Julian Nagelsmann has been a coach at FC Bayern long enough to know the sensitivities in Munich very well and to be able to deal with them.
Two league games without a win in 2023 and a few exciting topics next to the football field, such as national player Serge Gnabry’s private fashion trip to Paris, were once again enough to beat the fearless pursuer Eintracht before the top Bundesliga game on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m. / Sky). Frankfurt with Bayern fright Kevin Trapp for plenty of fuss and a few pithy words like from sports director Hasan Salihamidzic.
“The mood is the same as it always is at Bayern when you don’t win. It’s not extremely restless, but it’s not super happy either,” said Nagelsmann, when he appeared casually with adilettes on his feet in the press room on the club premises on Friday . The 35-year-old tried not to spread alarmism. After 18 months at Bayern, Nagelsmann knows that there is only one proven way to change the mood of the record champions: win!
Bayern engine stutters
“We know that we can do things better, have to do better and will do better,” he announced resolutely. 1:1 in Leipzig, 1:1 against Cologne – the Bayern engine stutters alarmingly in the Munich winter frost. And that’s just two weeks before the showdown with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Top form is required against Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Co.
Nagelsmann did not want to get involved in a mentality debate that is otherwise popular with rivals Borussia Dortmund. After all, greed and willpower are what characterize Bayern professionals, the coach argued: “For me it’s not about mentality, it’s about attitude and better: attitude!”
It’s currently about the right approach to the games, the right focus, “one hundred percent investment,” as Nagelsmann emphasized. Sports director Salihamidzic put it this way with a view to the game against Frankfurt: It’s now about “burning into your head how important the game is for us”.
Captain Joshua Kimmich, who averted the defeat against Cologne with a powerful shot, also missed “attitude” and “sharpness” on the pitch: “Before the turn of the year we were in a flow. We had worked hard for it. That has to be the goal be that through hard work we can get back into a run and get wins.” Nagelsmann followed Kimmich verbally: “A run, a flow doesn’t just happen.”
Pause for Gnabry
Maybe it will work against Frankfurt with changed personnel. After Salihamidzic’s rebuke (“amateurish behavior”) and a one-on-one conversation with Nagelsmann, leisure model Gnabry takes a break. “He had the chance to show a reaction. He wasn’t outstanding against Cologne,” said the coach about Gnabry, who rotated to the bench. Kingsley Coman can start for him this time.
Ryan Gravenberch is to replace Leon Goretzka, who is out with muscular problems. And Thomas Müller can hope to slip into the starting XI for Jamal Musiala, who is currently sagging. “Jamal needs a can opener, then it slips again,” said Nagelsmann about the 19-year-old playmaker.
According to coach Oliver Glasner, Eintracht is coming to Munich with “great vigour”. The big trumps of the Hessians are said to be the physically strong attacker Randal Kolo Muani (six goals, ten assists) and goalkeeper Trapp, who has largely recovered from a cold: “Kevin feels better and says he’s ready. When Kevin says he’s ready , he’s between the posts,” said Glasner. Last season, Eintracht won 2-1 in Munich – especially thanks to an outstanding hold Kevin Trapp.
