Monday, January 11, 2021
Last-minute access does not ignite
The bank misery of FC Bayern Munich
“I’m not someone who wants new players,” said Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick. To say that honors the successful coach and takes public pressure off the sports director. But there is a serious problem in the second row, and the last-minute entries in autumn do nothing to change that.
Hasan Salihamidzic was angry. With his demand for “at least two newcomers” coach Hansi Flick snubbed him – and from the point of view of the sports director, clearly exceeded his skills. And so Salihamidzic reacted in January 2020 with a public reproach for the Bayern Munich coach. So it’s no wonder that almost exactly one year later, Flick is much more cautious about transfer issues. At the same time, its situation is quite comparable to that of then.
“I’m not one who wants to have new players,” said Flick last, but he could urgently need reinforcements to solve the permanent defensive problems and to better control the burden of the triple hunt. Because the five last-minute entries that Salihamidzic gave him in October do not ignite. In Gladbach (2: 3), Flick changed once. That, he emphasized, had “nothing to do with the quality on the bench”.
It has long been obvious that there is a problem in the second row. “The squad is top up to number 15, then there is a small gap that has to be closed,” said Lothar Matthäus recently at Sky and judged: “The newcomers are not ready yet.”
“Of course we don’t do anything”
In fact, 18 Bayern professionals have played at least 13 of 19 competitive games so far, so they were on the pitch in two thirds of the games. In Douglas Costa, however, there is only one last-minute access to this group. Still, the Brazilian is perhaps the quintet’s biggest disappointment. In Gladbach, the winger never shot on goal and never prepared a shot. He only played one of his 16 missions over the full distance, one goal and three assists are on record. “He’s on the right track,” claimed Flick.
Basically, each of the entrances has “room for improvement”, said Flick after the start of the year against Mainz (5: 2), but: This applies “not only to the new players”. Their attitude is “great”, the start-up problems are “completely normal”. Because his game philosophy is demanding and requires a lot of training – which does not exist due to the tight calendar. And then “everyone has their own story”.
Marc Roca (five games, two 90 minutes, no goal, no assist), October’s most expensive transfer with ten million euros, had muscular problems recently. Bouna Sarr (8/5/0/3) was injured before the short winter break. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (10/2/3/1) fulfills his role as back-up for world footballer Robert Lewandowski quite satisfactorily. Tiago Dantas has only been eligible to play with the professionals since January and can therefore not be rated.
The bankers in the cup at second division Holstein Kiel should have another chance on Wednesday (8.45 p.m. / ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de.) to get. Bayern will not improve again. “Of course we don’t do anything,” said Salihamidzic in Gladbach: “We are very well staffed and have many options.”
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