What Julian Nagelsmann has to chalk after the cup embarrassment

In the 0: 5 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Bayern doesn’t even bring the basics of football onto the pitch. Julian Nagelsmann is missing as a communicator on the sideline, but the isolated coach also has to put up with criticism.

Only a few days ago Lothar Matthäus put forward the thesis that Julian Nagelsmann was actually superfluous. The FC Bayern team has “grown together”, has “enough player personalities” and therefore functions even without the coach infected with Corona, claimed the record national player as a result of the Munich gala appearances in Leverkusen and Lisbon Sky.

Words that Nagelsmann dismissed as “not so happy” and “partly disrespectful” even before the shame of Mönchengladbach. “The team is very good, no question about it,” said the Bayern coach. But: “Every team needs a coach.”

That became clear on Wednesday evening in Borussia Park. Even if Nagelsmann’s assistant Dino Toppmöller did his best and showed up a few times in the coaching zone, at least in the initial phase, the head coach’s presence and communication skills were noticeably lacking over the entire season.

Matthäus is wrong: FC Bayern miss Nagelsmann

The heads of the players went down with the first goal, a feeling of rebellion was missed at any point in the game. Nagelsmann communicated with Benjamin Glück’s video analysis team sitting in the stands, but by the time the 34-year-old’s instructions reached the team on the lawn, the Gladbach ICE had long rolled over them.

The realization? For compulsory tasks in the Bundesliga as against Hoffenheim, Nagelsmann may also be able to work from his kitchen that has been converted into a home office, but for all-or-nothing games against a bilious opponent with a bilious audience, the boss needs the boss on the sidelines to quickly ( he) to react and to be able to convey security in difficult phases.

“We felt every ball jumped, we weren’t there at all,” complained a visibly seething Hasan Salihamidzic, the only representative of the record champions in the mixed zone, about the puzzling performance. “It was shocking.”

Salihamidzic criticizes the team: “Wasn’t the tactics”

In the second round of the DFB Cup, the Munich team lacked the basics of football: dedication and concentration. Unlike the players, the sports director did not want to blame the coaching team. “It wasn’t the tactics,” said Salihamidzic – and he was right. Basically, the game was lost within 25 defensive fiery minutes.

In the first 20, when the Gladbachers met three times, and between the 52nd and 57th minute, when Breel Embolo added 4-0 and 5-0 with a double. The rest of the game was anything but “Bayern-like”, but not desolate.

Against the background that long-running favorites like Dayot Upamecano, Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Müller, Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry or Robert Lewandowski were frighteningly dubbed and the recently recovered Alphonso Davies and Leon Goretzka did not seem fit at all, the coaching staff is nevertheless to some extent to blame to blame on the “collective blackout” (Salihamidzic).

Because: Recently, there was a few times the opportunity to allow the permanent staff more physical and mental breaks – and at the same time to keep those who do not get involved in a good mood.

FC Bayern: amazement at the lack of rotation

Instead, with a view to the potential in the squad, questions like: Why has super talent Jamal Musiala been more or less slowed down since his starting eleven against FC Barcelona in mid-September and not used at all from the beginning except for the game against Hoffenheim last weekend ?

Or: Why did the center-back jewel Tanguy Nianzou, who was recently completely left out, not even make it to the bench against Gladbach, in contrast to three right-backs around Bouna Sarr? And: Why did the now injured Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting only collect short appearances in the past games despite his extremely strong hit rate?

Asking for information from SPOX and goal in the meantime also increasingly in the environment of the named substitute players, a first hint of amazement and dissatisfaction spreads.

But if anyone can be trusted to counteract this trend in the coming weeks, then it is Nagelsmann. After all, he was considered a good squad moderator at his previous station at RB Leipzig.

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