Whether Julian Nagelsmann’s first season as FC Bayern coach is rated as successful or a failure could be decided on Tuesday. Because “just” becoming German champions is simply not enough at Bayern Munich at the moment.
Two early knockouts in the DFB Cup and Champions League would be what would ultimately stick if Munich were unable to prevail against Salzburg in the Champions League round of 16 (Tuesday, 9 p.m., in the live radio report).
Nagelsmann: “Good things that all players have the same demands”
“If that doesn’t end well, then it’s not a special season,” said Nagelsmann at the press conference on Monday, but it didn’t seem as if he was particularly impressed by this prospect: “I’m very, very happy that all players are the same Have claims, like the club.”
Lots of construction sites in the team
And yet the game against the Austrians is a real challenge for the 34-year-old and his team. Even at 1-1 in the first leg, the Munich team struggled. And even three weeks later, the construction sites in the team are still the same.
There is one of the game structure: Simple mistakes had recently invited opponents to chances again and again. Also because the players under Nagelsmann still find it difficult to choose between the typical Bavarian playful solution and the emergency variant of hitting wide balls under pressure. “At the moment, the players often don’t make the right decision with these 50:50 decisions,” said Nagelsmann.
Defensive and offensive problems
Then there are problems on the defensive. The Bayern coach not only misses communication between the players, but also the former defense chief: “We lost David Alaba, who spoke a lot. Now we have players who haven’t played much in recent years or were used to it that others communicate more. That takes time until they grow into this role”
And last but not least, his team didn’t go on offense like you’re used to from FC Bayern. Nagelsmann complained that Robert Lewandowski was not staged enough: “If you have Lewy in the team, then of course it helps if he has a lot of balls,” said the native of Landsberg.
Corona outbreak near Salzburg
But despite all the construction sites: Nagelsmann does not seem to be afraid. On the one hand, this may be due to the fact that Manuel Neuer should return to the starting XI against Salzburg. On the other hand, because Salzburg did not have optimal preparation: RB had 15 positive corona test results shortly after the first leg.
An advantage that Munich also wants to exploit: “We have to keep the pace up for 90 minutes. In the first leg, they ran out of breath a bit after 60 minutes. They’ve had a lot of corona cases in the past two weeks and haven’t been able to train continuously,” said Nagelsmann.
Müller: Infected in Salzburg?
Thomas Müller also struggled with the virus and indicated in the press conference that it could also have been due to the away game in Salzburg: “I went looking for clues as to where I got it. It must be somewhere on the way from Salzburg to Greuther Fürth must have happened. But that shouldn’t be an issue here now,” said Müller and then quickly changed the topic that he had set himself.
Müller: “Aware of the responsibility we have”
The Bayern striker was self-confident at the press conference and looked forward to the coming weeks with anticipation. “Bundesliga, Bundesliga, Bundesliga. Saturday after Saturday. We players are not used to that. Saturday – Wednesday – Saturday – Wednesday. That’s the rhythm that we know. And we have to lay the foundation for it tomorrow. We are aware of the responsibility we have there tomorrow,” said Müller.
The offensive player showed that he would not take the game lightly, but the 32-year-old does not seem to have too much doubt about progressing: “In the first leg you saw what Salzburg can do,” said Müller and restricted one: “In combination with their audience – and with the course of the game. It didn’t necessarily work out for us. We have respect for Salzburg. Nevertheless, we have to look at our team and see: There’s a really good squad here.”