Who are the candidates to replace Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich?

Thomas Tuchel's house of cards has been blown over at Bayern Munich, and in the end it took little over a week.

Three sucker punches - defeats at Bayer Leverkusen, Lazio, and relative minnows Bochum - were enough to collapse a teetering regime.

While he will lead Die Roten until the end of the season, for better or worse, executives are already plotting for his replacement.

Xabi Alonso is the trendy shout at the moment, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been linked out of the deep blue, and there are whisperings of Zinedine Zidane's name.

This will arguably be the most perilous time to inherit the job in over a decade - but it also promises the opportunity of gaining credit for a rebuild.

Mail Sport explores the names that have been linked with the job, assesses how likely they are to take on the role, and whether they're up to the task.

To nobody's surprise, Bayern are reportedly training their crosshairs on Xabi Alonso to be their next manager.

Why do they like him? Easiest question ever. He has Bayer Leverkusen top of the Bundesliga by eight points and on course for an invincible season in all competitions.

That's right. They haven't lost a game since pre-season.

Alonso's ability to transform a side and get them playing quality football is clear. Leverkusen are the Bundesliga's second-most prolific team and have the ost watertight defence by far. What he wants next is more obscure.

At this point fist-waving Koppites will rightly say that Alonso is a former Liverpool player, one of Anfield's favourite children, the cerebral midfield magician who lived through Istanbul to lift the Champions League.

That's all true, but it's worth remembering that Alonso also had three happy seasons at Bayern as a player, bringing three Bundesliga crowns