Niko Kovac admitted his future as Bayern Munich coach hung in the balance Saturday after their 5-1 thrashing at Eintracht Frankfurt -- the club’s heaviest Bundesliga defeat for 10 years.
Bayern are now four points behind leaders Moenchengladbach after their biggest league loss since a humiliating 5-1 drubbing in April 2009 at Wolfsburg.
That defeat a decade ago eventually cost Jurgen Klinsmann his job as Bayern boss and Kovac could face a similar fate as Frankfurt shredded 10-man Bayern after defender Jerome Boateng was sent off after nine minutes.
Kovac has been in charge since June 2018, winning the league and cup double last season, but could only offer a glum “I don’t know” when asked about his future.
“After the red card, everything went out the window,” a bitterly disappointed Kovac told Sky.
“Nevertheless, that shouldn’t have happened to us and it’s not what we expect from ourselves.
“We made too many mistakes.”
Bayern had Boateng sent off for a straight red card for a foul as the last man, before goals by Filip Kostic, Djibril Sow, David Abraham and Martin Hinteregger put Frankfurt 4-1 up with an hour played.
{{/usCountry}}Bayern had Boateng sent off for a straight red card for a foul as the last man, before goals by Filip Kostic, Djibril Sow, David Abraham and Martin Hinteregger put Frankfurt 4-1 up with an hour played.
{{/usCountry}}Robert Lewandowski scored for Bayern in the first half, extending his league record of scoring in the first 10 games this season.
However, such was Frankfurt’s dominance that head coach Adi Huetter brought on a third striker in Andre Silva for defensive midfielder Gelson Fernandes with 10 minutes left.
The bold move paid off as Goncalo Paciencia added their fifth goal five minutes from time.
“It’s not a huge wonder (that this happened),” fumed Bayern captain Manuel Neuer. “Things had already got off to a (bad) start.”
“That (the red card) didn’t make it any easier, of course, but still you can’t concede five. We’re not consistent in our defence.”