Jurgen Klopp has come under fire from sections of the German media after Borussia Dortmund slipped into the Bundesliga relegation zone following a 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
BVB have collected just one point from their last seven Bundesliga games, and have suffered five consecutive league defeats. After 10 games, the former title contenders are ranked 17th with seven points, and are only ahead of bottom-of-the-league Werder Bremen by goal difference.
After the late defeat to Bayern, Klopp -- who received the backing of Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke during the unfolding crisis in late October -- has come under increasing pressure.
Chief reporter for kicker Karlheinz Wild questioned the fitness of Dortmund players, writing: "When a professional footballer like Ilkay Gundogan looks overweight after 14 months, this is proof of a [professional's] shortcomings. Consequently he was benched by Klopp against Munich."
Wild did not let Klopp off the hook, adding: "Klopp now has to be a crisis manager, and this role does not suit him, you can see it in him. He talks about construction sites again and again; he is the architect and he needs to outline the solutions."
The online outlet of German weekly Die Zeit took it one step further and claimed in an in-depth analysis that Klopp's measures are currently ineffectual.
The article claimed that Guardiola outcoached his Dortmund counterpart, most notably with the changes made ahead of Robert Lewandowski's 71st minute equaliser.
Guardiola brought Franck Ribery off the bench, and, according to Die Zeit, instructed the winger to constantly attack Dortmund centre-back Neven Subotic. Both Bayern goals resulted from Subotic mistakes, while Klopp's substitution of Shinji Kagawa for Kevin Grosskreutz did not have a similar impact.
The piece claimed that "BVB are no longer the same opponent for Bayern that they were in the past. Dortmund's game is lacking precision and structure in both attack and defence; things a coach has to take partial responsibility for."
The feature went on call the defeat against Bayern "the day Klopp realised that Bayern no longer need the help of a referee against Dortmund -- as had been the case in the [German] Cup final in May or the Champions League the previous year."
Dortmund are still on course in the Champions League as they currently top Group D, having won nine points from three games compared to the seven in 10 Bundesliga matches.
They could already qualify for the knockout stages in their home match against Galatasaray Istanbul on Tuesday, and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang told kicker: "Teams like Arsenal, Galatasaray or Anderlecht want to take part in the match. That's why we have different options than in the Bundesliga, where most team sit deep against us."
The Gabon international believes Galatasaray want to rehabilitate themselves for the 4-0 home defeat to BVB a fortnight ago, but Aubameyang still dreams of a high-scoring game.
Answering kicker's question of whether Tuesday's match might turn out to be a good day for the BVB attack, he said: "I've only recently discussed that with Ciro Immobile. Sadly, we've never achieved a goal fest like Donetsk's 7-0 at BATE. But as long as we play well and win, I don't really care about the margin of the victory."