Restless Players

The first two matches ended in victory, but after a home draw to Nuremberg and an away loss to Arminia Bielefeld, the bosses at Bayern Munich are looking for answers as to why their side doesn't sit atop the league standings. Is coach Felix Magath to blame for not instilling enough fire into his star ensemble?

He heard plenty of complaining from Bayern's front office head's Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Franz Beckenbauer this week about him failing to motivate the troops. When Magath then declared that he presumed his boys would "be successful" against newly-promoted side Aachen, general manager Uli Hoeness snapped back that he didn't expect a draw against a promoted team in front of 70,000 supporters.

Such are the worries for the Bundesliga's most successful team, which did end up winning against Aachen 2-1 on Saturday. But Rummenigge is fully aware that Bayern is not alone.

"I am under the impression that the clubs which provided lots of national players for the World Cup (this summer) are now paying the bill," he wrote in Bayern Munich's fan magazine. "It's no coincidence that clubs like Bayern, Werder Bremen, Hamburg SV and Bayer Leverkusen aren't, or can't be, at their best."

Think more of the top clubs, says Rummenigge

The Bundesliga campaign got its wheels rolling again on Aug. 11, five weeks after the World Cup concluded. Rummenigge, a great international striker in his own right, only has to take a glance at other European leagues to make his point.

Spain's Primera Division re-started two weeks after the Bundesliga, while the Serie A of champions Italy held off until Sept. 9.

For Rummenigge, the vacation and the time for preparation before the season kick-off were "too short." But he also did not hesitate in lashing out at the national players who earn their money with Bayern Munich.

"In the future, we will demand that these players give 100 percent to Bayern Munich just like they did at the World Cup," he told the Munich AZ newspaper, making reference to players like Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) and Willy Sagnol (France). "We will observe very closely who is ready to do this and who isn't."

He feels the German Soccer League (DFL) should consider whether or not to start the season later after the big international competitions so that field of competition remained level.