Robben’s new ‘hood & Champions League at a glance

By: Luke | August 27th, 2009

Bayern’s official website has confirmed the Robben transfer as a fait accompli. Credit to reader jocamryn, who stole a little of my intended thunder, as my original headline was going to be something like “Hoeness touts Robben’s versatility, Dutchman to start in goal Saturday”. Maybe Hoeness just held up a picture of Ludovic Magnin, and said “go get this guy” and Nerlinger accidentally picked up Robben instead. I really can’t make my mind up on this one.

On the one hand
How do you really justify 25 million Euros for a player who is in many respects, a redundant part to the current roster? What does Arjen Robben do exactly, for a defense that has been mediocre, a goalkeeper who isn’t up to the challenge of the limelight? It almost feels like a PR move, a move to be made because we had to do something. Robben’s injury history suggests that “Santa Cruz Jr.” is not an unwarranted moniker. Like Roque, will we watch this guy play a few great matches, and know he’s got the talent, but spend a lot more time watching him rehab? Maybe the board felt we’d enjoy losing matches 4-3 more than losing them 2-1?

On the other hand,
I do think Robben brings creativity that has been missing. Whether they want to use him as a true left winger, or in some other midfield composition to be determined, you can’t say that we don’t look real scary offensively on paper. It can look like a glut, but if there is a properly managed rotation, we’re going to have tremendous flexibility in attack. The deal may signify some deeper quid pro quo with Real Madrid that can strengthen us after Ribery is sold as well. And perhaps the board deserves credit, they aren’t so arrogant to realize that they haven’t put together enough of a team, and they quickly respond with a top-class acquisition.

Champions League Draw at a glance
Bayern will face Juventus, Bordeaux and Maccabi Haifa in Group A of the Champions League group stage. This is neither the best nor the worst of possible draws for the club. And it becomes a bit difficult to evaluate when you realize that even the struggling 06-07 team made quite a nice run in the Champions League. I haven’t watched a minute of Ligue 1 football, but Bordeaux are on form to start this new season, and knocked Lyon off their long held title perch last season. Juve haven’t faced much of a challenge yet in the new season, but we’ll see familiar faces with Brazzo as well as Diego playing for the Italians. What little I do know about Israeli football is that it is relatively lower-scoring than most European leagues, which may indicate that Maccabi Haifa may be a team that will require patience to score on. The key for Bayern will be to get points early in the schedule. The toughest match of the schedule will be the last, when Bayern go to Torino on December 8. Given our historical struggles in Italy, we’re going to want to have some points to fall back on before that match if at all possible. The schedule kicks off with a trip to Tel Aviv (which will host Maccabi Haifa’s matches) on September 15. With Germany looking back on the 70th anniversary of the start World War II in Europe in just a few days, the match promises to generate much cultural reflection. This may be one instance where the silly-seeming “Football Stadium Munich” name used during Champions Leagues matches will bring some measure of comfort to the visitors when they visit Munich on November 25, as “Allianz Arena” will likely still offend the sensibilities of some, 70 years on, as it did last year in the US.