“And, you see, we are living in a world in which all wars are wars of defense.” This quote by George Wald might have been inteded to be a reflection on the state of modern warfare, but it also aptly describes the plight of the domestic and continental football – a place where defense has become a staple for success.

Boateng and coach Heynckes (©dpa)

This same staple, the experts say, Bayern Munich lacks; ironically though as Bayern’s captain is a defender and its goalkeeper is considered to be the best in the world. With Daniel van Buyten out injured for 6-8 weeks, the alphabet letter D from the cereal bowl seems to be missing.

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Given the recent FIFA World Player awards, I’m inclined to write about who might have a decent (more than decent, realistic) chance of wining this award from the current Bayern Munich squad in the nearby future. Many players come to mind, such as Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, et cetera.

Thomas Müller (©ap)

But it seems to me that the voting criteria is based (especially in the past three years) on offensive football, scoring goals and making magic happen on the pitch, characteristics of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. Given those criteria, and the fact that Messi’s teammate Xavi Hernandez didn’t receive the award in 2010 even after winning everything with his club and his national team, I’m inclined to think that players like Toni Kroos and Schweinsteiger might never win this award.

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A famous proverb, “If youth had the knowledge and old age the strength” might be famous for being applicable to a wide variety of average, day-to-day aspects of life, but it certainly doesn’t reflect upon FC Bayern München’s current squad, which is an ideal combination of the young, excited brawn and an old, experienced brain. The club can easily be called as a hybrid of Arsenal and Inter Milan, the clubs that are filled with young and a slightly aged talent, respectively, but cannot conquer much for lacking the former/latter.

FC Bayern (©getty)

It certainly pinches every Bayern fan that the team was so near yet so far in the 2009-2010 season where they lost to Inter Milan in the Champions League Final held at Madrid, however, now, the final being in Allianz Arena and the team looking arguably stronger than ever and gelling and bonding like never before, the dream doesn’t seem too big. Where the domestic competitions are considered, surely the news about departure of Marco Reus in the summer might have weakened Borussia Mönchengladbach mentally, a strong threat, his move to Borussia Dortmund, another threat, has sent some jitters, especially when Dortmund being out of Europe and concentrating, only domestically, yet, the team seems strong and the glitches just prior to the winter break seemed worked upon.

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I’ve been a Bayern fan since 1999. Yes, that horrible night in Barcelona when we lost 1-2 against Manchester United. Back then, we had Brazilian presence in our team just like we have right now. In fact, there has never been a season (since 1999) that FC Bayern didn’t have a Brazilian in their lines. But what does Brazil mean in the World of football? For me it means: class, style and good football.

Luiz Gustavo (©Getty Images)

Amongst the main Brazilians that I have seen at Bayern Munich, few can be compared to Giovanne Elber. The greatest striker from South America that played for Bayern, the same guy that cried his eyes out when he scored the 1-2 lead for Olympique Lyon against Bayern (the same season he was sold to France and replaced by Dutchman Roy Makaay). We could also mention players like Paulo Sergio and Zé Roberto on that list of good Brazilian players that ever wore the Bayern shirt.

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At the early age of seventeen, just after he had been named the U17 World Championships’ best player, he came to Bayern Munich with number 10 reserved by none other than Bayern President, Uli Hoeness. Hoeness, like everyone else, had not laid his eyes on a bigger talent for a long time. He was praised by a whole nation. All who saw him were excited; how would he really blossom?

Toni Kroos (©ap)

Then came Coach Jürgen Klinsmann. A choice Hoeness retrospectively would regret. Klinsmann did not care for Kroos, and instead of playing what could be Germany’s biggest talent, the lone teenager from Greifswald, read that he has already turned into a has-been.

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Sports fans often praise the offensive work of the athlete much more than their defensive attributes. That’s why we celebrate a homerun with such passion or a touchdown with euphoria. Football is not different: we scream, curse and sometimes even cry (depending on the moment and situation, of course) when our team (or the opposite team) scores a goal. A wise man once said: offensive football pays the ticket of that night, but defensive football wins tournaments. He was right.

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (©Sampics)

In this article, I will praise one of the most hardworking players that I’ve ever seen with a Bayern Munich shirt since the times of Jens Jeremies. That player is Ukrainian midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.

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Sound the alarms in Munich, get ready the “Heynckes Raus!” signs and get ready to sell all the best players and start all over, because the defense is a mess, Manuel Neuer is not the world class keeper everyone thought he was, and Mario Gomez scores less than a group of nerds at a Star Trek convention. Plain and simple this team stinks. Well, not quite.

Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez (©dpa)

Forgetting about the last few less than inspired performances, this Bayern Munich has looked pretty darn good this season. So, why all the panic? Bayern are a world class club, whose fans demand a lot from, so a few bad results will certainly cause a few people to worry. But here are five reasons that this current run of form is not the Bayern anyone will see all year. In short, it’s five reasons not to panic.

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