Commentary
A lot is wrong at Bayern, not just its coach
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 28, 2017
Less than 24 hours later, second-year Italian coach Carlo
Ancelotti was out. His interim replacement: assistant coach Willy Sagnol, the former French international.
Bayern announced the decision "following an internal analysis" made
on Thursday morning. "Our team's performances since the start of the season have not met our expectations," said Rummenigge. "We had to take immediate action."
It's still early in the
season, and it's hard to imagine Bayern won't qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League. It finds itself in the unusual position of being third in the Bundesliga, but it is still 4-1-1
after six games, just three points behind leader Dortmund.
There was a lot to be made of Ancelotti's decision to not start Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng in the back
against PSG or veterans Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery in the attack.
And Ancelotti's history of flaming out at big clubs was a major point of discussion: gone from Juventus, Chelsea, Real Madrid and, yes, PSG after two seasons.
Now Bayern, two months into his second season in charge.
But it was only five months ago that Bayern was celebrating another Bundesliga title -- by 15 points -- and only a few weeks ago
everything seemed to fine when Ancelotti and his players showed up at the Paulaner brewery for their annual Oktoberfest photo shoot.
But there were already signs of discord -- reports of
a divided locker room and players unhappy with their roles -- but also concern that management wasn't taking seriously the task of keeping up with big-spending clubs like PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid
and the EPL elite.
"Bayern will have to come up with something and be creative if the club wants to keep bringing world-class players to Munich," striker Robert Lewandowski told
Die Spiegel. "If you want to play on the front foot, you need the quality players."
That could not have been more prophetic as Bayern lost to Hoffenheim after having 72 percent of
possession and it had 62 percent of possession against PSG.
Germany has a lot of fine young coaches -- 30-year-old Julian Nagelsmann from Hoffenheim is the name most often
mentioned, though Thomas Tuchel, 44, is free after departing Dortmund -- but whoever replaces Ancelotti will inherit an aging team in need of replacements.
should have coughed up the Alexis Gelt, but not too late for that..........put me in the 40% who is happy, but prior posts showed that.......Tuchel till we can get Klopp, and keep up with the Jones'!!!
Klopp is not the right coach unless you want players to run around with foam on their mouth the whole game. Tuchell would be a much better alternative for more cerebral game which follows more the Guardiola style....
Now Carlo is free to coach in the MLS.
Nick, that is not a great suggestion, looking at who Atlanta is coaching. I think it would be excellent to bring good coaches from Europe or South America to come. It would be another input in improving American socce