The Louis van Gaal-watch is the 48-point-font headline in the Bundesliga, and although mid-week speculation held the Dutch coach needed a win over Schalke to retain his job, Saturday’s 1-1 draw exhibited enough life from his team to keep van Gaal on at Allainz Arena through the international break. With Bayern now sitting in eighth place, that relative goodwill is unlikely to last for long. Though another tough match awaits them after the break, München stays at home for Round 13, where they will be expected to beat league-leading Bayer Leverkusen. Should they fail to do so, it will be clear to Bayern management that, on the heels of Champions League failure, van Gaal is unable to meet league expectations. At that point, those 48-point headlines will shift from monitoring a job to reporting a job opening.
The van Gaal watch picked-up in earnest mid-week when it became clear München would not make it out of their Champions League group. Their inglorious display on Tuesday against French champions Bordeaux (a 2-0 loss at Allainz), justifiable in the context of having to start a depleted squad, serves as the prime example of what’s gone wrong in the brief van Gaal-era. More than losing that one match, how did the glorious Bayern get into a position where one loss puts them on the brink? In group stage, in league, it’s never about one match. It’s always about what’s led up to it. If you’re Bayern and you face one match to survive (and it’s not the last round of the season or tournament), at some point in the past, something went very wrong.
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Credits: lead photo, Getty Images