Personnel Disaster
After Luca Toni’s new RAI interview ripping Louis van Gaal yet again, he was suspended for the match today. I would venture he was unofficially suspended on Sunday, but they did try to cover that with saying he was hurt. The official Bayern website was still continuing on with the Toni injury cover story as late as yesterday. The PR department is obviously working overtime.

Franck Ribery was due to begin training but has been placed in quarantine instead. His wife has been diagnosed with swine flu.

Arjen Robben has been ruled out, and continues his peculiar health and wellness cycle. Altintop is a question mark, based on the injury he got in the warmups Sunday.

Wednesday was greeted with the news that Miroslav Klose will be out for the match, following a training ground incident. Although we will not actually be seeing any less of Klose (he’s been invisible as has been well-documented in our comment section), the rules of the game indicate a replacement must be found. Or, I suppose LVG could start with 10 men and show us just how much of a genius he is.

As of this writing, kicker is projecting Danijel Pranjic to start at striker alongside Mario Gomez. This is projected mainly on the basis that Ivica Olic is thought to be not yet fit enough for a full 90 minutes. I suppose another option would be to stick Müller up top to start and shuffle the midfield accordingly.

Opponents from the east
A team like Maccabi Haifa is difficult to scout. But the Israeli outfit has played 10 matches in the Israeli Premier League this season, and has come away with 10 victories. Although they are without a point in Champions League play, all of their matches have been close, the last 3 all 1-0 results. Haifa may actually have played its best CL match against Bayern, with the wheels just falling off in the last moments of the 3-0 defeat. Haifa’s top goal scorer, the somewhat ironically named Shlomi Arbeitman, played only 21 minutes as a substitute in the first matchup between the teams, so he is one to look out for.

The Prediction
Why would this team decide to do anything positive at this point? 0-0, in front of a noticeably half-full Allianz Arena is my call.

This is no time for reasoned analysis. So please dear readers, feel free to add your verbal vomit, expletives and other negative feedback, and I’ll try to restore order to the blog in a few days. After all, we still have a couple trophies to try to win.

With both Müller and Van Buyten suspended, Braafheid an injury doubt and Robben apparently not in the starting 11 plans, the group that takes the field is quite a question mark. Clearly, Martin Demichelis will step in for Van Buyten, and my best guess would be to see Altintop in the midfield. If Braafheid can’t go, it seems that Pranjic is probably the only option they have. I’d prefer to see Toni get the start with Gomez on the bench, just because I have a little more confidence in Gomez’s ability to create in the pinch. But, it’s hard to have a whole lot of confidence in anyone’s ability without Müller on the pitch as the spark.

Another day, another roster cut
This time, it’s Andreas Görlitz, as it was announced he will be allowed to leave the club in the winter break. It was 5 years ago today that Görlitz suffered the knee injury from which he seems to have never fully recovered. It’s very easy to forget this was a guy who was actually capped twice for Germany in 2004. Bayern gave him every opportunity to try to fulfill the promise he once had as a young player, but it was a bit surprising that he was brought back from Karlsruhe after a 2 season loan spell. He started regularly there, and maybe that’s the ticket for Görlitz going forward. Perhaps it’s better not to reflect on the player he might have been, but know that he will still have many years ahead playing in a different situation

Let’s get the red out of our eyes and back into our kits where it belongs. Here’s 9 thoughts on a match ending with 9 men:

1) Jörg Butt had the night of his life, and he probably won’t ever get to really enjoy it because of the result. For American football fans, it might have felt something like Drew Bledsoe standing on the sideline watching Tom Brady win him a Super Bowl ring. That they were not the best struck Elfers of all time is beside the point. Under most other circumstances, we would be hailing him from the rooftops. We still might; file this one away if goal difference ends up coming into play.

2) I can forgive Thomas Müller. I really can. This club has asked so much of a very young player, and all the dead wood around him could learn a lot from his example, most of the time. It was unfortunate that we had, by my count, 8 brain-dead players on the pitch in first half, 2 comatose ones and Mueller. Give me the guy playing with energy any day. I’ll live, and he’ll learn.

3) I said in the live blog I was hoping we would hear the right comments from the team after the match. I was duly impressed. Rummenigge especially had it about exactly right. Louis van Gaal knows football. I don’t know if he knows how to fix this team, but I think he’s got the right diagnosis.

4) Schweinsteiger needs to get acquainted with the bench, immediately. He slows up the attack, he gives the ball away way too much, and you can’t even use him for a corner anymore. Time to trot out Sosa again.

5) I really can’t forgive Daniel Van Buyten. I know what he was trying to do, but that foul in that spot at that time in the match was just irresponsible. At least he picked the right time in the injury timetable to do it, now let’s hope Micho doesn’t rupture a hamstring in the next couple weeks.

6) Those of you who have been clamoring for more Luca Toni: I am on your side. I don’t think he’s going to start scoring like a Bosnian anytime soon, but I think he still has a lot to contribute. And let’s face it, he hasn’t used up all his facial expressions yet.

7) The Altintop/Lahm experiment really didn’t end up getting a fair evaluation as a result of events. I thought Altintop showed some good energy very early on (first 10 minutes) and that was about it. But, I was still glad and I did feel it was right decision over adding Pranjic on the left.

8 We don’t know for sure yet if Arjen Robben will be able to take the field on Saturday, but with the new reports of Franck Ribery being out up to an additional month
he will feel the pressure like never before to lead this team out of the wilderness. Unlike certain other expensive transfer acquisitions this season, I think he may very well be able to do just that.

9) Tomorrow: A preview of the match against Frankfurt and the reasons why we shouldn’t be grumbling about a crisis.

Flank stakes
A key concern for Bayern going into the match will be the position of left back. With mediocre Edson Braafheid expected to miss the match, Daniel Pranjic had been expected to step in. However, on Tuesday the club’s official website speculated that Philipp Lahm may move back to the left and Hamit Altintop could make the starting 11 at right back. Although Altintop has routinely started at right back for Turkey, he’s never seen action there for Bayern, save for friendly matches or preseason tournaments. I would actually welcome this development. When you get right down to it, Pranjic isn’t any more a natural left back than Altintop is a right back. They’re similar in that they’ve mainly played the position for their national teams. Perhaps I’m just a little more swayed by my memory of Altintop’s laser beam against Anderlecht in the UEFA Cup a couple seasons back. That’s the kind of impact we need right now. Beyond this question, Louis van Gaal seems content to stay with his 4-4-2 alignment and starters from Freiburg last weekend.

Not yet under the table
Bordeaux is perhaps in even more rickety shape than Bayern. They’ve lost two consecutive Ligue 1 matches, by a combined result of 1-4. The only mitigating factor may be that these were both away matches. Fortunately, Bordeaux was without a defeat in the league prior to that, and still sit 3rd, only a point off the league lead. Bordeaux have not conceded a goal at home since the opening Ligue 1 match of the season.

Bored, ohh?
Reading the statistical line for Bordeaux, one will be struck by the similarities to the Bavarians. Last weekend, with 66% of possession against Auxerre, they managed 3 shots on goal. This was actually an improvement as the identical possession percentage yielded 2 shots on goal the week before. Taking the longer view on the season, it is clear that one of the main problems for Bordeaux has been creating quality chances out of possession dominance. In every one of their matches this season in Ligue 1, they have had the majority of possession, but only 33% of their total shots have been on goal. This compares to 41% for Bayern over the course of the Bundesliga campaign.

A similar though more depressing ratio applies to Bordeaux and Bayern in the Champions League: Bordeaux has put a measley 27% of shots on goal (off of an average possession of 53.5%); Bayern have put 32% on goal from an average of 58% possession.

Heroes in the air
More than half of Bordeaux’s Ligue 1 goals have been via header. So once again, this is where Daniel Van Buyten needs to shine. I’ve been encouraged that he seems to have remembered how tall he is, and is finally playing like it. I’ll be keeping an eye on the aerial battle early, knowing it could be of particular importance.

Something to shoot for?
You look at these two teams, relatively on the same course, and one feels, something has got to give. So is this the night everything breaks loose for both sides, and we see a 3-3 thriller? Actually, no. Although this is a match that could easily be won by either side off of one rather lucky shot, I’m afraid we’re going to be treated to another scoreless 90 minutes.

Martin Demichelis will also stay behind in Munich, apparently jet-lagged from his trans-continental voyage from Argentina, although at least he is not also dealing with the post-traumatic stress syndrome of not qualifying.

I hate October transfer rumors. I hate even talking about transfers in October. That usually means, your team really sucks. But, this post needed a little filler, and so the latest and probably meaningless Breno loan rumor involves Juventus. What I do find worth talking about is this: it is pretty apparent that Breno will need to be loaned out, but where should he go? Bayern have a history of loaning out defenders within the Bundesliga. It worked with great success in Lahm’s case, perhaps not as much in Görlitz and Lell’s. I certainly expected we’d be seeing Mats Hummels in red this season at the time we loaned him out, nevertheless, I suppose that is a success of a different sort. At any rate, I think Breno ought to stay in the Bundesliga. I would take it as a sign he will be sold if he’s actually loaned to a foreign side. What do you think would be a good team for him come January?

The team was given a well deserved day off on Thursday after their 3rd straight victory in all competitions, a 3-0 win over Maccabi Haifa to open the Champions League schedule. It appears we came out of the Israel trip without any new knocks. Demichelis, Van Bommel and Görlitz remain sidelined, but Miroslav Klose will theoretically be available, as he will practice with the team on Friday. Luca Toni is set to make his season debut…with Bayern II! The amateurs will have a little Bayern-Derby of their own Friday, 1 p.m. EST at the Grünwalder against surprising Jahn Regensburg.

Nürnberg played their best match of the season two matches ago at Stuttgart, a 0:0 draw in which they were probably the better team. They followed that up with their first victory, a less inspiring but effective 1-0 defeat of ‘Gladbach. Statistically, the Franconian outfit have managed to take more shots and control the ball better than you would expect for a team sitting on 5 points from 5 matches. They may take some time to break down. In contrast to Dortmund, this is a team that is terrible in the air, however. Expect this to be a week where one of Lahm’s looping crosses does some damage, or a corner leads to a sparkling header. Nürnberg captain Andreas Wolf’s status is up in the air for Saturday. After the Lell-like action of getting red-carded in a friendly, Wolf was suspended for two matches by the DFB. He is eligible to return this weekend, but had to break off training on Thursday with an injury. Striker Isaac Boakye is also due to miss the match for the visitors.

Key Matchup: Raphael Schäfer vs. the Bayern attack
Realistically, this is the kind of match that can only be salvaged for the visitors by a keeper’s great day in goal. Schäfer will need to bring some magic to the proceedings to carry his team. It can be done. Oka Nikolov pretty much earned a point for Eintracht Frankfurt by himself against Bayern in 2007. But I wouldn’t be betting on it this week.

Prediction: FC Bayern Munich 4:1 1. FC Nürnberg On paper, there is little reason to doubt that Bayern will dominate the match. Der Club has not come out victorious in Munich since 1992, and though last year was a bit of a fluke, Bayern have traditionally been almost unbeatable at home during the Oktoberfest.The final will probably hinge on how early on Bayern is able to break down what we can expect to be a very packed Nürnberg defense. Fitness will be a key here, but I don’t expect any problems. But, I’m not confident enough in our defense yet to predict a clean sheet!