Calling Bayern Munich current situation a “crisis” would be an understatement. In fact, it almost feels as if you can’t go one day without hearing about some sort of issue within the team. After last season’s issues, which saw Bayern Munich change managers and miraculously win the Bundesliga on the last match day of the season, it was thought that the Bavarians had learned from their mistakes.
- Karl-Heinz Rummenigge returned to the club after Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić were sacked.
- They had a Champions League-winning manager with Bundesliga experience in Thomas Tuchel, who would have a full preseason to prepare the team.
- Bayern Munich strengthened their squad by signing defender Kim Min-jae and striker Harry Kane for a club record £100 million.
However, despite all these changes, things still haven’t gotten any better. There have been several reports about internal issues within the club, Tuchel being unhappy with the lack of additional signings, and arguments between players and the manager.
All this sees Bayern Munich not only struggling in the Champions League, but also languishing in the Bundesliga as they sit behind Bayer Leverkusen and are on the verge of losing their first league title since 2012.
Although everything is still to play for, Bayern already announced that Thomas Tuchel will leave the club after this season; with Xabi Alonso, Jürgen Klopp, and even Zinedine Zidane being some of the favorites to take charge. Regardless, whoever becomes the next Bayern Munich manager will have a lot of issues to deal with.
While Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel weren’t able to get the most out of this team, Bayern’s poor form these past few seasons can’t all be a case of bad management. Although Bayern Munich were extremely successful under Hansi Flick, it also distracted from the countless issues there have been over the years at the boardroom level.
In fact, some say that the secret to Flick‘s success was preventing boardroom issues from spreading into the team environment. However, since his departure, that tension has unfortunately trickled its way to the team and has only gotten worse in the last few seasons.
Then there’s the issue of the “identity crisis” that many fans and former players have raised about Bayern Munich and German football in general. Before, Bayern was known for their direct play and relentlessness, but now that’s been replaced by having more emphasis on ball possession.
Not long ago, former Bayern München player, Bastian Schweinsteiger, spoke about this precise issue. Although his interview was taken out of context because of his comments where he supposedly blames Pep Guardiola for their decline, he says that German players use to be fighters, but now they are “more focused on playing the ball nicely to each other.” Comments which are accurate as Bayern Munich isn’t playing in the manner that use to fear its opponents.
Despite all these problems, we shouldn’t forget that Bayern Munich actually have a talented squad and there are some qualified managers available who can greatly help in restoring Bayern’s dominance. Let’s take a look at the 3 managers who can fix Bayern Munich’s issues.
Hansi Flick
As previously mentioned, Bayern Munich were very successful during his period in charge. Before taking over in 2019, Flick had been Joachim Löw’s assistant with the German national team between 2006 and 2014.
Interestingly, after leaving his role as assistant manager in 2014, he didn’t hold any sort of coaching position until 2019 when he was hired by Bayern Munich to serve as an assistant under Niko Kovač’s coaching staff. He was then promoted to first team manager only a few months later after Niko Kovač was sacked.
Between 2019 and 2021, Bayern not only won every possible trophy, but there was also good harmony within the squad. It’s true that his disagreements with the board are what led to his departure in 2021, but it wouldn’t be the first time a Bayern manager has left because of boardroom issues and then returned (Giovanni Trapattoni, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Jupp Heynckes, etc).
Although his stint as German national team manager didn’t go very well, he’s still in high demand and could be a good solution to fix the internal issues within the team.
Antonio Conte
It would be a massive gamble to hire Conte, particularly since ‘harmony’ isn’t something that you would associate with the former Juventus player. Despite his success as a manager, he’s also brought notorious drama to all the teams he’s been.
He was sacked at Juventus before the team’s preseason began, Chelsea’s core players were reportedly fed up with him after only a few months, and then there’s his infamous press conference while managing Tottenham where he virtually called them losers.
That said, bringing in Conte would also have its significant advantages. Despite his negative perception, several of his former players have talked wonders about his squad management skills and how instrumental he was in making them better players. His way of playing would benefit the team as Bayern Munich has the players to play Conte’s system, which is normally a back three and dropping the team back to create dangerous counter-attacks.
Not to mention, his achievements as a manager are extraordinary. He won the league title at Chelsea, initiated Juventus’ era of consecutive Serie A titles, and returned Inter Milan to dominant ways. It would be a risk, but he could be a successful choice if he’s at least able to control himself and keep tensions low.
Jose Mourinho
If you think about it, Jose Mourinho ticks almost all the boxes Bayern Munich are seeking in a manager. In fact, if the club looking for a manager who can help them regain its historic identity, then Jose Mourinho is the ideal manager to do so as he has previous experience with that.
Mourinho did something similar at Real Madrid, who had gone seven seasons without advancing beyond the round of 16 stage of the Champions League before arriving.
In his three seasons with the club, Real Madrid reached three consecutive Champions League semifinals and made his in La Liga by winning the league title with 100 points and scoring 121 goals (a record that still stands today).
Even though he couldn’t win the elusive Champions League title, he was able to regain the club’s historic winning identity and laid a foundation that would see Real Madrid win consecutive Champions League titles.
He’s also been able to instill a winning mentality a clubs that had historically been known for losing and never having an identity. At Chelsea (although there was a large financial backing), the club hadn’t won the league since 1955 and needed to overcome Manchester United and Arsenal to win the Premier League title.
Despite the uphill challenge, Mourinho’s Chelsea won two consecutive league titles and set all sorts of records that still stand even in today’s game.
After Chelsea, he moved on to Inter Milan, who were beginning to dominate in Serie A, but constantly failed to make a significant impact on the continent stage. Before signing, Inter Milan hadn’t won the Champions League since 1965 and were desperate to win the elusive title.
Not only did Mourinho get Inter over that hump, but he beat Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona team in the process and made history by becoming Italy’s first treble winning squad.
Along with this, although the media seems to enjoy downplaying his achievements, Mourinho is without question one of the greatest managers of all time and has been successful everywhere he’s been. He’s a two-time Champions League winner with Porto and Inter Milan, has won the league title in the three most important leagues in the world, and has set all kinds of records.
Manchester United’s most successful period since Alex Ferguson left was interestingly when Mourinho was in charge, which saw the club win 3 titles under his tenure.
Even his most recent managerial stint at AS Roma was remarkable as he helped the club win the Conference League (a big deal for Roma) and reached the final of the Europa League, losing to Sevilla (the competition’s most successful team) on penalty kicks.
Overall, Mourinho would command respect in a locker room with players that have enjoyed similar success. His winning mentality combined with the desperation of a club looking to regain their winning ways could be precisely what Bayern Munich need and would give them the necessary stability the team’s lacked the past few seasons.
