FC Bayern Munich vs Eintracht Frankfurt Preview; Plus, why it’s not time to panic

By: Luke | October 23rd, 2009

LVG First the basics, Eintracht Frankfurt will visit the Allianz Arena with the match beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST Saturday. The match will be carried on ESPN 360 and ESPN Deportes, and we’ll be up with a live blog here, hopefully not yawning through most of it.

So begins our twilight-zoney pairing with Frankfurt, who we will see again midweek in the Pokal. From the injury desk, Bayern will be without Braafheid, Breno, Olic and Ribery. Robben’s status has not been declared publicly. He is said to be fit although Louis van Gaal has indicated that Robben won’t start under any circumstance. It remains to be seen whether LVG will use any shock-therapy type benchings as a response to Wednesday’s loss, but as I’ve indicated, I would like to see Schweini out of the lineup.

Eintracht comes into the match having defeated Hannover 2-1 last weekend. Of course, I never consider Hannover a useful measuring stick. That match was preceded by combined 0-5 losses to Schalke and Stuttgart. The club has shown a marginal improvement under Michael Skibbe, and an opening day defeat of Bremen seemed to establish some early confidence that has waned a bit. Frankfurt will be without forward Ioannis Amanatidis, their leading scorer. Greek compatriot Nikolaos Liberopoulos, himself a proven Bundesliga scorer, will likely take his place in a 4-1-4-1 formation for the visitors. However, let’s also keep in mind that Eintracht’s one goal against Bayern last season was scored by Martin Demichelis.

Once again, Bayern will likely be faced with a packed defense that will swarm to the back. The advantage may come from Frankfurt’s penchant for fouling. Their match with Schalke reads like a street fight. Not unexpectedly, their frequent fouling has contributed to 3 red cards so far this season. Whether or not an opponent gets sent off, expect more set piece opportunities this week than we saw against Cologne and Freiburg, and let’s hope we have the personnel on the field to take advantage of them. I’m expecting a spirited response from the squad and I’ll predict a 3-1 victory.

Why you shouldn’t panic
Following the Pokal match in Frankfurt and next weekend’s visit to Stuttgart, Bayern fall into a very fortunate scheduling situation: they will play consecutive Champions League and Bundesliga matches at home. Add to that an international week, and you will see that Bayern’s next away match is not until November 29..in Hannover. Essentially, an entire month at home. The only other away match on the Bundesliga schedule in this calendar year is in Bochum. Additionally, the best way to move up the table is by head to head victories over those above you. A win tomorrow may do very little in resetting the table, but beating Leverkusen and Schalke (and you may have fair skepticism about accomplishing that, I grant you) in those back to back home matches would do quite a bit to realign the table to a more familiar order. The tabloid press are really enjoying the Van Gaal-Klinsmann comparison right now. Well, there may be another. Starting October 18 last season, Bayern went on a 5 match Bundesliga win streak and didn’t miss taking a single point at home the rest of the calendar year. The streak began after the infamous Bochum debacle, in which two late goals gifted the visitors a point. All deficiencies considered, when you weigh being at home for a month, I think things are about to take a turn for the better.