Decision to sack Nagelsmann and bring in the former Chelsea manager has failed – Dortmund are top with five games to goThere was a sense in which you could argue that this was to be expected. This was, after all, the third time in successive seasons that Mainz had sent Bayern Munich home with a defeat in late April. “Oops, I did it again,” was the caption on the club’s social media post, featuring the inevitable Britney Spears mid-dance with the Mainz club crest on her jumpsuit.It was the only thing that was familiar about this scenario. More accurate was the later, second attempt from the wags doing the socials for Die Nullfünfer. It featured Homer Simpson coming home –...
Sandro Schwarz departed on Sunday after Friday’s grim 5-2 defeat leaves Hertha rock-bottom of the Bundesliga“That,” said Benjamin Weber, “was a real slap in the face.” Hertha’s sporting director has been in situ for less than three months, but he is already acclimatised to the chaos of the capital club. Not surprisingly, perhaps. Before returning to the club in late January he had served the club for almost two decades in a variety of roles. “I’m a Berliner. I’m a Herthaner,” he told his introductory press conference.This, then, will hurt. Hertha have been circling the drain for a while now, retaining their top-flight place via the relegation playoff last season having finished two points clear of the playoff spot the...
Spurs need a hungry manager on the way up, rather than one – no matter how young – fighting for relevanceIf only Julian Nagelsmann had never become manager of Bayern Munich, the world might have believed he would be a very good manager of Bayern Munich. It was a job to which he had seemed destined since becoming the youngest coach in Bundesliga history in 2016, taking charge of Hoffenheim at the age of 29. He had already led Hoffenheim’s under-19s to the Bundesliga youth title. He seemed preternaturally gifted and in Germany the gifted always end up at Bayern, especially when they come from Bavaria.Taking over with Hoffenheim seven points adrift, Nagelsmann inspired them to unlikely survival and the...
The Bundesliga fluctuations in Munich this season are so frequent and so wild that it cannot help but invite scrutinyJulian Nagelsmann might have imagined this stage of the season in many different guises when he resumed work after the World Cup. He almost certainly did not envisage this. His team will begin April with more games to shape the remainder of their campaign than they normally would at this stage, a legacy of the aforementioned break for the tournament in Qatar, but they will also make their way onto that road in an unfamiliar position of second place. Bayern Munich did not lose everything in Leverkusen, but any misapprehension under which they might have laboured under that this is a...
Marco Rose’s transformation of the Red Bull club continues apace and they have an outside chance of the Bundesliga titleThe last time RB Leipzig visited Manchester City, they attacked with gusto. They were brave and bold. Christopher Nkunku bagged a hat-trick. A repeat of that this week wouldn’t be enough. City returned fire with interest, scoring six.That was back in September 2021 under Jesse Marsch, with the team struggling for identity and control, despite the club going for continuity in appointing from the Red Bull stable. By the time the teams met again in Saxony for the return leg in December, Marsch had been shown the door and the club were about to appoint Domenico Tedesco – whose last match...