When Pep came to Bayern he said he will continue from where Jupp left us but he lied and implemented his own surreal philosophy. The style works if the opponent is shit (Shaktar, Porto, Roma and that away game against Manchester City when Pellegrini played with two strikers and let Bayern have man advantage in the middle which allowed Bayern to use "tiki-taka" effectively.) According to some sources the differences with HMW were that the "if the player will need to rest for two weeks before they are fit then Pep wants them back in the class in one week." The stubbornness; high defensive line, insane formations and players playing out of their positions and the overall phlegmatism that quite frankly reeks out of the team is disgusting. last three UCL SF we have conceded 8 goals and scored none, last night we didn't even shoot once at your goal. And last but least the "Spanish invasion", Alonso was good for the first half but since then he's been tired and hazardous and everyone can see that but he still plays every god damn game. Bernat... I don't even have any expectations for him but somehow he always manages to do worse, even when Alaba was fit this guy played so Pep could try out new positions for Alaba. It's like if Enrique would buy Bendtner and put Suarez/Messi as right back, poking an anthill and see what happens type of thing. I don't consider myself spoiled, I'd have no problems losing to anyone having played a good game but Bayern plays shit at the highest level every time because tiki-taka doesn't work anymore. If you have a lot of injuries and your key-players are out you change the damn tactics, Ancelotti, Heynckes, Mourinho (does it anyway), SAF would have played more defensively and tried to score on the counter but Guardiola is a one-trick pony and no matter what he has to control the possession and have his high-line (I think these two actually helped you guys more than it did us).
No, I think that the 12/13 treble just got to your head and caused some serious vertigo.
The fact that most people (especially Bayern fans) thought that Real Madrid was an inferior side to Bayern last year was at least one of the reasons for their undoing. Like I said last year, Real Madrid had the upper hand in a player for player comparison, and even if Bayern were the better unit, the prospect of defeat was more than possible. This is something that most people forgot before that semi. Once Real Madrid got that hard-fought 1-0 home victory, the stage was set for Bayern's elimination from the CL. 1-0 against a mighty team is a lot worse than most people seem to realize. As soon as Ramos hammered that first header home, the tie was wrapped up. Your players then promptly imploded against a super-pacy counter-attacking team that had a field day.
Bayern was never as good as most people thought they were in recent years. Just look at the trouble they had against Arsenal/United/away Shakhtar/away Porto.
As for this year's semi, the absence of Robben, coupled with Barca's supreme form decisively transformed BM into clear underdogs, and it was only due to good fortune that Bayern escaped unscathed until minute 77. Once the score became 1-0 (and with last season's semi fresh in Bavarian minds) there was no choice, and both Pep and the players knew it, an away goal became essential. Even so, Messi's 2nd goal did not come against a wide-open defense, far from it in fact. But his sheer genius inflicted a second mortal blow withing a 3 minutes. After that, it was do or die, simple as that. And Bayern died.
You also complain about your Spanish players. Well, do you have any better than them? I don't think you do. Bernat, Thiago and Alonso were your protagonists versus Porto imo.
All of Ancellotti/Heynckes/Mourinho/SAF have suffered nasty debacles in the CL time and again. It's the players (and luck) not "tactics" that decide games, despite all the media frenzy and Football Manager-generation imponderable prolixity.
