Is Pep Guardiola really the right man for Bayern?

The reign of Pep Guardiola has begun admirably in Munich. New songs are sung daily in his praise and of what he brings to the Munich giants. His great history with Barcelona, his history of youth development, and his wooing by a certain Russian billionaire last year all suggest that he is a coach of great pedigree.

What is overlooked, though, is the fact that the Barcelona squad he inherited already had a host of once-in-a-generation stars such as Lionel Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, etc. His transfer record, too, is nothing if not suspect. His almost foolish acquisition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in exchange of cash and Samuel Et’o from Inter backfired as Barca ended up losing a Champions League semifinal to Inter and Pep’s dream of a “Plan B” miserably crumbled.

It is also notable that by the end of his Barca tenure, he looked jaded and ten years older than his age, with his nerves frayed. He looked a shell of the man who joined Barca four years ago and set them on a path of a brand of football so fast and yet so measured, as calculated and clinical as it was poetic, that they probably were the only club for a short while which the entire world loved and adored. And that is a phenomenon as rare in football as polar bears on the south pole.

The real matter that I wish to talk about, though, is his appointment as the manager of Bayern Munich. As it appears, things couldn’t have been in a better position. Bayern have just won the treble under former manager Jupp Heynckes, playing a brand of football which could be described as closest to Pep’s former employers. They have a huge squad filled with stalwarts such as Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Mario Mandzukic and so many others that you can’t count them on one hand. Their bench appears as if it could also qualify for Europe from the Bunedsliga. Their main opponents in Germany, Borussia Dortmund, have also been bled by the departure of Mario Gotze, possibly their finest hope, along with Marco Reus, to Bayern.

The caveat in this scenario, though, is the very thing that threatens to make Bayern unstoppable. Pep, at Barca , never had such a big squad. The fitness of his small squad at Barca along with the lack of injuries to key players meant Pep never had to contend with big ego clashes, which have been the bane of many a manager as the recent case of Roberto Mancini clearly suggests.

Case in point – Bayern’s midfield. With players such as Thiago, Gotze, Schweinsteiger, Gustavo, Kroos, Javi Martinez and youngster Emre Can at his disposal, Pep has a very big problem looming on the horizon.

What is perhaps more troublesome, though, is the fact that the style Bayern employed to dismantle the likes of Juve and Barca last year uses a portion of physicality that his former team never did.

This, though, is neither an indictment nor an acquittal of Josep Guardiola. This is just a realization that the coming season might not be what it is expected to be.