Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac needs a big win in Der Klassiker

Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac has been under heavy fire this season and needs to put together a big win in tomorrow’s Klassiker.

To say Niko Kovac’s first season as Bayern Munich manager has been a turbulent one would be putting it lightly. The Croatian has been under a constant barrage of criticism since the start of the campaign due the club’s poor results and lackluster performances.

The dispute as to whether or not that criticism is entirely justified can be saved for another day. However, managing one of the biggest clubs in Europe comes with a certain level of expectations attached. When those expectations are not reached, the manager is often the first person put under the microscope — whether the team’s shortcomings are a result of his own or not.

Such has been the case for Kovac. Under his leadership Bayern are now involved in a true Bundesliga title race for the first time since 2012, and they’re the ones playing the role of underdog this go around.

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Furthermore, this season’s rendition of Die Roten has disappointed in every single big game of the campaign. Their most positive positive performance came in the first leg of their Champions League clash against Liverpool at Anfield. The Bavarians defended brilliantly away from home, but even then their lack of tactical nous going forward was overwhelmingly evident.

Such has been the case in too many games this season. When Bayern haven’t looked totally incompetent at the back, they have been far from threatening going forward. There have been some occasions when they actually looked like the biggest team in Germany, but on an equal number of occasions they have appeared nothing more than a totally unmotivated team incapable of putting together any sort of attacking sequence or defending against the slightest amount of pressure.

Of course, it would be unfair to pin all of these issues on Kovac, just as it would be unfair to expect a season of staggering success from a man who has never managed a big club and was given zero transfer funds with which to improve and redesign his squad over the summer (in fact, Kovac actually lost a few players).

At the same time, it’s not unfair to expect more from the man coaching one of the biggest team’s in Europe. Like I said, the job comes with certain expectations, and Kovac simply hasn’t met them.

All of this will surely be weighing on the 47-year-old’s mind heading into tomorrow’s huge Klassiker — one that will undoubtedly play a deciding factor on who lifts the Bundesliga trophy in just over a month’s time.

Though his bosses have defended him publicly on multiple occasions, a loss at home to league rivals Borussia Dortmund (for the second time in 2018-19) would mean Kovac ends his first season without a single win against opponents of any real quality. No matter what other factors play into his lack of success, that would not bode well for the Croatian, and it could very well convince his higher-ups that he’s not the right man to lead the club in its most expensive rebuild in history.

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A win might not be enough to get the monkey off Kovac’s back, but it would certainly help him silence his many, many critics. Tomorrow’s Klassiker is the biggest game of his managerial career thus far, and he’ll need to be at his tactical and motivational best, else he might not be given a second season to prove he’s the right man for the Bayern job.