Bayern coach says his job on the line this weekend
Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal thinks his job is on the line in Sundays game against Bundesliga leader Bayer Leverkusen.
If we win - and we have to - well have everything again in our hands, van Gaal said Friday. The club needs success, but the coach too.
If I dont produce, I will be fired, van Gaal said. We are in eighth place, thats not normal, it cant be.
Bayern is six points behind Leverkusen with one third of the season gone and another defeat would likely rule out any hopes of winning the title. Bayern is also all but out of the Champions Leagues next stage.
Leverkusen, however, has not won in Munich in 20 years.
Bayern winger Arjen Robben is unlikely to be in the starting lineup after a knee operation and the teams other star, Franck Ribery, is out with knee tendinitis.
Striker Miroslav Klose, who had to spend several days in quarantine after his twin sons contracted the swine flu, also could miss the game.
Van Gaals future appeared shakier than ever after senior figures at the club slammed him Thursday.
In a joint interview published in the mass-circulation newspaper Bild, Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer and general manager Uli Hoeness both gave the Dutch coach some blunt advice.
Louis van Gaal thinks he can take care of everything himself, Hoeness said. But one single person cant solve everything.
Beckenbauer said he has to learn to delegate responsibility.
Hoeness, who is slated to replace Beckenbauer as team president on Nov. 27, has said before that Bayern will wait until the Christmas break to assess the situation. But he has recently become more critical in his comments about van Gaal.
The board and van Gaal deal with each other in a critical and honest manner. I cannot keep saying things are great when we are in eighth place, Hoeness said.
