http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=636777&sec=europe&root=europe&cc=5901

About Toni, great reporting Luke, although I think his lack of scoring is also symptomatic of Bayern’s leaky defense. With the midfield sitting deep, no one can really provide service to the big man, without which he’s an orphan.

Did anyone else notice how much more Toni is caught offside these days? If that is the case, it is not a good sign, is it?

Toni is receiving some fair criticism from us for missing chances I would venture, but I also think that he might still be recovering his superstardom after the long lay-off, and therefore is only at minor-star level. Whatever that means. So, I did a little number crunching, and took Toni’s career Serie A and Bundesliga stats and looked at his career goal frequency. His career frequency: .625 goals per match; His frequency this season: .63 goals per match. For reference, last year he was at a .77. So Roger is right, he is nowhere close to last year, but it doesn’t mean he’s become inconsistent or is in some kind of decline. Maybe the most concerning factor is that he picked up a 4th yellow today.

Sosa gave Toni almost the exact same set-up as Tuesday to muff. But, what I’m starting to feel is that Sosa would really make a better 70th minute sub when the full roster is available. Maybe I’m being selective in my observations, but it seems like his best plays come early on, and then he runs out of steam. Maybe a fitness issue, but I highly doubt that given our SuperTechnoPlex training facility.

Ultimately, today’s match is the type that you really can’t afford to drop points in, no matter what the situation. I hope the squad will remember this when they travel to Cottbus in a few weeks. Despite Schalke’s recent form, they don’t overly concern me. I think we’ll be ready for the challenge.

Toni, Toni, Toni… Yes, he scored but blew too more easy chances. In fairness he also set Altintop up with a really nice chance (though Ribery did most of the work), but his game is nowhere near where it was last year.

Butt made a brilliant save, and though he lacks Rensing’s athleticism, he more than makes up for it by being in position and having mastered the mental aspects of the game. Rensing could do well by paying attention to how Butt plays and how he uses position rather than pure talent to get to balls.

All in all it was not the best effort. Bayern made many chances for themselves, but the combination of some fine saves by Bielefeld’s keeper and some really poor shots kept the score down.

In all fairness, the injury list keeps getting longer, but the great teams overcome these things. Next week versus Schalke will be more of a test if Bayern is serious about taking the Bundesliga title. Anything but a win will surely be a tremendous blow to any designs of winning the title. I highly doubt Wolfsburg will win the rest of their games but Bayern is put in the position where even ties right now are mortal wounds. Not only is the title problematic, there are so many teams in position to deny Bayern a champions league berth next year, so they need to keep winning or risk the embarrassment of the UEFA Cup (isn’t it now the Europa League or something) or even worse, Not qualifying for the Champions League would be a tremendous and unforgiveable failure.

Though,Luca Toni was offside in the situation that led to the corner which led to the goal. Still, it was nothing compared to the favorable calls Wolfsburg received today.

” I haven’t a clue why he hasn’t been first choice all season.”

Club internal politics. After all Bayern kept telling Rensing time and again over the past few seasons that he’ll be the new #1 once Kahn retires and then they stood by their word and gave him his chance. And TBH he looked promising in the few games he had played before – it could have worked. IMHO, degrading Rensing ahead of the new season after telling him otherwise for years would have been extremely lame by Bayern’s management.