Juergen Klinsmann's spell as coach of Bayern Munich is suffering a bout of the wobbles, according to German daily Bild, after his team suffered a third defeat in four matches.

Two days after the defending champions slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Cologne, Bayern are preparing for a Champions League first knockout round, first leg game at Sporting Lisbon tomorrow with an unwelcome headline in Germany's mass circulation newspaper.

"Klinsi is wobbling," the paper said yesterday.

Already aware of the pressure at the weekend, Klinsmann had said after the Cologne defeat: "I am not afraid about my position, I am trying to give my best every day.

"But I know I will be judged by my results. As coach of Bayern Munich, you have to have the highest goals."

Though a former Germany coach, Klinsmann had never coached at club level before taking over Bayern at the start of the season.

Club officials have been restrained until now and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said he would not start giving out "wild guilty accusations."

But manager Uli Hoeness said the club could not be relaxed about the situation any more. "There is nothing to gloss over," he said.

After 21 games, Bayern are fourth, four points behind leaders Hamburg and two points behind Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin. Bayern have conceded 30 goals so far, nine more than the whole of last season.

The only reason Bayern have not fallen hopelessly behind is because their rivals keep stumbling as well. Berlin lost and Hoffenheim drew at the weekend.

Goalkeeper Michael Rensing, who had spent years preparing to succeed Oliver Kahn, is beginning to be seen by many as a liability.

Bild said Rensing looked like a "beginner" against Cologne, adding that it had never been so simple to score against Bayern.

Putting Bayern's "misery" and "crisis" into perspective, Kicker magazine compared the number of goals Bayern have conceded and the number of points (38) they have now with previous years, concluding that Bayern could not hope for better than third or fourth place at the end of the season.

Under Klinsmann, Bayern made their worst start in more than 30 years, but then went undefeated for four months. It started the second half of the season with a 5-1 rout of Stuttgart in the German Cup, and then went into the Bundesliga slump.

After Sporting, Bayern have tough games coming up in the Bundesliga against Werder Bremen and Bayern Leverkusen.