The team needs a manager who has a great desire to prove himself and whose football career is on an upward trend
If Julian Nagelsmann had not become a coach for Bayern Munich, the whole world would think that he would be a very good coach for Bayern Munich! The position has always seemed waiting for him ever since he became the youngest manager in Bundesliga history in 2016, taking charge of Hoffenheim at just 29 years old. Before that, Nagelsmann led the Hoffenheim U-19 team to win the German Youth League title. Nagelsmann looked extraordinarily talented, and in Germany talented people always end up at Bayern Munich, especially when they come from Bavaria.
Nagelsmann took over Hoffenheim while he was suffering greatly and had only 7 points, but he managed to keep him in the “Bundesliga”, before leading him in the following season to participate in the Champions League. After finishing third in the Bundesliga table in the 2017-18 season, Nagelsmann’s upward journey continued and led Leipzig to reach the Champions League semi-finals. After that, the young coach took charge of Bayern Munich and led it to the league title in his first season with the Bavarian giants.
However, Leipzig’s 3-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain, led by Thomas Tuchel, in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2020, was devastating (this round was held from one match due to the repercussions of the Corona virus outbreak). Leipzig appeared very weak from the start of the match until its end, and did not play with the same ferocity that it showed against Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in the previous rounds. It is clear and known to everyone that Paris Saint-Germain suffers greatly in front of clubs that rely on high and continuous pressure along the field, given that the Parisian club’s attack line does not perform its defensive duties as it should, and therefore the strong competing teams clearly outperform them in the midfield. However, Leipzig did not take advantage of this, and appeared very modest.
It is true that it is one match, and it is true that any team can lose, especially when it is playing in a stage it has not reached before, but the real problem is that this loss came within the framework of a certain and continuous pattern, which is that Nagelsmann always loses in the big matches against clubs. non german. This began when Hoffenheim were drawn against Liverpool in the knockout stages of the Champions League in the 2017-18 season.
Liverpool won 6-3 on aggregate, and the English club could have ended up with a bigger score. Moreover, Leipzig did not show much strength and ferocity when he played again against Liverpool in the round of 16 in the 2020-2021 season. It is true that Leipzig was the least fortunate team and chances in these two confrontations due to the difference in level and experience that is in the interest of Liverpool, but the problem does not lie. In losing as much as it lies in the way the team plays and the level that the team offers. Last season, Bayern Munich left the Champions League after losing to Villarreal in the quarter-finals.
It is clear that if you focus only on defeats, the coach will look bad, especially since our sample is very small. But this is the nature of modern German football, especially for the coach of Bayern Munich, for whom the Bundesliga title seems almost certain every year. Thus, the real test is the European Championships, in which Nagelsmann has not succeeded so far.
However, Bayern Munich won all eight of their Champions League matches this season and knocked out Paris Saint-Germain, but even in the first leg of the round of 16 there was a sense that the German club had missed an easy and well-deserved opportunity by finishing early and winning by a big score. Nagelsmann could have taken advantage of the very modest level presented by Paris Saint-Germain in the first half, controlling the reins and rhythm of the match completely and settling matters early, rather than just passive possession of the ball.
Bayern Munich survived the late awakening of Paris Saint-Germain after French star Kylian Mbappe participated in the final minutes of the match, and although it ended up passing Bayern Munich to the next round comfortably, his complacency gave the Parisian club hope of a return.
Despite all this, it is very strange and absurd to sack a coach who has only lost 3 times out of 36 games he has played this season. But this is the reality of modern German football. The figures indicate that the annual revenues of Bayern Munich are 83 percent higher than the revenues of its closest competitor, and from this standpoint Nagelsmann is a victim of the huge financial differences between the Bavarian giant and other clubs such as Hansa Rostock or Armenia Bielefeld, because this makes everyone believe that victory alone It is not enough, and that Bayern Munich must completely dominate everything, and that this is the natural thing with any manager!
“Since the end of the World Cup we have been playing less successfully and more attractive,” said Bayern Munich chief executive Oliver Kahn. It was not only the performances that led to the dismissal of Nagelsmann, or even the defeats against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen that led to Bayern Munich moving away from the top of the league standings table, but the real reason was the growing doubts and the growing belief that the young German coach was no longer able to deal. with stress.
Thus, Nagelsmann, who entered the world of coaching at the age of twenty after retiring due to injury and reached the top at an early age, lost the job he dreamed of. And when Johan Cruyff was dismissed – after he had already led Ajax – from Barcelona’s technical leadership in 1996, this was the beginning of the end of his coaching career at the age of forty-nine, while Nagelsmann is now 35 years old! Cruyff was still at Barcelona writing newspaper columns about the club, but he had already led Barcelona to four league titles – at a time when every trophy was really important to Barcelona – and to their first Champions League, and changed the look of football in the world. Entire. But Nagelsmann did not achieve such achievements, although he is already a promising coach, and he will continue his coaching career and lead other clubs during the coming period.
But the question that must be asked now is: Where will Nagelsmann work, and will he continue to work with the same enthusiasm?
Reports indicate that Real Madrid and Tottenham want to sign him. But how will Nagelsmann fit into Real Madrid’s culture? Likewise, if he took over the leadership of Tottenham, after he led Bayern Munich and became a candidate for the leadership of Real Madrid, this would appear to be a step backwards in his coaching career. Tottenham have suffered enough with managers handling the position as if they were doing the club a favor! What Tottenham really needs is a manager similar to what Mauricio Pochettino had in 2014, in the sense that he needs a manager with a tremendous desire to prove himself and his abilities, and for his coaching career to be in an upward direction, and not a coach – no matter how young he is – who suffers strongly, and may eventually be looking forward to a comfortable return to Bayern Munich. The big problem for Nagelsmann is that he has reached a crisis point in his coaching career, even though many players his age are still playing! Furthermore, his best years of cultivation might have already passed, and that was the problem with people who excel at a young age!