Good morning, Fear the Wall!

The big news from the footballing world yesterday was that manager Carlo Ancelotti parted ways with Bayern Munich. By pretty much any metric he’s been a disappointment, and a huge step down from Pep Guardiola. The 3-0 defeat to PSG was just the tipping point of what’s been building up ever since Bayern’s home defeat to Real Madrid last season.

The big question now is, of course, who will replace him. Bayern legend Willy Sagnol has been named the club’s interim manager, but he probably won’t stay long term, unless he does something spectacular like leading the club to a treble. This leaves a couple candidates, including Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann and former Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel. The latter would definitely earn a lot of resentment from BVB fans, considering the way that he parted with the club.

As to how this will affect Bayern on the pitch, time will tell. He managed French club Girondins de Bordeaux for two seasons, and was named assistant coach at Bayern last June. In his first season Bordeaux finished sixth in Ligue 1, and was sacked the next season after a poor start to the year.

Meanwhile, all three Bundesliga clubs lost in the Europa League last night. The Bundesliga’s UEFA rating recently slipped below Serie A. If it is to improve, they need to start seeing results.

On to the links:

• From the New York Times (LINK): You know it’s big news when the NYT reports on it. It’s an interesting piece that talks about how Bayern have lost their “edge”
• From BVB Twitter: The club released this hilarious video of one of Roman Bürki’s pre-match traditions: going to the coin toss and stealing the match ball.

• From Goal.com (Please don’t click on this link): An article that suggests that Jürgen Klopp, among others, might replace Ancelotti at Bayern. I have no words.

Daily Buzz

What are your thoughts on Ancelotti’s performances with Bayern? Do you agree that his sacking was necessary?