PREVIEW: Van Gaal in firing line in crunch match for Bayern

By Barry Whelan Nov 5, 2009, 10:20 GMT

Hamburg - Time is running out for Louis van Gaal to convince the bosses at Bayern Munich he can restore fortunes to Germany's most successful club.

The highly-regarded Dutch coach needs a victory over visiting Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga's top game on Saturday to calm frayed Bayern nerves amid a looming exit from the Champions League.

Van Gaal has yet to find the right formula since taking over at the start of the season, and another defeat in the Allianz Arena against a confident Schalke side could even spell the end for him.

That at least is the view of the German media as they take stock of what has gone wrong at Bayern, who despite their inconsistent form are still only four points adrift of the top.

According to the Bild newspaper, Bayern players have not taken to van Gaal's authoritarian style, while the coach's team selections - in 18 games he has had 18 different line-ups - has also led to uncertainty.

Kicker sports magazine, carrying the headline 'Is it over on Saturday?', said the coach was now fighting for his job.

However Bild said that as van Gaal is the fifth coach at Bayern in three years, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and general manager Uli Hoeness will be keen to stick with him as long as possible.

'A new dismissal would be a declaration of bankruptcy for the board,' it said.

President Franz Beckenbauer, writing in Bild, said he would not want to draw comparisons between van Gaal and Juergen Klinsmann, who was sacked towards the end of last season despite results no worse.

Klinsmann was an 'experiment' with a young, inexperienced coach while van Gaal had been successful with clubs such as Barcelona and Ajax, Beckenbauer said. However, he added, 'in the end it's the results that count here as at every other club.'

Van Gaal gave the players the day off Thursday to help them clear their minds after Tuesday's 2-0 home to defeat against Bordeaux which could mean an early exit from the Champions League.

'I have to turn our focus on to Schalke in the space of three days but it's always difficult after a game like yesterday's,' van Gaal said on Wednesday.

'The players are upset and they've slept badly, they're all wound up in their own thoughts.'

Ironically van Gaal's fate could be sealed by Felix Magath, who was sacked by Bayern after winning the league and cup double twice and whose Wolfsburg championship-winning side last season also went some way to ending Klinsmann's tenure in Munich.

Now in charge at Schalke, Magath has fashioned a tough outfit who are lying fourth in the table with the best away record in the league.

Fresh from resilient draws against rivals Bayer Leverkusen and SV Hamburg in the last two weeks, Magath is looking for a similar performance in Munich but warns against a wounded Bayern.

'I can imagine this has made our life more difficult,' he said of Bayern's defeat against Bordeaux.

Leverkusen, on top with 23 points, meanwhile defend their lead on Friday evening at home to mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt, now under former Leverkusen coach Michael Skibbe. Leverkusen, the only unbeaten side in the league, have drawn their last three games.

Second-placed Werder Bremen, a point behind, are at home to Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, while northern rivals Hamburg - level on points in third place - visit Hanover on Saturday.

Elsewhere Saturday, fifth-placed Hoffenheim are up against seventh-placed Wolfsburg, Borussia Moenchengladbach entertain struggling VfB Stuttgart, Mainz meet Nuremberg, and Bochum face Freiburg.

Sunday's remaining game sees basement side Hertha Berlin aiming to close a four-point gap at the bottom when they take on fourth-last Cologne at the Olympic Stadium.