Hair we go

Thursday was the draw for the group stages of this years Champions League. With Bayern being Bayern, and in such an important year, of course we landed in the GROUP OF DEATH.

In case you've been living under a rock, or swamped with homework, we were drawn in to Group A with:

Manchester City
Villarreal
Napoli

Yikes. Personally, the one I'm the most knowledgeable on his Manchester City. Everyone is saying we should be afraid of them. They made some massive signings in the past few transfer windows - Dzeko, Aguero, Nasri, Balotelli - the list can and probably will continue on and on and on through the next transfer window as well. Now, should we fear them? Maybe not. The thing with MCFC, they're trying to push together huge star names with no real sense of direction. On top of that, their defense does not match the talent on their offense. Kind of sounds like Bayern just a few short months ago, no? This will be their downfall. MCFC don't have that great of a track record when it comes to multiple competitions at a time. They did win the FA cup last season, but they have faced defeats from lower sides following big wins against Manchester United. So what does Bayern have to do? Try to get as many goals as possible at Allianz and send in as many reinforcements as possible when playing in Manchester.

My preferred line up: Neuer; Rafinha - Boateng - Badstuber - Lahm; Gustavo - Schweinsteiger; Robben - Müller - Ribery; Gomez.

Undoubtedly our strongest starting XI. But why Gustavo over Tymo? Gustavo proved against Inter and then again against Barcelona that he's incredibly motivated against these stronger sides. His performance against Inter, along with Kraft and Robben, was key to our success in the first leg. He is that strong defensive force needed when facing Aguero, Nasri and co. Not to throw any shade on Tymo, of course. They're both interchangeable and of comparable talent - but I personally believe Gustavo gives us that defensive edge needed when aiming to keep a clean sheet.

I'm not as familiar with Villarreal or Napoli, but they are both really strong sides. Obviously, they're in the Champions League. Bottom line, we need to be on our A-game going in to the group stages. I believe we can see through it. It wouldn't be a typical season without ups and downs. This group gives us a challenge and the platform to prepare ourselves for the "stronger sides" - Barcelona, Manchester United, etc. It's time to prove our worth on the international stage.

I have a few comments to bring up on our squad, though I'll save it for another time as school started this week and I'm exhausted. We may be done with the transfer market for the summer, but that doesn't mean I'm not already planning for winter when we reach the knockout stages. :)