Julian Nagelsmann doesn’t think that Julian Nagelsmann needs to change much. “That’s just how I am,” was a core sentence of the 35-year-old at the end of his public break after the verbal blunder (“Pack”) against the referee team after the defeat by FC Bayern Munich in Mönchengladbach, which was extremely difficult for him to cope with. The master coach’s behavior had caused much head-shaking and heated debate.
Nagelsmann wants to remain an emotional coach in the stadium, also this Sunday (5.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN) in the exciting Bundesliga top game against the unexpected but extremely stubborn title competitor Union Berlin. But Nagelsmann announced that he wanted to “steer his feelings in other directions” in the future.
There is once again a special pressure situation at Bayern. After ten championship years in a row, they are under serious pressure at the start of the last third of the season in the Bundesliga from hunters who have the same number of points as Borussia Dortmund and the Irons from Berlin-Köpenick. And Nagelsmann lacks the sovereignty that distinguishes great Bayern coaches. However, he knows what is expected of a coach in Munich in a top game. “The formula at Bayern is as simple as it is complex: If you win, it’s calm. If you don’t win, there’s no rest. So we should win against Union Berlin,” said Nagelsmann on Friday.
“This is the perfect stage”
To defend first place, he relies on Thomas Müller (33), who as a Bavarian knows pressure situations inside out. “Thomas will start on Sunday,” announced Nagelsmann after “a long conversation” with the captain, whom he had sacrificed in the 2: 3 in Gladbach after the early red card for the now suspended Dayot Upamecano. Of course, Müller was “not happy”, but remains a “person of trust” for him. Star striker Sadio Mané also returns to the squad as a joker, more than three months after suffering a serious fibula head injury that cost the Senegalese a place at the World Cup.
Nagelsmann suspects that things could get hot against Union in the Allianz Arena. The amazement at the robust soaring of the Berliners does not stop. Coach Urs Fischer – as a coach almost an alternative to the quick-tempered Nagelsmann – also caused a sensation internationally with his team, which advanced to the round of 16 of the Europa League with a 3-1 win over Ajax Amsterdam. That took a lot of strength, which should give Bayern an advantage. “It’s about putting a direct competitor back at a distance,” said Nagelsmann.
Bayern boss Oliver Kahn tried this week to shift the focus from the coach to the Munich professionals, who have had problems with the delivery service in everyday league life since the beginning of the year. “Now the players have to show that they are Bayern Munich. And a game like that against Union Berlin, a duel for the top of the table, is the perfect stage,” said Kahn. Joshua Kimmich said after the defeat in Gladbach: “I am convinced that it will not throw us off course.”
Nagelsmann explained the fickleness of the Bayern stars in everyday league life after x championship titles with a comparison: “When you ride a roller coaster in the amusement park for the first time, it’s very spectacular. It’s still fun the ninth time, but it’s not as spectacular as the first time.” And yet the Munich pros have always managed to do it in the past.
That would also be good for him if Nagelsmann wanted to shape an era as a coach in Munich. Titles are the currency, not adolescent behavior after defeats. “I’m upset that this is happening to me. I saw the mistake,” he said in the remorseful part of his statement on Friday. The coach described the fact that his outburst in Gladbach was possibly even one with calculation as “complete nonsense”. Rather, he emphasized: “It is not a conscious decision on my part to go to the attack department.”
