Beckenbauer raps `selfishness'

Franz Beckenbauer, the Bayern Munich president, attacked his players after their 3-0 defeat by Werder Bremen at the weekend and demanded an immediate improvement for tomorrow's cup match against Borussia Monch- engladbach.

"The selfishness must stop," Beckenbauer wrote in the German daily newspaper Bild yesterday. "Every player must be ready to help the other. That's what's been missing."

Bayern players and management held crisis meetings on Sunday to discuss the team's recent poor form - the side went out of the Uefa Cup last week at the hands of Valencia.

Beckenbauer acknowledged the current situation was similar to last season, when Bayern began brightly but faded away as the players engaged in behind- the-scenes sniping and public squabbles. "But at that time, we had chalked up seven wins so we felt secure and underestimated the signs of trouble," Beckenbauer said. "That won't happen to us again."

The out of favour Jurgen Klinsmann, substituted at half-time against Bremen, said: "We've got major problems in building up our game and that goes right through the team. The whole system isn't working. I just hope we can pull ourselves together and show a reaction against Monchengladbach."