Bayern stumbles again as pressure mounts on Kovac
Bayern Munich's winless run has stretched to four games after Borussia Monchengladbach shocked the Bundesliga champion with a 3-0 win at Allianz Arena.
After winning his first seven matches in charge of the club, coach Niko Kovac has now failed to guide his side to victory in three domestic games on the spin, a run that leaves it four points behind early leader Borussia Dortmund.
Kovac's men looked sluggish from the outset and found itself two goals down after just 16 minutes, Alassane Plea and Lars Stindl, who was making his first appearance of the season, finishing emphatically past Manuel Neuer.
Robert Lewandowski had a goal ruled out for offside in the second period, but any dramatic comeback from Bayern would have been harsh on the visitors, who were deserving winners and added gloss to the scoreline late on through Patrick Herrmann.
The effect of Bayern's recent form on their confidence was evident early on and it was punished after 10 minutes when Plea whipped a wonderful finish into Neuer's bottom-left corner from 20 yards.
The hosts' misery was compounded just six minutes later when Stindl took full advantage of some haphazard defending. Neuer's short pass to Thiago Alcantara was intercepted by Jonas Hofmann, who teed up the Gladbach captain 15 yards out to fire a crisp drive into the bottom-right corner.
A shell-shocked Bayern finally woke from its slumber after the half-hour mark, Arjen Robben and Lewandowski forcing Yann Sommer to make two saves in quick succession, but it was unable to reduce the deficit before the break.
Kovac replaced Robben and Thomas Muller with Franck Ribery and Serge Gnabry at the interval, but they were unable to spark their side into life during a tepid start to the second period.
Bayern was denied a grandstand finish when Lewandowski's effort was ruled out for offside 20 minutes from time, before substitute Herrmann added a third, despite a VAR (video assistant referee) review, in the 88th minute, drilling past Neuer from eight yards.
The result puts Germany's biggest club find in the unfamiliar position of fifth after seven games. Monchengladbach, meanwhile, leapfrogged its more illustrious opponent in the table and is now level on 14 points with Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen behind leader Dortmund.
Kovac takes his beleaguered side to Wolfsburg after the international break in desperate need of a win, while Monchengladbach will hope to maintain its fine start to the season when it hosts Mainz at Borussia-Park.
