5 reasons Bayern Munich is struggling this season

Berlin - Bayern Munich, after winning its first eight games under new coach Carlo Ancelotti, is now winless in three matches.

Ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match at home against PSV Eindhoven, here are five reasons the Bavarian giant is struggling:

'Bad attitude'

Ancelotti says his team suffered from a "bad attitude," especially in the first half, during Saturday's 2-2 draw with ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt, which left the club two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table.

"We showed a bad attitude. We were asleep for the first 45 minutes and didn't deserve to win," admitted Ancelotti.

"If you think that it's okay to play with less than 100 percent then you run the danger of losing the one-on-one challenges and not having the game under control," said captain Philipp Lahm.

"We were all missing the right attitude and we must look at why that was."

Ancelotti's freedom

Ancelotti's predecessor Pep Guardiola kept tight control during his three years in charge, monitoring his players' free time, dictating what they ate and gave them constant instructions.

He ran a tight ship, but Bayern always won the German league title by a canter.

Bayern's stars have commented on the freedom they now enjoy, but there were blank faces after conceding the second equaliser in Frankfurt.

Ancelotti cut a calm figure on the sidelines, leaving his players to sort out the problems.

In contrast, Guardiola was often at his most frantic when things were not going Bayern's way, directing his players and screaming orders.

"I think everyone is aware that freedom means trust, but we should be able to deal with the situation," said Lahm.

"It is important that everyone now assumes responsibility."

Changed system

Under Ancelotti, Bayern's defence sits much deeper.

Guardiola liked the team to defend away from its own penalty area, denying opponents the ball and pressing the defence after losing possession.

Under Guardiola, Bayern enjoyed around 70 percent possession and made, on average, 700 passes per game.

Under Ancelotti, the pass rate has dropped to 665 per match and Bayern had 62 percent possession - the team's lowest so far this season - against Frankfurt.

It was the first time since October 2008 that Bayern twice gave away the lead in a Bundesliga game.

Under Guardiola, 12 percent of Bayern's passes failed to find their target - the figure is up to 20 under Ancelotti.

Slower attacking tempo

Bayern started the season with some big wins against Carl-Zeiss Jena (5-0), Werder Bremen (6-0) and Rostov (5-0).

Since then, the pace up front has noticeably dropped, especially against Cologne and Frankfurt.

Germany forward Thomas Muller is yet to score in seven German league games and Robert Lewandowski has failed to score in his last five matches.

Now that the tempo has dropped, Bayern's fleet-footed players are struggling to inject pace with attacks slow to build from midfield.

"What we showed today wasn't Bayern Munich," goal-scorer Arjen Robben fumed in Frankfurt.

"Not a lot of things worked and everyone must ask if they put in the right performance. We can't play like that again."

Missing Sammer effect

On the rare occasions Bayern played poorly under Guardiola, director of sport Matthias Sammer stepped in to admonish the squad in a good cop, bad cop routine.

Sammer stepped down in April, citing poor health, and has not been replaced.

The rant by chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge after the Frankfurt result was classic Sammer: "We don't need excuses, we have only ourselves to blame. It was unacceptable," he fumed.

But without a director of sport to work with on a daily basis, Ancelotti may struggle to keep his star-studded squad in check.

"We have to shift up a gear very quickly or we'll have problems in the Champions League on Wednesday," said Rummenigge.