Bayern Munich: Trouble brewing in paradise?

Pep Guardiola

Where I come from, they have a little superstition, the old-timers who place much value in such matters. When a house is being built, it is common practice to see a comical scare-crow featuring prominently at the gates.

Now the roots for such a practice stems from a belief that the “negative energy” that the house is “vulnerable” to, on account of the stares of passers-by, will be deflected elsewhere.

Well, someone seems to be trying very, very hard to induce some “negative energy” into the well-oiled machine that is Bayern Munich today.

The treble winners look set to continue their domination of the European game with one Pep Guardiola in charge today.

The Bavarians have equaled Barcelona’s record of most consecutive Champions Leagues victories, with their 1-0 win over Victoria Plzen, taking their tally to nine. Number ten looks to be only a matter of time.

Closer to home, they now hold the record for the longest unbeaten run in Bundesliga history, with the win at Augsburg making it 37 matches without defeat.

So where exactly is all the “trouble”?

Take a closer look, and you will see it in the eyes of a certain Arjen Robben.

The mercurial Dutchman may just be the flag-bearer for the dying breed of the winger in the modern-day game, but it seems to have given him a sense of entitlement that is way out of place.

Yes, he has been phenomenal for his team in recent years – the move to Munich has certainly seen his talents receive the respect they deserve.

The many injuries that have dogged his career made him a liability at times – managers were hesitant to build their teams around a man who was as likely to score a spectacular goal, as he was to be stretchered off.

The stop-start nature of the Robben engine made it only a matter of time before he was discarded for more reliable options – especially in teams like Chelsea and Real Madrid, who are forever on the lookout for the shiniest pebble in the playground.

The move to Bayern Munich, then, saw a period where the club itself started mirroring Robben’s own inconsistent ways. Champions in his first season, the next two seasons saw them finish behind an inspired Borussia Dortmund, not to forget the much-documented losses in the summit clashes in the Champions League.

Both club and player rose from the ashes to seize the treble in the history-making 2012-13 season, and Robben’s redemption was complete. Having suffered similarly in his travels with the Dutch national team, the Dutchman found in his club team-mates a predominantly German group who shared his distaste for the all-conquering Spanish armada.

In this climate of hunger and revenge, the Bavarians united to dismantle a Barcelona side that had looked invincible not too long ago. But today, even if they are just as hungry, discord seems to be making its way into the Bayern camp; an almost imperceptible venom that threatens to erode away at all the good work they have done thus far.

Bayern’s board of directors were looking to the future when they put their faith in Guardiola – by common consent the preeminent manager on the planet, now that Sir Alex has called it a day, and even if Jose Mourinho has something to say about it.

But what Guardiola will know only too well is that this group of supremely motivated professionals are not even remotely like his charges at Barcelona. Just ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The mighty Swede was none too impressed by the way his Catalan dream turned out, likening his then team-mates to “schoolboys” who toed the line drawn by Guardiola without complaint.

What the big man did not comprehend was that at Barcelona, they are married to a philosophy and a culture that goes far beyond anything that any one individual can bring to the table. The laws laid down by Johan Cruyff all those years ago were championed by Guardiola himself in his playing days, and then perfected by the duo of Xaviesta.

His players swore an eternal loyalty to Guardiola’s ways long before they ever played under him – and so the manager had the luxury of working with men who spent each day trying to perfect a composition they were all too familiar with.

Guardiola will harbour no such illusions in Munich. This is a team that is composed of a wide range of elements – each on a personal quest of achieving greatness. If Schweinsteiger and Lahm have Bayern in their blood, they also have Ribery and Robben, who arrived on these shores on a quest for redemption.

Muller may bleed for Bayern with his spirit and work rate, but new arrivals Thiago and Götze are here for the chance to further their education under Guardiola’s tutelage.

Pep Guardiola and Arjen Robben

For all his achievements, Guardiola will have to work to earn the trust of his charges – for they are still covered in the gold-dust from last season. Ribery has been blowing his own trumpet in his desire for a Ballon d’Or, while Robben has, quite simply, been stubborn and obstinate.

He has publicly downplayed Guardiola’s impact on the team. His words, thinly veiled in contempt even, caution against changing too much in the Bayern machine.

What has seen Robben’s phoenix-like rise, from faltering in marquee clashes, to scoring the winner in the Champions League final, has been his ego and his pride.

And while John McEnroe was right when he said that “you need ego to get to the top, and ego to stay there”, Robben’s personal sense of importance could well threaten Bayern’s quest to remain at the top of the footballing pyramid.

His childlike response to the now infamous penalty incident only points to his own misguided sense of importance, and how Guardiola will prevail no matter what the winger tries to pull.

When I said earlier that Bayern are nothing like Barcelona, it was intended in a good way, because that is as it should be. Barcelona’s stubbornness to have a reliable Plan B came to haunt them last year – but Bayern will not fall into the same trap.

Change is the philosophy that Bayern have adopted – a diversely motivated group of individuals united in a common quest for greatness. They are equally comfortable bossing possession, as they are at hitting teams on the counter-attack with devastating precision.

And in Guardiola, they have a true footballing visionary who saw the gaping holes in his own tiki-taka philosophy long before the world took notice. He may hate the term “tiki-taka”, but Guardiola’s emphasis on possession has gone down well with Bayern’s ever-evolving machinery.

Robben has maybe taken too many hits out there on the field, because his impudence suggests a remarkable level of stupidity. The winger is 29, and for all his qualities, is by no means undroppable.

Change and evolution are the order of the day at Europe’s preeminent football club, and Robben could well find himself cast into the wilderness if he fails to recognize Guardiola’s authority.

And Jose Mourinho, for all his attempts to force some “negative energy” into Guardiola’s camp, will once again be resigned to taking out his frustrations on Juan Mata, who will then take refuge in Iker Casillas’s weekly prayer meetings.