incredibly frustrating. Kimmich got phased out after starting the year white hot; Sanches wasn't given any opportunities at all and when he was, it wasn't in a position for him to succeed. Alaba went from one of the most impressive players in the world to a pretty average left back; Boateng and Hummels seem completely disrespected. Boateng IMO is the best defender in the world, so I thought that was idiotic too.
I also think that 1) a trophy is not guaranteed at all. I have a ton of respect for Bosz and it looks like he and Dortmund are killing it. Neuer may be out for the entire season, which is a HUUUUGE blow and makes it a lot more challenging.
Anyway, it is Heynckes right now, who I think is a good interim appointment. The players obviously respect him a lot and I think he can get them to work hard and at least challenge Dortmund for the league. After that it seems to be Naglesmann. It is a Hoeness appointment after Rummenigge fucked up the Ancelotti hire, so we shall see how that goes.
Unfortunately I did not fully see the match, but I heard he was great indeed. Grabbed a goal and an assist, plus earned a penalty. Basically had a hand in all three goals. The problem with him is that he doesn't track back so much, though. When you got beaten by PSG some people were blaming James for some goal because he stayed forward ...
Then again the whole lineup was weird. Rather out of form Müller, both Tolisso and Vidal? It clearly showed that you need a
regista like Xabi Alonso in midfield controlling things. Rudy has shown promise (surprisingly), but does not have the experience yet. Sagnol used Javi Martinez in midfield again, who's more of a #6, but that was a sign of improvement. Hopefully Heynckes will use him there as well. With Boateng, Hummels and Süle if all are fit there's no need for him in defence.
... Back to James for one thing. So when you have both him and Robben on at the same time it could turn out to be a problem (forwards tracking back). Although Robben has improved
a lot in that aspect. So maybe it's a stupid thing to bring out.
Last season? Wasn't Douglas Costa a tad shoddy all season long? Plus he had his issues with the board/management over demanding a new contract, with somebody responding that "he isn't even worth it and tell your agent to shut up" or something. He was great in his first season for like 6-7 months, but then it seemed like the defenders figured him out - he often liked to beat a player with pace and then drill a low cross into the box when it was overcrowded. Someone like Lewy or Müller mostly got to the end of them. In some CL matches he seemed like the only player who could produce something as well, which has to be noted (when you went through against Juve for example).
And Coman.. Wasn't he out for 6 months or something last season? I can't recall whether it was because of an injury or he had some speeding or domestic issues which brought it on.
Renato Sanches looked like a Sunday league footballer playing for Bayern to be fair. Dunno why was that, I don't follow Bayern that closely.
But yes, you're right in most aspects. It seems that the team regressed a bit when it comes to certain stuff.
Also, it seems like most of your problems started when Uli Hoeness came back from prison lol. It was all cool before that.
